Cáceres, Esther de (1903–1971)
Cáceres, Esther de (1903–1971)
Esther de Cáceres (b. 1903; d. 1971), Uruguayan poet and educator. After earning a degree in medicine (1929), Cáceres taught humanities at the Teacher Training Institute and the Institute of Advanced Studies, both in Montevideo. She belonged to a cohort of leading women intellectuals and literary figures. Her first book of poetry was Las ínsulas extrañas (1929), followed in rapid succession by Canción (1931), Libro de la soledad (1935), Los cielos (1935), and many others. Especially noteworthy is "Concierto de amor" y otros poemas, with a prologue by Gabriela Mistral (1951). In Cáceres's early poetry, the mood alternates between melancholy and joy, as felt through mystical communion with God and other religious experiences. Later works—Los cantos del destierro (1963), Tiempo y abismo (1965), and Canto desierto (1969)—focus more on the subjective anguish caused by metaphysical displacement and the poet's immersion in the turbulent social and political circumstances of the time.
See alsoLiterature: Spanish America .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sarah Bollo, Literatura uruguaya, 1807–1965, vol. 2 (1965).
Francisco Aguilera and Georgette Magassy Dorn, The Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape: A Descriptive Guide (1974).
Additional Bibliography
Pickenhayn, Jorge Oscar. Voces femeninas en la poesia de Uruguay. Buenos Aires: Editorial Plus Ultra, 1999.
William H. Katra