Reading ‘The Shrouded Woman’ by María Luisa Bombal felt like watching a reality TV show. I felt like I was watching the Real Housewives: the first loves, first wives, unhappy marriages… all felt like a TV plot and I loved it!

But for such a packed story, the novel is so short. Even Ana Maria describes her life as ‘small’ and seemingly uneventful. But as a reader, all I see are events and relationships (both good and bad) that have shaped this woman, and the world she lives in. A world of women and femininity. 

This world of femininity is especially clear when watching the video lecture and hearing “Dead or alive, a woman remains subject to the gaze of others ‘. This quote in particular stuck with me, as it was true in the 1930s and the 21st century. Maintaining this ‘perfect’ appearance as women is so entrenched in society, that it’s even a motif in many classical literatures and art. There is a certain ‘poeticness’ of female death: that a woman’s death will ensure a ‘beautiful corpse’ (ex. Ophelia in Hamlet). 

This notion of women as a subject to gaze upon was heavily prevalent in Nadja by Andre Breton, so I can see why we were told that this novel could be seen as a response to Nadja. Bombal’s narrative focuses on the interconnectedness of these women and their lives. Rather than seeing a woman purely as a ‘muse’ like Breton. These women are viewed as sideline characters by society, but they are the main characters for Ana Maria.

Ana Maria’s relationship with these women reminded me of the Dolly Alderton quote “Nearly everything I know about love, I’ve learnt from my long-term friendships with women.” While Ana Maria was not necessarily friends with all these women, she did have long-term relationships with them, and these relationships influenced her life and her death. These women are all different, what brings them together is their femininity and female agency. These women live in a society where they are not fully able to unleash their agency and fulfill their desires. Ana Maria is only able to reach her full agency in her death, where she can become the object she was always assumed to be. Death is her escape. 

Overall, this has been my favourite text while fiction has aspects that feel almost relatable and real. Bombal can create a world of imperfection and messiness yet still full of love, mirroring femininity itself. 

My question for discussion would be “How does Bomball challenge or affirm traditional notions of femininity in the text?”