Two Women: A Novel

By Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda (1814-1873) and Brígida M. Pastor

In 1842, a young Cuban woman living in Spain published a novel that was so passionate and boldly feminist in content, it did not appear in her homeland until more than seventy years later. Two Women tells the riveting tale of a tumultuous love triangle among three wealthy Spaniards: a brilliant, young, widowed countess named Catalina, her inexperienced lover Carlos, and his pure and virtuous wife Luisa. The two women start out as rivals, yet in an insightful twist, they ultimately find they are both victims of a patriarchal society that ruthlessly pits women against each other. As the story builds to its thrilling climax, they confront the stark truth that in nineteenth-century Spain, women have few paths to a happy ending.
 
This first English translation of the novel captures the lyrical romanticism of its prose and includes a scholarly introduction to the work and its author, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, a pioneering feminist and anti-slavery activist who based the character of Catalina on her own experience. Two Women is a searing indictment of the stern laws and customs governing marriage in the Hispanic world, brought to life in a spellbinding, tragic love story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bucknell University Press
• Release date: Nov 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781684483174

Book preview

Two Women

Prologue

If the warm reception that Madrid’s readers have given to the little novel entitled Sab obliged its author to offer them another work of greater scholarship and depth, she might not venture to publish her second attempt in such a difficult genre, wary of not adequately fulfilling that obligation. But as she believes it a no less pressing duty to offer such a kind audience a token of her gratitude, and she can manage no other than to present to it her light works, she decided to publish the present novel, without feeling obliged to make a show of false modesty by detracting from whatever merit it may have, or still less to attribute to it any it may lack.

She will just say that the present little work does not belong to the genre of the historical novel immortalized by Walter Scott, or the so-called dramatic novel of Victor Hugo. It does not contain creations like Hans of Iceland or Claude Gueux, nor has the author tried to fathom the criminal instinct in the human heart. Humbler and less profound, she has confined herself to sketching true-to-life characters and natural passions; and the scenes depicted in the novel, if not always flattering, are never gory.

She leaves it to the critics to elucidate the numerous flaws that these pages must contain as a literary work, and she forestalls any frivolous or harsh interpretation of the work, declaring that she had no moral or social purpose in writing it.

The author does not feel obliged to profess an ideology, nor does she believe herself capable of undertaking a mission of any kind. She writes as a mere pastime, and she would be hurt if some of her opinions, voiced with no agenda, were judged with the severity that might be appropriate for one who presumes to pronounce moral doctrines.

1

I am telling you for the hundredth time, sister, that it is absolutely essential that my son get to know the world a little, before he undertakes such a serious endeavor as marriage.

Of course, because casting a poor lad of twenty, fresh out of school, into that Babylon of Madrid, where they can deprave and corrupt him, is the best way to prepare him to be a good husband. Your reasoning does you proud, brother!

Leonor, your capricious way of interpreting my words astonishes me. Who intends to cast off Carlos, as you say, to deprave and corrupt him? Can’t my son go to the court with a letter of introduction to worthy and prudent individuals who will serve as his guides in your so-called Babylon? Moreover, in Madrid as in Seville there is both good and bad; I don’t know why one assumes that everyone who goes there is necessarily corrupted. You’re so unfair and stubborn in your concerns!

And you with your incredible whims! So it seems that despite my repeated reflections, you are determined to send the boy to Madrid as soon as he arrives in Seville?

I’m not saying that it will be right after he arrives in Seville—certainly not. I haven’t seen Carlos in eight years, and …

Thanks to your crazy obsession with making your son into a revolutionary, a heretic, a Frenchman. It was certainly not by my verdict that you sent Carlos to a school in France to obtain what you call a brilliant education: to that new Nineveh, that seat of corruption, of heresy, of …

"For God’s sake, sister, suspend your judgment and let me finish what I was saying. I repeat that I haven’t seen my son in eight years, and it is natural to wish to have him by my side for a few months before separating from him again. But after that, it’s decided, afterward he will have that brief immersion in court life which is so appropriate for a young person of his class and will in no way, I believe, impair his feelings and his good habits. Sister Leonor! No Silva has been a scoundrel or a libertine, and by God I swear that Carlos will not be the