Carmen Lyra

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Carmen Lyra (1888 - May 13, 1949) was the pseudonym of the first prominent female Costa Rican writer, born Maria Isabela Carvajal. She was politically active, in the Communist Party, and was one of the earliest writers to criticise the dominance of the fruit companies.

Her first novel En una silla de ruedas (In a Wheelchair), in 1918, portrays national customs and manners through the eyes of a paralysed artist, with a strong dose of sentimentalism. A collection of folk tales Cuentos De Mi Tia Panchita (Tales of My Aunt Panchita) was published in 1920.

Carmen Lyra was a notable educator, working as a teacher, co-founding the Centro Germinal for evening classes in 1910 and starting a Montessori pre-school in 1926.

She is credited with translating the Communist Manifesto into Spanish in 1920. She was dismissed as a teacher in 1933 and had a leading role in the banana workers' strike of 1934, writing Bananos y Hombres (Bananas and Men).

In 1948, she became a political exile in Mexico after the Costa Rican Civil War and died there. The Costa Rica Legislative Assembly awarded her the honour of Benemérita de la Cultura Nacional in 1976.

As another tribute, her image appears in the 10.000 colones bill.

Contents

[edit] Books

  • En una silla de ruedas (1918)
  • Cuentos De Mi Tia Panchita (1920) - paperback edition (2000) Editorial Costa Rica, ISBN 9977231354

[edit] Further reading

  • The Subversive Voice of Carmen Lyra: Selected Works, tr. Elizabeth Rosa Horan, University Press of Florida (2000), ISBN 081301767X - publisher's details[1]
  • Luisa González and Carlos Luis Sáenz, Carmen Lyra, San José: EUNED (1998) ISBN 9977649146 - in Spanish

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links