Author Description

"Before meeting Esperanza, a Mexican street peddler living in a small town five hundred miles south of the U.S. border, anthropologist Ruth Behar knew only what the other women in town had said: Esperanza was thought to be a witch and a cruel mother; she had put a spell on her former husband for abusing her and caused him to go suddenly and completely blind." "In this brilliant and magical work, Ruth Behar delves well beyond the myths of the Mexican woman as long-suffering wife and vindictive witch as she records Esperanza's story in her own words." "The story begins with rage. Esperanza witnesses her father's brutal treatment of her mother as a child. As a young woman she loses several of her children; she believes her rage at her own violent husband poisoned them through her breastmilk. But there is more to her story than abuse and suffering. With wit and insight, Esperanza describes her eventual sexual and financial freedom, her relationship with her grown daughters, and her spiritual redemption through the cult of Pancho Villa." "Translated Woman also records the subtle ironies and difficulties inherent in any encounter between two people from different cultures and classes. Behar eventually abandons the traditional roles of interviewer and subject as Esperanza's story leads her to reflect on her own life as a Cuban immigrant in the United States. In a moving final chapter, Behar explores her uncomfortable position as a Latina scholar who has achieved success in the American academy."--Jacket.