From: World Literature Today | Date: March 22, 1994| Author: | COPYRIGHT 1994 University of Oklahoma. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Concha Zardoya is well known as an academic literary critic, but few Hispanists know her as the author of some twenty-five books of poetry. She could therefore include herself among the female voices who, because of their gender, have not received the serious scrutiny given to their male counterparts.

Her latest book has an ironic rifle. It refers to women as carriers of semen: precious vessels to be impregnated but, as creators, confined to a narrow range of expression. The first poem, "Oh Polimia," sets the theme: "At times your daughters do transgress/illusory limits ...