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Marcela Serrano

マルセラ・セラーノ

Marcela Serrano

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1951 （Santiago, Chile）
Nationality
Chilean
Languages
Spanish
Residence History
Santiago, Chile

Career

Occupations
novelist, children's author
Active Years
1991-
Influenced By
Elisa Serrana (mother)

Awards

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize
1994
Work: Nosotras que nos queremos tanto
Organization: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize (awarding organization varies)
Result: winner
Santiago Municipal Literature Award
1994
Work: Para que no me olvides
Organization: Municipality of Santiago
Result: winner
Premio Planeta
2001
Work: Lo que está en mi corazón
Organization: Editorial Planeta
Result: finalist

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Nosotras que nos queremos tanto

1991 novel

A novel exploring relationships among women, their self-awareness, friendship, family ties and redefinitions of femininity.

womenfriendshipfamilyself-identity

Para que no me olvides

1993 novel

Deals with memory, loss and the passage of time in women's lives. Recipient of the Santiago Municipal Literature Award.

memorylosstime

Antigua and My Life Before: A Novel

1995 novel (adapted to film)

A story in which past events intersect with the present, exploring personal memory and history. Adapted into a film in 2001.

memorypasthistory
Adaptations
  • [film] Antigua vida mía (film) / Héctor Olivera (2001)
Translations
  • Antigua and My Life Before: A Novel (translated by Margaret Sayers Peden)

Lo que está en mi corazón

2001 novel

A work that sensitively portrays emotions and inner life. It placed as a finalist in the 2001 Premio Planeta.

emotioninterior lifewomen

El albergue de las mujeres tristes

1997 novel

A story of women carrying sadness; themes include community, healing and renewal.

sadnesscommunityhealing

Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

1999 novel

Interweaves solitude, faith and women's circumstances.

solitudefaithwomen

Diez mujeres

2011 novel

Through multiple women's stories, portrays diverse female figures; structured as linked stories/novel.

womendiversityrelationships

La Novena

2016 novel

One of her recent works, dealing with family and confronting the past.

familypastreinterpretation

Bibliography

  • Nosotras que nos queremos tanto, 1991
  • Para que no me olvides, 1993
  • Antigua vida mía, 1995
  • El albergue de las mujeres tristes, 1997
  • Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, 1999
  • Lo que está en mi corazón, 2001
  • El cristal del miedo (with Margarita Maira), 2002
  • Hasta siempre, mujercitas, 2004
  • La llorona, 2008
  • Diez mujeres, 2011
  • Dulce enemiga mía (short story collection), 2013
  • La Novena, 2016

Adaptations

  • Film adaptation of Antigua vida mía (director: Héctor Olivera, 2001)

Translations of Works

  • Antigua vida mía → English translation: Antigua and My Life Before (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
delicate psychological depiction focused on women's interior livesconversational and intimate narrative voicesocial depiction from contemporary women's perspectives
Recurring Motifs
female solidaritymemory and the pastfamily relationshipsself-renewal

Legacy

Marcela Serrano is regarded as an important female writer in Chile and the Spanish-speaking world since the 1990s. Her works, centered on women's experiences and memory, have earned critical recognition and international prizes.

In Popular Culture

  • Adaptation of Antigua vida mía into film (2001) brought her work into popular media

Quotes

  • “having the capacity to change skin like a snake, freeing herself from the inevitability and servitude of more obsolete times.”
    Source: Carlos Fuentes, This I Believe: An A to Z of a Life (2005) (2005)

Trivia

  • Began serious writing around age 38 and published her first novel around age 40; often described as a "late" novelist.
  • Her mother is novelist Elisa Serrana.
  • Co-authored work with her daughter Margarita Maira (e.g. El cristal del miedo).