Iphigenia by Teresa de la Parra as a sentimental training novel

Abstract

Based on the reading of María Inés Lagos Pope (1996, 2003) and other Latin American critical texts which reflect on the category of Bildungsroman, the article considers Iphigenia by Teresa de la Parra a “sentimental training novel”, in which, despite the claudication and obturation of “heartfelt” love, the problem of desire arised in an open and unsolvable tension with the  marriage institution. Although the desiring subject, the protagonist, discovers the traps of desire, and even gives up on it, she also experiences moments of great imaginary power, read as spaces open to learning.