"Selecciones del Reader's Digest," Reader's Digest Articles.
Title
Subject
Women authors, Latin American
Latin American periodicals
Latin American prose literature
Literacy
Description
Published monthly, these two reader’s digest magazines belonged to Adeline Yllanes grandmother when she lived in Peru. “Selecciones del Reader’s Digest” (blue) Tomo V, No. 3, was published May 1943 by The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc. in Pleasantville, New York and “Selecciones del Reader’s Digest” (pink) Vol. XI, No. 67, was published June 1946 for Reader’s Digest Selections in Habana, Cuba. A family of readers and writers from a very young age, Adeline cherishes the memories she has of reading these Spanish booklets with her grandmother in Peru. Adeline’s grandmother has since passed but she holds onto these booklets, as they have inspired her to write her own books, plus they are a reminder of her grandmother and the memories made with her.
Reader’s Digest Selections is the most read monthly magazine in the world. Within its pages, readers discover current events, extraordinary stories of human interest, what is new in health care, daily life, and stories that fulfill a sense of humor. The publication of magazines has spread throughout Latino culture, often encouraging readers to engage in current events and popular culture, increasing literacy rates. Latino families would often send their sons to be educated, while their daughters were educated, if they were educated at all, in convent schools that made no attempt to give anything other than rudimentary instruction. Literary effort on the part of women was not encouraged, yet it was also not actively discouraged. An increasing number of women began reading and writing which eventually establishing the rise of women in Latino literature.
While Reader’s Digest Selections is published in several locations and translated into different languages, there are some magazines that were, and still are, printed for an intended audience. The first women’s magazine published in San Juan in 1864 was “Brisas de Borinquen”. This magazine intended to argue for female education and better educational opportunities by encouraging women contributors and publishing articles about prominent women in history. At first, Puerto Rican women reacted timidly towards the magazine, but with increasing confidence, women began taking advantage of this educational platform being offered to them. Latino newspapers can be read as bastions of cultural resistance to pervasive US influence, to pop culture. Women editors were often held to a double standard by reinforcing traditional norms. Women were expected to abide without question to the expectations of men, particularly fathers, husbands, and brothers, with their writings. Within magazines like “Brisas de Borinquen” and “Selecciones del Reader’s Digest” many women expressed their innermost thoughts through news articles and poetry. They often attempted to publish writings that connected Latino communities in the United States with their country of origin.
Lee, Muna. "Puerto Rican Women Writers: The Record of One Hundred Years." Books Abroad, (1934) 8 (1): 7-10. doi:10.2307/40074829.
Ruiz, Vicki L and Virginia Sanchez Korrol. Latina Legacies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
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Source
Publisher
Date
Accession Date: April 12, 2018.