Ifigenia

Ifigenia: Diario de una señorita que escribió porque se fastidiaba (1924) by Teresa de la Parra (1889-1936) is a masterpiece of modern Latin American literature. The novel, structured as a long letter and a diary, recounts the story of **María Eugenia Alonso**, a young Venezuelan woman who returns to Caracas after being educated in Paris. Hoping for independence, she finds herself trapped in a conservative, patriarchal society governed by strict codes for women.

Through María Eugenia’s inimitable, fresh, and often ironic voice, De la Parra critiques the stifling environment that forces women into marriages of convenience or spiritual death. The title, referencing the Greek myth of Iphigenia, suggests sacrifice, yet the novel subverts the traditional bildungsroman by depicting a “failed education” where maturity equates to losing oneself to social demands. It explores the conflict between modern aspirations and traditional constraints, highlighting the necessity of women's intellectual and economic independence.

This critical edition, based on the revised 1928 text and edited by Elizabeth Garrels, contextualizes the novel within the rapidly changing Venezuela of the **Juan Vicente Gómez** dictatorship. It addresses the misconceptions conflating the author with her protagonist and underscores De la Parra’s moderate yet incisive feminism. Ifigenia remains a potent, intelligent, and seductive critique of a society that serves as the executioner of its own daughters.