~RANSLATORS\" ~]RE FACE
Appeanng in i~83， M~hBr nO Espelho [Woman between
Mirrors] by Helena Parente Cunha quickly attracted notice
as one of the most thoroughly literary novelistic responses
to the current discussion of woman s role and status R had
already won a Cntz e Snusa award in part tor its ability to
communicate a woman s perception and understanding of
what she experiences. Ant6niu Houaiss， as spokesman for
the selection panel， recalls that iurnrs were immediately
struck by this \"solid psychological synthesis of woman/
women without precedent in Brazilian literature， not merely
for its possibly confessional aspect， but also above all its pro-
Mundly revelatory qualities， in language intensely suited to
its aims\" At the same time， the panelists recognized the au-
thor s achievement in elaborating an esthetic text out of this
intimate raw material， honoring her successful \"quest for
transformation\" of experience into art
No doubt the English version of the novel will also exer-
cise its most immediate appeal as the rendering of a woman s
experiences not a generalized ffgule ot woman， but a helo-
ine grounded in a particular set of condltluns This nameless
but well-specified woman is the product of an upper-middle-
class family in Salvador~ Bahia (a city whose name evokes
an enduring pamarehal order and the residual forms of a
slaver y-based soeiet yI As recently as thirty years ago， mem-
bers of many families were burn or married into a limited
repertory of roles: the all-powerful father， the indulgent
mother， mediator between father and offspring， the daughter
with her artificially prulonged innocence， and the young
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