The literary critic, María Sola, tells us that we can pinpoint the legacy of Marta Traba, which is the “dentro de la lucha de la mujer ‘por hablar’ en cambio de ‘ser hablada’ por otros” [women’s struggle to be the ‘speakers’ instead of those ‘spoken for’ by others]. Sola states that perhaps Traba did try to measure herself against the contemporary male standards in literature. However, some of her most famous novels sought to express a women’s perspective from within a cultural framework that always favored literature written by men. The writer notes that on one occasion, Traba stated: “escribo como mujer.” [I write like a woman.] Regarding such approach, Sola also offers another relevant quote from Traba; “(…) existe una masa de literatura femenina a la espera de que se aprenda a leerla correctamente.” [There is a body of women’s literature that lives in hope that people will learn how to read it properly.]

This article is interesting as a study of the narrative of Marta Traba (1930–1983). The text does not mention her writing on art, although it does cast light on many of the novels and books she published. Among them are: Historia natural de la alegría [A Natural History of Happiness], Las ceremonias del verano [The Ceremonies of Summer] (1966), Los laberintos insolados [Sun-Drenched Labyrinths] (1967), Pasó así [That’s How it Happened] (1968), and Conversación al sur [Mothers and Shadows] (1981). 

Marta Traba (1930–1983) published a substantial number of articles in the various countries where she lived. When she arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she had previously lived in Bogota, New York, Paris, and Buenos Aires. From August 1970 through the summer of 1971, the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras engaged her to teach a course on Latin American art as well as the obligatory courses on the General Theory of Art History (201) and the History of Modern Art (213), among others, in the department of fine arts. In the summer of 1971, she taught a class on aesthetics. At the end of the summer, the University did not renew her contract. While she was living in Puerto Rico, Traba wrote books, and many newspaper and magazine articles, in which she expressed her views on Puerto Rican art, which prompted considerable response and criticism in art circles.