Browsing by Subject "Mexican literature"
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Item The child’s perspective of war and its aftermath in works of adult prose and film in Mexico and Spain(2011-05) Nickelson-Requejo, Sadie; Higginbotham, Virginia, 1935-; Robbins, Jill, 1962-; Fierro, Enrique; P?rez, Domino; Reed, Cory; Richmond-Garza, ElizabethThis dissertation investigates the literary and cinematic use of the child’s perspective to present the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War and their aftermath in several Mexican, Spanish, and international (Mexican-Spanish collaborative) narratives of the 20th and early 21st Centuries written by adult authors and filmmakers, and targeted for adult audiences. The Mexican narratives are Cartucho and Las manos de mamá by Nellie Campobello, Balún Canán by Rosario Castellanos, and Bandidos, a film by Luis Estrada; selected Spanish works are El espíritu de la colmena by Víctor Erice, Cría cuervos by Carlos Saura, and El sur by Adelaida García Morales; and both international works are films by Guillermo del Toro, El espinazo del diablo and El laberinto del fauno. I attempt to determine the textual or cinematic function of the child as first person (homodiegetic) narrative viewer in these works, and I study the different ways in which this child’s point of view is constructed in order to depict the overwhelming tragedy of war. I note patterns and diversities in subject matter presented by the narrative voice, and observe the characteristics of the child narrative viewer’s world and priorities (as presented by the authors and filmmakers), paying careful attention to how each perceives and understands his or her country’s violent upheaval and its aftermath. The theoretical framework of this investigation draws mainly from trauma theory, Gothic studies, and the tradition of the fairy tale. I illustrate how within the war narrative in addition to the author’s/filmmaker’s desire to recreate the sentiment that a child would evoke in adult readers and viewers, the child narrative viewer is employed for three main reasons: to play upon or against preexisting notions of the child’s innocence; to represent (possibly subversively) the nation; and as therapeutic means of returning to a paradise lost or creating a paradise never experienced.Item La escritura de viaje desde la perspectiva latinoamericana: Octavio Paz y el caso mexicano(2006) Cantú, Irma Leticia; Fierro, EnriqueThe dissertation’s introductory chapter defines how travel writing, as conceived of by most modern travel theories, fails to take into account a Spanish-American perspective. This chapter uses Paz’ writings as a foundation for my original theoretical framework in which I interpret Spanish-American travel experiences and the means by which they navigate questions of self, space and otherness. Chapter One, “En busca de México 1935-1957” considers how Mexican writing converses with other world cultures via a “horizontal rhetoric.” This concept is paralleled by Paz’ uses of simultaneism (among other poetic techniques) in his works to show the universal dimension of Mexican literature, with the goal of displacing the perception of that literature as a minor expression within world writing. Chapter Two, “Diálogos con Oriente 1962-1972,” reads Paz’ works both as representative of the Hispanic writing tradition, and as unconventional interpretations of Orientalism. I discern that two particular elements of Orientalism presented in Paz’ poetry function as points of unity between the East and Latin America; namely, the possibly Oriental origin of certain Latin American Pre-Colombian cultures, and the Arabic inheritance of Spain that was brought to Latin America. The final chapter situates Paz’ poetry in a space in which memory resuscitates bygone locations and past travels. His works emphasize the commonality between Mexico and a diversity of other world cultures, and my interpretation of his work as travel literature submits a new insight into our culturally intermeshed world. The ultimate scholarly contribution that this work offers is an elucidation of Paz’ principles of travel that reveal a view of “the other” which is not dictated by the ideas of imperialism.Item La figura mítica de Pancho Villa como ícono de identidad nacional y masculinidad en México y en la frontera México-Estados Unidos através de la literatura y el cine(2013-12) Chávez, Cuitláhuac; Domínguez Ruvalcaba, Héctor, 1962-In my dissertation I show how the hegemonic power of the post-revolutionary state in Mexico utilized the figure of legendary Pancho Villa in literature and cinematography to create a national myth that represents a consensus in a mestizo patriarchal Christian society. I examine how the use and abuse of the image of Villa in post-revolutionary literary works and films caused this figure to acquire mythical characteristics and dimensions, and to become a key element in the construction of national identity and masculinity in Mexico. I argue that the figure of Villa is a confirmation of a traditional rather than a revolutionary proposal in gender terms. Equally important, I demonstrate how the literature and film of the Mexican revolution constitute instrumental devices for the formation of masculinity and the strengthening of a homo-social culture in the Mexico’s post-revolutionary stage, a process that would later determine the structure of the Mexican state. I also contend that in the construction of the mythical figure of Pancho Villa at least two sources of representation are participating: the Mexican state machinery on the one hand, and the American media on the other. By the same token, I show how the figure of Villa nurtures a national project and constitutes one of the most diffused perceptions of Mexican identity in the United States.Item Land, family, and memory: a comparative approach to Go Down Moses and El Llano en Llamas [The Burning Plain](Texas Tech University, 2004-05) Mendoza-Serrano, CarolinaNot availableItem Perspectivas de la revolución mexicana en el exilio: el desencanto de los intelectuales en la narrativa mexicoamericana (1926-1935)(2013-05) González Esparza, Karla Elizabeth; González, John Morán; Arroyo-Martínez, JossiannaMy dissertation, Perspectives of the Mexican Revolution from the exile: the disillusionment of the intellectuals in Mexican-American narratives (1926-1935), studies the migration from Mexico to the United States during the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the literary production of the Mexican intellectuals in exile who build a transnational imaginary of national identity and interpretations of nationalism. I argue that the transnational experience of the Mexican Revolution influences the political discourse that questions the integration of the immigrant community in the reconstruction project of post-revolutionary Mexico, as reflected in the novels Las aventuras de don Chipote (1928) by Daniel Venegas, El sol de Texas (1926) by Conrado Espinoza and La patria perdida (1935) by Teodoro Torres. My work on these authors and their texts, all of them understudied and written in Spanish, focuses on the study of the parallels between the literary production during the Revolution in Mexico and also in the United States, pointing at a decisive moment where the transnational impact of the Revolution influences the incorporation of the immigrant and peasant community as citizens of Mexico or the United States. My dissertation consists of an introduction and four chapters. In the introduction, I present the theoretical framework that analyzes the literary production in both Mexico and the United States during this time period. Chapter 1 presents a historical context that explains the inevitable impact of the Mexican Revolution on the U.S.-Mexico border. Chapter 2 shows the perspective of Daniel Venegas in Las aventuras de don Chipote (1928) which presents a protest against the abuse of the immigrant communities and questions the success of the immigrant in the United States. Chapter 3 presents the perspective of Conrado Espinoza in El sol de Texas (1926) portraying the idea that the national imaginary can only be constructed in the nation and not in exile. Chapter 4 presents the perspective of Teodoro Torres in La patria perdida (1935) where the idea of the repatriation project is contested, and citizenship in the United States is favored. The dissertation intends to study two contrasting perspectives on the immigrant communities and their role in the reconstruction of post-revolutionary Mexico or in the booming U.S. economy.Item The secularization of the Divine in find de siglo Mexico : religion and modernity in prose works by Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera, Federico Gamboa, and Amado Nervo(2012-05) Garcia-Guajardo, Elizabeth Anne, 1960-; Domínguez Ruvalcaba, Héctor, 1962-; Lindstrom, Naomi; Robbins, Jill; Salgado, Cesar; Wettlaufer, AlexandraThe purpose of this study is to examine literary representations of religiosity and the spiritual realm in late nineteenth-century Mexico, in prose works by Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera (1859-1895), Federico Gamboa (1864-1939), and Amado Nervo (1870-1919). Through an analysis of selected texts by these authors, I will explore how they articulated the Roman Catholicism that permeated their cultural context, amid the processes of modernization. I will also show how they expressed subjective spiritual experiences, independent of the doctrinal precepts of the Church. All three of these writers devoted attention to the pervasive religiosity of their milieu, and wrestled with the question regarding the relevance of the Church in modernity. However, each one presents a distinct vision for the role that institutional religion should play. Each of these authors also portrays his own individual experiences of the metaphysical realm. Part One is based on an analysis of selected articles, chronicles, and short stories by Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera. This author utilizes the modernista aesthetic of the era to transform the religious impulse into subjective expressions of the Divine. In this regard, he presents a secular form of spirituality, although his texts often contain undertones of a lingering Catholicism. Part Two addresses the tension between religious orthodoxy and modernity in three novels by Federico Gamboa, narratives that reflect the author’s close adherence to Church dictates. In these stories the protagonists often come into conflict with the prevailing religious discourse that attempts to thwart their autonomy. Yet the narratives ultimately reaffirm and uphold Catholic values. In Part Three of this study I turn my attention to a selection of articles, chronicles, short stories, and novellas by Amado Nervo, the most spiritually inclined of the three authors. His early novellas present similar themes as Gamboa’s novels regarding the interference of the Church in the lives of the characters. However, Nervo’s later texts reveal that he did not feel compelled to remain within the limits of Church doctrine. Instead, he follows Nájera’s lead in exploring alternative perspectives of the Divine, such as spiritualist practices and the other religious traditions.