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- All Subjects: Latin American History
- Creators: Acereda, Alberto
Description
The revolution that took place in Nicaragua during the 70's led the country into misery; this war was a consequence of the Somoza dictatorship that had been in power for forty-five years. The Nicaraguan people were hoping to recover their peace and freedom by rising in arms against the dictatorship. Augusto Cesar Sandino is known to be the most significant patriotic figure for the Sandinista revolutionaries. His legacy inspired the foundation of the revolutionary party Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN). The FSLN was able to overthrow the Anastasio Somoza regime and declared their victory on July 19, 1979. The memories of the Sandinista Revolution are portrayed in the autobiographies of two Nicaraguan writers: Gioconda Belli and Sergio Ramirez. El país bajo mi piel (2001) y Adiós muchachos. Una memoria de la revolución sandinista (1999) are the texts analyzed in this study as part of those remembrances that revive the most significant events of the revolution from very unique perspectives. In order to develop this analysis we have consider the theoretical work of Phillip Lejeune. We have based our research in his definition of autobiography, his concept of autobiographical pact and the idea of contract between author and reader. Also, we have incorporated Evelyne Ender´s research on memory as the principal element in the literary construction of reminiscences. Ender explains the role of the rememberer, who is responsible of constructing their memories based on a subjective, cognitive, emotional and esthetic performance. At the same time, we have included the concept of biographical space explained by Leonor Arfuch, which is perceived as multi-faced space where different tendencies coexist. The purpose of this study is to explore the autobiographies of these Nicaraguan writers as an esthetical process where remembrances of the Sandinista Revolution come to live in a prose reflective narrative. Analyzing Belli and Ramirez's memoirs, we perceived their private and public stories of life that depict the most significant events of their lives and nation. The Sandinista Revolution is part of the Nicaraguan history and it cannot be forgotten that's the purpose behind this autobiographies to document these transcendental happenings.
ContributorsMorales, Nallely (Author) / Volek, Emil (Thesis advisor) / Acereda, Alberto (Committee member) / García-Fernández, Carlos J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794-1876) is considered as one of the biggest villains of Mexican history. This frequent president in the first decades of Independence of México is the main character portrayed in the novels analyzed in this dissertation: Su alteza serenísima (1895-1896) by Ireneo Paz, Santa Anna, el dictador resplandeciente (1936) by Rafael F. Muñoz, El seductor de la patria (1999) by Enrique Serna, and México mutilado (2006) by Francisco Martín Moreno. Many Mexican novelists have tackled iconic personalities from Mexican history. However, based upon the historical context that occurred within their lifetime, each author takes a different approach to the story and characters they portray. In the novel Su alteza serenísima, Santa Anna is presented with identical characteristics as in the official history. That was written for other liberals, like Paz, the author. In El dictador resplandeciente an image almost romantic of the leader is presented through the valorization of his role in history. The narrator shows the contradictions of Santa Anna, who was a hero and villain. Santa Anna is presented from different perspectives in El seductor de la patria. The narrator uses Santa Anna's voice projecting a consciousness of the future's judgment of history upon his actions and the voices of "the others" that live around him. In México mutilado Santa Anna is presented from the same perspective as the official history, although other traitors are added to distribute the fault among various important figures. This dissertation works through the analysis of the discursive mechanisms used in these novels, of the configuration of the message that they wish to convey to the reader, of the level of re-writing official history, of the perspective from which each author is reviewing the history, of the recount of what historical aspects and voices were chosen for inclusion in each novel, and through the evaluation of how the authors recover the figure of Santa Anna. This study follows an eclectic model of cultural commentary, taking up critical concepts from Latin American literary scholars such as Perkowska, Pons, Jitrik, Aínsa, among others.
ContributorsSigüenza Ponce, Olga (Author) / Volek, Emil (Thesis advisor) / Acereda, Alberto (Committee member) / Hernández-Gutierrez, Manuel J (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011