The Intertext of History and Literature in Face of an Angel, a Postmodern/Post-neocolonial Memoir by Denise Chávez.

Autores

  • Lana Beth Araujo Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
  • Peonia Viana Guedes Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro - UERJ

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2014n67p63

Resumo

 

As the title itself suggests, the present article aims at tracing a parallel between history and fiction in the novel Face of an Angel, a fictional autobiography by Mexican-American writer Denise Chávez.  Therefore, it is the focus of the current paper to analyse how the intertextuality between Chávez’s plot and the historical periods that work as backdrops to the narrative operate. In order to set the boundaries of this research, three phases were selected for their relevance to the development of the narrator/protagonist, Soveida Dosamantes and also to the Chicanos’ historical process: the period that followed the Mexican-American War, the boiling 1960’s and the supposedly promising 1980’s. For the purpose of carrying out this paper, the works by Stuart Hall, María Antonia Oliver-Rotger, Ellen McCracken, among others, were used as its theoretical support

Biografia do Autor

Lana Beth Araujo, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Lana Beth Ayres Franco de Araujo holds a BA in Português-Literaturas (UFRJ - 1984), a B.A. in Inglês-Literaturas (UERJ 2006) and an M.A in Literaturas de Língua Inglesa (UERJ 2014). Between 1987 and 1988, she was a teacher at Colégio Martins, where she taught Brazilian Literature. Between 1995 and 2003, she was an English teacher at Brasas English Course, giving classes at the three levels – basic, intermediate and advanced. From 2004 and 2006, she was a proofreader at Editora Rocco, based in Rio de Janeiro. In 2011 and 2012, she translated the first two of volumes of Skeleton Creek, a book series for teenagers by Patrick Carman for Editora Fundamento, based in Curitiba. She has published a number of articles and had the translation of the short story “The Other Family”, by Himani Banerji, accepted for publication in Revista Rónai (Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora). E-mail: araujolana1988@gmail.com

 

Peonia Viana Guedes, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro - UERJ

Peonia Viana Guedes is Full Professor of Literatures in English at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – UERJ. She holds a BA in Português/Inglês from PUC/Rio (1967) and a Ph.D in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1994), USA. She carried out post-doctoral studies in Post-Colonial Literature at UFMG (2003-2004). She teaches and develops research related to the representation of the female subject in contemporary literature, with focus on identity, gender and ethnic issues. In her studies, Peonia Viana Guedes uses the principles of feminist, post-modern and post-colonial theories and criticism. She has published Em busca da identidade feminina: os romances de Margaret Drabble (1997), as well as numerous articles and book chapters. E-mail: peoniaguedes@terra.com.br

Publicado

2014-12-16