Description
Book SynopsisFact is torn from fiction in this first biography of Mexico's famous independence heroine, which also traces her subsequent journey from history to myth. María Ignacia Rodríguez de Velasco y Osorio Barba (17781850) is an iconic figure in Mexican history. Known by the nickname La Güera Rodríguez because she was so fair, she is said to have possessed a remarkably sharp wit, a face fit for statuary, and a penchant for defying the status quo. Charming influential figures such as Simon Bolívar, Alexander von Humboldt, and Agustín de Iturbide, she utilized gold and guile in equal measure to support the independence movementor so the stories say. In La Güera Rodríguez, Silvia Marina Arrom approaches the legends of Rodríguez de Velasco with a keen eye, seeking to disentangle the woman from the myth. Arrom uses a wide array of primary sources from the period to piece together an intimate portrait of this remarkable woman, followed by a review of her evolving representation in Mexican art
Trade Review"The charm and the impact of this brilliant study owe, in part, to the reader’s cool distance from the fiery fiction of writers who stoked embers in the dry archives of la Güera’s life. We know more than they did. But along with knowing, we experience another level of enjoyment in Arrom’s book. It is the exposure to fiction and fantasy. Silvia Arrom manages to give us both pleasures, the hot and the cold." * ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America *
"This book will fascinate readers. . . .[it turns] a life into a literary tale." * Hispanic American Historical Review *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One The Life
1. La Güera as a Young Woman, 1778–1808
2. La Güera on Her Own, 1808–1820
3. Independence Heroine?
4. An Aristocratic Lady, 1825–1850
Part Two The Afterlife
5. The First Hundred Years after Her Death
6. The Legend Crystallized in Valle-Arizpe's
La Güera Rodríguez, 1949
7. La Güera after Valle-Arizpe: The Power of Fiction
Conclusion
Appendix A. Chronology of a Life
Appendix B. Genealogy
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
