Description
Book SynopsisOf all the historical characters known from the time of the Spanish conquest of the New World, none has proved more pervasive or controversial than that of the Indian interpreter, guide, mistress, and confidante of Hernán Cortés, Doña Marina—La Malinche—Malintzin. The mother of Cortés''s son, she becomes not only the mother of the mestizo but also the Mexican Eve, the symbol of national betrayal.
Very little documented evidence is available about Doña Marina. This is the first serious study tracing La Malinche in texts from the conquest period to the present day. It is also the first study to delineate the transformation of this historical figure into a literary sign with multiple manifestations.
Cypess includes such seldom analyzed texts as Ireneo Paz''s Amor y suplicio and Doña Marina, as well as new readings of well-known texts like Octavio Paz''s El laberinto de la soledad. Using a feminist pe
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1. La Malinche as Palimpsest
- 2. Aztec Society before the Conquest
- 3. The Creation of Doña Marina in the Colonial Period
- 4. Eve and the Serpent: The Nationalists' View
- 5. Doña Marina Recast: From the Postintervention Period to 1950
- 6. La Malinche on Stage
- 7. Re/visions of the Cultural Metaphor
- 8. Re/formation of the Tradition by Chicana Writers
- 9. The Malinche Paradigm as Subtext
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
