Publication Date

1993

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

LCSH

Mastretta; Angeles; 1949---Criticism and interpretation; Mastretta; Angeles; 1949-. Mujeres de ojos grandes; Latin American literature--Women authors--History and criticism; Feminism and literature--Latin America; Postmodernism (Literature)--Latin America

Abstract

The diversity of postmodernist literature reflects the rapidly changing paradigms within our society today. The current Latin American narrative has various forms, themes, styles and manners. Many times the theme is ordinary and the language is irreverent, direct and sometimes vulgar. Literary perspectives that did not customarily form part of the usual literary assumption (homosexuality or woman) have been their instruments of preference. Angeles Mastretta's novel Mujeres__de Ojos Grandes (Women With Big Eyes) is an excellent example of this new Latin American narrative. It has a common theme, the quotidian life of women in Mexico around the 1950's. The series of vignettes are presented from a woman's perspective. The language is colloquial, irreverent and sometimes even vulgar. Mastretta's mastery of the language in this way allows her to humorously criticize society. The importance of the role of women writers in the rise of postmodernist literature is a critical one. A literary text does one of two things: it perpetuates the established order or it attacks it either totally or partially. In either case, the established order is a reference point used to produce the meaning of the text organized by the dominant narrative vision. The dominant narrative vision in Muieres de Oios Grandes is a feminist one. Yet Angeles Mastretta has succeeded in attacking the established order in a nonadversarial manner by using humor and sarcasm, and thus has established herself as a leading female writer in Latin America.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references (pages [51-53])

Extent

50, [3] pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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