CATALINA GUZMÁN DE ASCENCIO O EL CONFLICTO DE LEALTADES: ENTRE EL MACHISMO, EL MALINCHISMO Y EL FEMINISMO

• Authors: IENCEANU Lavinia

Title variants

EN

CATALINA GUZMÁN DE ASCENCIO OR THE PERFECT CASE OF CONFLICTING LOYALTIES TO: MACHISM, MALINCHISM AND FEMINISM

• Languages of publication: ES

Abstracts

The present contribution proposes a hermeneutically- and socioanthropologically-based approach to Catalina Guzmán de Ascencio‘s ascent in a men‘s world, as depicted by Ángeles Mastretta in the novel Arráncame la vida (1985). In order to successfully make out the inner workings of the protagonist‘s developing identity, we seek to analyze more closely the driving force behind the adultery committed, and, in so doing, we hope to pin down the axiological tenets of feminine behaviour, more specifically, to trace her ontogenetic evolution back to its fons et origo, with a view to capturing the psychological profile of this very young Mexican adulteress by zooming in on several phases of her search for a new identity, or patterns followed in constructing her femininity. Thus, her growing awareness of the power residing in this femininity, which, as she matures, makes for her conversion from victim into victimizer, from the perfect ingénue into Mrs. Ingenuity, from a humble imitator into a fierce combatant, or from a rather dependent and self-effacing girl into a fairly independent and self-assertive woman, adduces supporting evidence for our claim that facing us is the perfect case of constructing the feminine identity at the expense of the masculine alterity, or, worse even, by more or less abruptly destroying one‘s inner self. In the light of the above, while upsetting tradition, general Ascencio‘s highly atypical spouse can be viewed as in fact setting up a new typology in the literary genre documented, since, even if a genuine representative of Feminism still very much in its infancy, she did after all revolutionize the spirit of that epoch. Finally, by bringing allegory to bear on the interpretation of this novel, we venture to construe Catalina Guzmán de Ascencio as an epitome of the Mexican life philosophy in particular, and, by extension, of the spiritual Hispano-Americanicity at its ripest, and last but not least, as a personification of the decolonized ―Motherland as well as a feminine symbol of the fate of Hispanic America at large. El presente trabajo investigativo plantea un enfoque hermenéutico socio-antropológico de la trayectoria vital de Catalina Guzmán de Ascencio, la protagonista de la novela mastrettiana Arráncame la vida (1985). Al desentrañar el armazón identitario del personaje, pretendemos examinar los resortes subyacentes al adulterio y rastrear los pivotes axiológicos de la conducta femenina, esto es, incidir en el cómo y los porqués de su evolución ontogénica con vistas a hacer un esbozo del perfil psicológico de la jovencísima adúltera mexicana, poner de relieve sus avatares identitarios y pilares idiosincrásicos, así como delinear las pautas de construcción de su feminidad. En este sentido, las progresivas tomas de conciencia y poder de la protagonista, a la par que los escalones madurativos que ésta va remontando a fin de convertirse de víctima en victimaria, de ingenua en ingeniosa, de imitativa en combativa, de dependiente e insuficiente en independiente y autosuficiente, dan fe de un singular proceso de construcción de la identidad femenina cimentado en la gradual destrucción de la alteridad masculina, cuando no en repentinas o paulatinas autodestrucciones. A la luz de todo ello, la atípica esposa del general Ascencio parece sentar las bases de una nueva tipología literaria, vertebrada por la conciencia de género, al ser una feminista en ciernes, pero, aun así, revolucionaria para la época. En virtud de algunas claves de lectura alegórica que barajamos, sopesamos, por último, la posibilidad de interpretar a Catalina Guzmán de Ascencio como epítome de la filosofía vital mexicana en concreto, y, por extensión, de la quintaesencia espiritual hispanoamericana, a la vez que hipóstasis de la ―Madre Patria‖ descolonializada y símbolo femenino del destino de toda Hispanoamérica.

Keywords

EN

identitary (re)construction; (self)destruction; femininity; Feminism; Malinchism; Machiavellianism; Electra‘s complex

• Publisher: Inter Litteras Research Centre, STEFAN CEL MARE University, Suceava, Romania; STEFAN CEL MARE Publishing House
• Journal: Concordia Discors vs Discordia Concors: Researches into Comparative Literature, Contrastive Linguistics, Cross-Cultural and Translation Strategies
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 5
• Pages: 43-85

Contributors

author

IENCEANU Lavinia

• Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania