Dans le contexte de la progressive (re-)démocratisation de l'isthme centraméricain au cours des années 1990, le sous-genre du roman historique connaît un nouvel essor s'inscrivant ainsi dans une tendance globale du sous-continent latino-américain. Les auteurs femmes de l'isthme non seulement commencent à se saisir du genre romanesque en général qu'elles n'avaient que peu cultivé jusqu'alors, mais participent activement de ce nouvel engouement que suscite la mise en fiction de l'histoire, un phénomène qui n'a été que très peu examiné par la critique. La présente recherche est construite à partir de l'analyse textuelle de sept romans publiés entre 1992 et 2007 par six écrivaines centraméricaines. D'une part, nous tentons de montrer que l'écriture fictionnelle de l'histoire des romancières centraméricaines se caractérise par un certain nombre de spécificités qui relèvent de l'approche historique des marginaux et des exclus du pouvoir. D'autre part, nous cherchons à mettre en lumière que cette écriture s'inscrit également dans une tendance plus générale que nous avons qualifiée d'« esthétique de la trace » : une évolution progressive du roman historique vers le roman de la mémoire historique. Aussi, cette recherche menée à bien sur une littérature encore trop marginale dans les universités européennes a pour objet de contribuer à l'analyse des modalités d'écriture de l'histoire choisies par les auteurs femmes en Amérique centrale et de concourir à la compréhension du changement de paradigme que nous semble subir actuellement le roman historique, non seulement dans la région, mais aussi dans nombre de pays latino-américains marqués par un processus de transition politique. / In the context of the progressive (re-)democratization of the Central American isthmus during the 1990s, the sub-genre of the historical novel lived a new boom inscribing itself in a global tendency on the Latin American sub-continent. Women writers in the isthmus not only started to make their presence felt in the novel, in general, scarcely cultivated by them up to that moment, but participated actively in the new enthusiasm provoked by the mise en fiction of history, a phenomenon barely studied by Central American literary criticism up until then. This study is based on the textual analysis of seven novels published between 1992 and 2007 by six Central American women writers. It seeks to demonstrate that the fictional writing of these Central American women novelists is characterized by a certain number of specific features that do not depend on biology but represent a historical approach that predominantly focuses on women, the marginalised and those excluded from power. On the other hand, it also tries to show that at the same time this writing is part of a more general tendency that we have termed the "aesthetics of trace": a progressive evolution of the historic novel towards the novel of historical memory. In this way, the present research about a literature still too marginalized in European universities, aims at contributing to the analysis of the modes of history writing chosen by women writers in Central America and to the comprehension of the change of paradigm, which the historical novel is undergoing at this moment, not only in the Central American region, but also in a number of Latin American countries that are marked by a process of political transition.

This thesis offers a typology of Postmodern women�s discourse from a sociological perspective. By focusing on the reading of Gioconda Belli�s Sofia de los presagios, Isabel Allende�s Paula, and Anacristina Rossi�s La loca de Gandoca, it examines how each writer achieves, thanks to the process of dialogism and the carnivalesque, a critique of social and aesthetic values, associated with Eurocentric discourse. Thanks to these two processes, the values associated with the marginalized position of women in Latin America, are brought to the surface, offering a better understanding of the relation that exists between women�s literary production and the cultural environment. Chapter one offers an overview of the concepts associated with Posmodernism, and its relevance in the Latin American context. This chapter also outlines the key concepts associated with dialogism and the carnivalesque. Chapter two examines the use of the carnivalesque in two plays by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Los empenos de una casa and Amor es mas laberinto as antecedents of subversive writing in Spanish American women�s writing. It discusses how Sor Juana through appropriation and inversion, transforms her texts into a critique of marginalized social groups. This chapter proposes that Sor Juana sets the model for the subversive nature of Spanish American women�s writing. Chapter three offers a reading of Cristina Peri Rossi�s El libro de mis primos as an example of radical feminist discourse produced in the 60�s, focusing on the use of parody and irony as means of transgressing patriarchal discourse. Chapter four examines Gioconda Belli�s Sofia de los presagios, and the incorporation of ancestral and modern myths, to accentuate women�s marginality and the conflicting and contradictory nature of Nicaraguan society. Chapter five focuses on a reading of Isabel Allende�s Paula in which the techniques of magical realism and the carnivalesque are brought together to criticize social and cultural practices that marginalize women. Chapter six examines Anacristina Rossi�s La loca de Gandoca. It focuses on the way Rossi makes use of popular music, romantic literature, poetry, and bureaucratic discourse, to denounce the exploitation and destruction of Costa Rica�s natural resources through ecotourism.

This thesis offers a typology of Postmodern women�s discourse from a sociological perspective. By focusing on the reading of Gioconda Belli�s Sofia de los presagios, Isabel Allende�s Paula, and Anacristina Rossi�s La loca de Gandoca, it examines how each writer achieves, thanks to the process of dialogism and the carnivalesque, a critique of social and aesthetic values, associated with Eurocentric discourse. Thanks to these two processes, the values associated with the marginalized position of women in Latin America, are brought to the surface, offering a better understanding of the relation that exists between women�s literary production and the cultural environment. Chapter one offers an overview of the concepts associated with Posmodernism, and its relevance in the Latin American context. This chapter also outlines the key concepts associated with dialogism and the carnivalesque. Chapter two examines the use of the carnivalesque in two plays by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Los empenos de una casa and Amor es mas laberinto as antecedents of subversive writing in Spanish American women�s writing. It discusses how Sor Juana through appropriation and inversion, transforms her texts into a critique of marginalized social groups. This chapter proposes that Sor Juana sets the model for the subversive nature of Spanish American women�s writing. Chapter three offers a reading of Cristina Peri Rossi�s El libro de mis primos as an example of radical feminist discourse produced in the 60�s, focusing on the use of parody and irony as means of transgressing patriarchal discourse. Chapter four examines Gioconda Belli�s Sofia de los presagios, and the incorporation of ancestral and modern myths, to accentuate women�s marginality and the conflicting and contradictory nature of Nicaraguan society. Chapter five focuses on a reading of Isabel Allende�s Paula in which the techniques of magical realism and the carnivalesque are brought together to criticize social and cultural practices that marginalize women. Chapter six examines Anacristina Rossi�s La loca de Gandoca. It focuses on the way Rossi makes use of popular music, romantic literature, poetry, and bureaucratic discourse, to denounce the exploitation and destruction of Costa Rica�s natural resources through ecotourism.