Este trabajo consiste en un análisis de dos poemas de la autora Gioconda Belli desde una perspectiva feminista.

En La retórica del placer: Cuerpo, magia, deseo y subjetividad en cinco novelas de Gioconda Belli analizo el papel que desempeña el cuerpo de la mujer en el discurso de Belli y las transgresiones que éste produce. Argumento que en la narrativa de Belli existe una retórica del placer y en ésta, las protagonistas transgreden la construcción del rol de género y de sexo que se ha fijado para la mujer en la cultura de las sociedades latinoamericanas a través de diferentes mecanismos de resistencia que realizan por medio de su cuerpo. En este sentido, las protagonistas emplean por lo menos una de las siguientes estrategias: 1) afirman y revalorizan lo femenino; por un lado, maquillándose y vistiéndose de manera muy atractiva y sensual--lo cual puede interpretarse como una contradicción--; sin embargo, emplean estas "armas milenarias de la feminidad" (La mujer 16), no para convertirse en objetos de placer para los hombres, sino para ellas mismas; y por otro, manifestando orgullosamente su intuición, su sensibilidad y su conexión con la naturaleza; 2) desempeñan otros roles de género saliéndose de los patrones que tan estrictamente han sido establecidos para la mujer; y por último, 3) gozan abiertamente de su erotismo para redefinir su sexualidad y otorgarse poder.El apoyo teórico que empleo para analizar las novelas antes señaladas se compone primeramente de las premisas críticas sobre la sexualidad de Lucía Guerra-Cunningham, Amy K. Kaminsky y Diane E. Marting. Además, las teorizaciones de Barbara Loach y Michel Foucault, principalmente, son utilizadas para explicar el concepto de poder y su relación con el cuerpo. Asimismo recurro a los conceptos teóricos sobre erotismo de Georges Bataille, a las conceptualizaciones del realismo mágico de Wendy B. Faris y de "lo real maravilloso" de Alejo Carpentier, y a las perspectivas teóricas del carácter ficticio de los discursos históricos de Hayden White.

Ce travail porte sur les six premiers récits de Gioconda Belli, romancière, poète et ex-révolutionnaire nicaraguayenne. Il interroge trois motifs récurrents dans son œuvre – la Révolte, la Révolution et l’Utopie –, et cherche à en expliquer la présence obsessionnelle. En tant qu’intermédiaires entre les sphères individuelle et collective, ces objets d’étude nécessitent un éclairage à la fois psychanalytique et sociologique ; ces deux disciplines sont donc les outils privilégiés dans l’analyse, de même que la psychologie sociale, qui s’intéresse précisément aux processus psychiques régissant les interactions interpersonnelles. L’hypothèse de départ est que l’engagement dérive de la situation identitaire instable des personnages au début du récit, et que le choix entre Révolte, Révolution et Utopie dépend des conditions identitaires dans lesquelles ils se trouvent. Pour vérifier ce postulat, notre étude s’attache à dessiner les contours de la carence affective de chaque protagoniste, et analyse les processus identitaires susceptibles d’influencer la décision de s’engager, ainsi que les mécanismes psychiques que cette décision déclenche. Le fait que la quête d’identité ne soit pas assouvie par l’engagement mène alors à s’interroger sur la fonction idéologique de la Révolte, de la Révolution et de l’Utopie dans ces romans. Il s’agit donc aussi de déterminer le rôle de ces trois objets dans les récits, par l’étude de leur dimension temporelle, qui remplit une fonction à la fois diégétique et idéologique, ainsi que par l’analyse du dispositif argumentatif qui leur est associé, et qui révèle, de la part de l’auteur, une instrumentalisation de la littérature à des fins politiques. / This work deals with the first six novels of the novelist, poet and ex-revolutionary from Nicaragua, Gioconda Belli. It explores three recurrent themes – Revolt, Revolution and Utopia – and endeavours to explain the reason for their obsessional presence. As intermediaries between the individual and the collective, these concepts require both a psychoanalytical and sociological perspective. These two academic disciplines thus constitute the main tools of the research, as well as social psychology, which deals indeed with the psychological processes at play in interpersonal relations. The underlying assumption is that commitment stems from the characters’ unstable identity at the beginning of each novel, and that the choice between Revolt, Revolution and Utopia depends upon the circumstances of the creation of these identities. To put this assumption to the test, our study tries to locate the marks of emotional deprivation in each protagonist, and analyses the identity processes which are likely to influence the determination to commit and the psychological mechanisms resulting from such decision. Yet, the quest for identity is not quenched by commitment and this puts into question the ideological function of Revolt, Revolution and Utopia in these novels. Hence, this study equally tries to determine the role of these three objects in Belli’s work. It considers their temporal dimension, which has both a diegetic and an ideological function, and studies the argumentative devices attached to them, revealing thus the author’s political instrumentalisation of literature.

Motherhood and maternity are common themes in Nicaraguan author Gioconda Belli’s (1948–) writings, but in Waslala (2006) her exploration of the mother figure dives further into what a relationship with such a figure provides. Through a development narrative, parallel to that of female Bildungsroman and quest-romance, the protagonist, Melisandra, grows in maternal history and culture in her search for mother. This thesis uses the theories of Carol Christ, Dana Heller, Joseph Campbell and others to see Melisandra’s odyssey through the lens of a quest narrative. Along this journey, two maternal figures play an important role in preparing her for her climactic reunion with her own biological mother. They both teach and give examples of female strength and authority that Melisandra then emulates. As Melisandra discovers and forms her own identity, she finds herself in a pivotal position that intertwines her quest with that of her community’s. Upon leaving the utopian Waslala where she meets her mother, it becomes apparent that the mother has become central for both Melisandra’s personal identity and that of her community. Ultimately, the trajectory of Melisandra’s journey shows the archetype and figure of the mother as paramount for growth, development, and self-actualization.

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.

Si la littérature centre-américaine est peu étudiée, la poésie contemporaine des femmes de l’Isthme l’est moins encore. Nous avons donc souhaité participer au développement de ce champ de recherche, en étudiant l’œuvre lyrique de six écrivaines d’Amérique centrale. Dans ce corpus, publié de 1948 à nos jours, la réinvention des mythes – par l’appropriation, l’actualisation et/ou le détournement – nous a semblé particulièrement significative. Pour l’aborder, nous suivons tout d’abord le fil de la vie des poétesses sur la trame de l’Histoire contemporaine de l’Isthme et de sa littérature. Puis, nous tentons de caractériser les différents types de mythes qui peuplent leurs recueils – mythes ancestraux (amérindiens, grecs et bibliques) et mythes « nouveaux-nés », fruits de représentations stéréotypées et souvent idéalisées (l’Eternel féminin ou le « macho »). Par l’analyse textuelle et une approche théorique basée sur la réécriture et la mythocritique, nous étudions le traitement de ces motifs et figures mythiques selon leur provenance et leur valeur prescriptive envers les femmes. Nous observons ensuite de quelle manière la réinvention des mythes s’inscrit dans la poétisation du cycle de la vie, de la création (Genèse du Monde, de l’humain, de l’enfant, du poème) à la mort. Enfin, nous analysons comment, à travers le prisme du mythe, le statut de la femme et de l’homme sont redéfinis – notamment en brisant l’alternative femme exemplaire (Pénélope, l’ange du foyer) / femme fatale ou « perdue » (Eve, Médée, la prostituée), en valorisant l’héroïsme au féminin et à travers de nouveaux mythes (la femme sauvage) – pour aboutir à une réinvention des relations homme/femme. / The literature of Central America – and in particular the contemporary works of the female poets in this region – is a little-studied subject. We therefore wished to help develop this field of research by examining the lyrical work of six women writers from Central America. In this corpus, published from 1948 to the present day, the reinvention of myths is, to our minds, especially significant. In order to tackle this subject, we shall first unravel the threads of these poets’ lives from the fabric of the contemporary history and literature of Central America. We shall then attempt to characterise the types of myths found in their poems – age-old tales (Amerindian, Greek and Biblical) as well as « newborn » myths that are the fruit of stereotyped and images (the Archetypal Female or the « macho » male). Through textual analysis and a theoretical approach based on rewriting and myth criticism, we shall study the way these myths are dealt with according to where they come from and their advisory value regarding women. We shall then consider the way in which the reinvention of myths is part of the poetic depiction of the life cycle from creation (the genesis of the world, of human life; the birth of a child, of a poem) to death. Finally, we shall analyse how the status of women and men is redefined through the prismatic distortion of the myth – by breaking down the dichotomy between the commendable woman (Penelope, the angel in the house) and the femme fatale or « fallen woman » (Eve, Medea, the prostitute), or praising female heroism through new myths (such as the wild woman) – with a view to breaking new ground in male-female relationships.

abstract: The revolution that took place in Nicaragua during the 70's led the country into misery; this war was a consequence of the Somoza dictatorship that had been in power for forty-five years. The Nicaraguan people were hoping to recover their peace and freedom by rising in arms against the dictatorship. Augusto Cesar Sandino is known to be the most significant patriotic figure for the Sandinista revolutionaries. His legacy inspired the foundation of the revolutionary party Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN). The FSLN was able to overthrow the Anastasio Somoza regime and declared their victory on July 19, 1979. The memories of the Sandinista Revolution are portrayed in the autobiographies of two Nicaraguan writers: Gioconda Belli and Sergio Ramirez. El país bajo mi piel (2001) y Adiós muchachos. Una memoria de la revolución sandinista (1999) are the texts analyzed in this study as part of those remembrances that revive the most significant events of the revolution from very unique perspectives. In order to develop this analysis we have consider the theoretical work of Phillip Lejeune. We have based our research in his definition of autobiography, his concept of autobiographical pact and the idea of contract between author and reader. Also, we have incorporated Evelyne Ender´s research on memory as the principal element in the literary construction of reminiscences. Ender explains the role of the rememberer, who is responsible of constructing their memories based on a subjective, cognitive, emotional and esthetic performance. At the same time, we have included the concept of biographical space explained by Leonor Arfuch, which is perceived as multi-faced space where different tendencies coexist. The purpose of this study is to explore the autobiographies of these Nicaraguan writers as an esthetical process where remembrances of the Sandinista Revolution come to live in a prose reflective narrative. Analyzing Belli and Ramirez's memoirs, we perceived their private and public stories of life that depict the most significant events of their lives and nation. The Sandinista Revolution is part of the Nicaraguan history and it cannot be forgotten that's the purpose behind this autobiographies to document these transcendental happenings. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Spanish 2012

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.