Imperial and Postcolonial Desires: Sonata de Estio and the Malinche Paradigm

Abstract

[E]s o sera santa, prostituta, reina, mendiga, virgen, adultera, martir writes Octavio Paz, listing the roles Maria Felix played on and off the screen. At various moments, Mexican, Chicano, and Chicana cultures have characterized La Malinche in similar terms, prescribing the cultural role of visible women through her cultural and literary trajectory. In the figure of Ramon del Valle-Inclan's Nina Chole, the confluence of La Dona and La Malinche resounds across cultures and across historical landmarks, creating a connectthe-dots vision of the staying-power of gendered metaphors for culture. Reading the canonical Spanish novel Sonata de estio and the star-studded Mexican film Sonatas through the lens of post-nationalist Chicana feminism evinces the international application of La Malinche's capacity as the quintessential symbol of loss in nationalist discourses on both sides of the Atlantic.

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