The Intertext of History and Literature in Face of an Angel, a Postmodern/Post-neocolonial Memoir by Denise Chávez.

Abstract

As the title itself suggests, the present article aims at drawing a parallel between history and fiction in the novel Face of an Angel, a first person narrative by Mexican-American writer Denise Chávez. Therefore, it is the focus of the current essay to analyse how the intertextuality between Chávez's plot and the historical periods that work as backdrops to the narrative operate. In order to set the boundaries of this research, three phases were selected for their relevance to the development of the narrator/protagonist, Soveida Dosamantes, and also of the Chicanos' historical process: the period that followed the Mexican-American War, the boiling 1960's and the supposedly promising 1980's. For the purpose of carrying out this paper, works by Stuart Hall, María Antonia Oliver-Rotger, Ellen McCracken, among others, were used as its theoretical support.