Keywords

Mestizaje, identity, race, history, fiction, cortes

Abstract

The historical novel, Cortes Cenquizqui, set in sixteenth century Mexico and Spain, follows the conflicted lives and minds of several characters through an age of freshly crossing culture, language, and power. The narrator, Maria de Quesada of high ranking Spanish and Mexica parents, resents the white world for condemning her work as a female healer or curandera. Yet she acknowledges that she is ill-equipped to leave Mexico City to live in the outlying Indigenous villages. Maria recalls the tale of her three brothers who were caught in a web of pride and prejudices. Her interjections throughout shed light on questions of feminism, nationalism, identity, diversity, love, and queerness. Her tragic story leaves the reader with an understanding of the outsider and of hopeful possibilities for the future. This novel calls on a biblical passage and historical documentation. Page 39 and 191 are examples of the biblical passage and documented speech from historical persons used within the literary context of this work.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2014

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Nwakanma, Obi

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

English

Degree Program

Creative Writing

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0005176

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0005176

Language

English

Release Date

5-15-2019

Length of Campus-only Access

5 years

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Arts and Humanities -- Dissertations, Academic; Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Humanities

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