Letras Hispanas Volume 15 TITLE: Dueling Portrayals of La Malinche in Twenty-First Century Mexican Historical Fiction AUTHOR: Julee Tate EMAIL:
[email protected] AFFILIATION: Berry College; Department of Foreign Languages; EVA 206 B; 2277 Martha Berry Hwy NW; Mount Berry, GA 30149 ABSTRACT: La Malinche, the indigenous adolescent who served as Hernán Cortés’s interpreter and concubine during the Conquest of the Aztec Empire, is a foundational figure in the Mexican cultural imaginary who continues to inspire literary explorations of her life nearly five centuries after her death. This article explores her characterization in two recent Mexi- can historical novels: Malinche (2006) by Laura Esquivel and Isabel Moctezuma (2008) by Eugenio Aguirre. These novels naturally enter into an intertextual conversation with other texts written about Malinche in the extensive bibliography of works that hypothesize about her life and perspectives. I argue that the key textual interlocuter for both novels is Octavio Paz’s influential essay, “Los hijos de la Malinche” (1950), in which he solidifies her reputa- tion as “La Chingada,” or the passive, yet violated, symbolic mother of mestizo Mexico. I further contend that Esquivel and Aguirre engage with Paz’s pronouncement on Malinche in starkly different ways, yet both aspire through their novels to help her mestizo children reconcile with their symbolic lineage. KEYWORDS: Malinche, Octavio Paz, Laura Esquivel, Eugenio Aguirre, Isabel Moctezuma RESUMEN: La Malinche, la adolescente indígena que sirvió de intérprete y concubina de Hernán Cortés durante la conquista del Imperio Azteca, es una figura fundamental en el imaginario cultural mexicano que continúa inspirando exploraciones literarias de su vida casi cinco siglos después de su muerte.