Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. [Vol. 5.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 25)
Studies - András Tarnóc: Voices From the Wild Zone: Three Versions of the Feminist Aesthetic in American Culture
male writing is driven by the manifestation of a father and son conflict. Latina literary production commemorates the clash between the mother and the daughter (Ortega and Saporta Sternbach 12). Latina feminism or the Chicana aesthetic fights against the partial truths of the "official hegemonic ideology," as the mainstream discourse is characterized by omissions and gaps. The Chicana aesthetic attempts to fill the gap by deconstructing the angel and prostitute stereotypes. Consequently, Latina writing at first offers a "negative definition" of Chicana identity, establishing what Chicana women are not, than it proceeeds to give an affirmative description of the Latina character and its historical and macrosocial surroundings (Ortega and Saporta Sternbach 13). According to Catherine Belsey feminism is based on the cultural construction of the self. Feminist consciousness arises when the self is considered a speaking subject. For women in general this process is very painful as speech and language are elements of the phallogocentric socio-symbolic order. A Latina needs to be inscribed into two symbolic orders, the mainstream, or hegemonic culture, and the Spanish language mother culture. Since the Self has to continuously negotiate between two cultures —belonging to neither, rejected by the first and accepted by the second, a devalued form of discourse itself —a Latina develops a negative view of herself. Owing to this continual balancing between two cultures, or a constant liminality, one of the most defining characteristics of Latina writing is bilingualism (Ortega and Saporta Sternbach 14). Chicana feminism's main objectives are the fight against gender inequality and against the interlocking systems of oppression. An additional function of Latina writers is to act as a chronicler of their personal lives and of their community as well. A Latina writer also projects a New Person forged by her fight against racism and sexism (Ortega and Saporta Sternbach 16). Writing not only serves as the expression of the self, or the demonstration of achieving the status of "speaking subject," but guarantees the Chicana author's mental equilibrium, and protects her psychic integrity. As Ortega and Sternbach argue, the main elements of Latina aesthetic are interlingualism, intertextuality, and a struggle for a "woman, life, and mestizaje affirming discourse" (18). The story of Malinche, reflects the Chicana/Latina experience. Driven by the mother's intention to please Malinche's stepfather, so the latter could
