Oral narratives of Elena Lezama de Rodriguez : a female view of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1928.

Abstract

The main objective of this dissertation is to transcribe into written form a series of oral narratives dealing with the Mexican Revolution. The historical period that they cover goes from 1892, eighteen years before the initiation of hostilities between the revolutionary forces of Francisco I. Madero and the government of Porfirio Diaz, through the end of the Revolution in 1928. The original narrator of the stories is Elena Lezama de Rodriguez, and she provides a female perspective on the conflict.

The purpose of this project is to preserve a literary creation. The stories are based on historical facts, but Elena Lezama de Rodriguez embellished them with fictional elements. Nevertheless, they reveal a deeper reality than historical narratives/accounts because they deal with people's emotions during a serious crisis.

The dissertation is divided into four distinct sections. The first one provides an historical background for the narratives. It shows how the social turmoil of the Revolution ironically facilitated the emancipation of some women who belonged to the aristocracy. The literature consulted includes views by members of different political factions of the various historical events.

The second section explains the methodology used to transcribe the stories. The process followed three steps. First, the stories were recorded in writing, initially in Spanish and then in English, trying to maintain all the elements of the original oral narrative. Secondly, through an immersion into Elena Lezama de Rodriguez's world, the stories were edited and expanded in an attempt to place them in their historical perspective. This immersion included reading personal correspondence, interviewing family members, and visiting actual settings. Finally, the stories were organized in a narrative structure that basically follows a chronological order. The literature consulted includes sources dealing with cultural studies, post-colonial theory, feminist narratives and discourse, alternative forms of representation, anthropological narratives, and fiction dealing with the Mexican Revolution.

The third section, the stories themselves, forms the bulk of the dissertation. Finally, the fourth section analyzes the artistic importance of the stories and the achievements and limitations of the emancipation of aristocratic women during the Mexican Revolution as seen through Elena Lezama de Rodriguez's eyes.