Biographical aspects

Ángeles Mastretta was born in 1949 in the state of Puebla, which is located on Mexico’s plateau, surrounded by rugged mountains and volcanoes to which the author makes frequent reference in her works. She moved to Mexico City, following the death of her father Carlos Mastretta in 1971. His passing left a lasting effect on her and his influence on her writing emerged in her portrayal of strong paternal figures, as will be seen in this study. Mastretta graduated in journalism at the Universidad Autónoma de México (Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales) and subsequently contributed to newspapers and magazines such as Excelsior and Unomásuno. She had a regular column, Del absurdo cotidiano, in the cultural review, Ovaciones, to which she contributed articles on politics and feminism. Following the award of a scholarship from the Centro Mexicano de Escritores in 1974, she published La pájara pinta (1975), her only collection of poetry. For three years, from 1975 to 1977, Mastretta was director of both Difusión Cultural of the ENEP-Acatlán and from 1982 to 1985, she formed part of the editorial council of the feminist magazine, Fem, to which she has also contributed several articles.

All Mastretta’s major works have been translated into English as well as into many other international languages and she now enjoys a worldwide reputation as a leading feminist writer. However, Mastretta’s writing may give an impression of being rather conservative in style and structure. Certainly her work has the advantage of being more accessible than that of her literary predecessors of the Boom generation and its engagement and warmth appeal to a wide variety of readers. Mastretta’s first book, Arráncame la vida, which won the Premio Mazatlán, was published in 1985 and has been translated into over ten languages. Set in the 1930s and 1940s, it tells the story of Catalina Guzmán, the wife of a powerful and corrupt politician who becomes the governor of Puebla. The novel traces Catalina’s fight to define her own sense of identity in a male and politically oppressive society, and offers incisive comment on postrevolutionary Mexico. Catalina’s first-person narrative conveys the concrete daily reality of patriarchal repression with vivid and often theatrical immediacy.