The revolution has woman’s name: Tinísima of Elena Poniatowska

Abstract

Elena Poniatowska’s fictions makes visible lives stolen by the androcentric national tradition from Mexico. In her representations of revolutionary women, the photographer Tina Modotti occupies a central place in the fight for interpretation of history and the cultural prominence. The novel Tinísima (1992) recovers the Tina Modotti’s biography and it proposes an alternative to the notion of biography at the same time. The book moves between the nationalist narrative from the revolution of Mexico and the internationalist narrative, in particular the communism. The novel is part of utopian imaginary and the revolutionary defeat of the 20th century. The narration is fed by multiple genres such as testimony, chronicles, interviews, etc. Tinísima is based on written documents and oral testimonies but it resorts to the imagination with the purpose to break historical rhetoric.