Madres e Hijas Melancólicas en Seis Novelas Étnicas de Crecimiento de Autoras Latinas

This is the first book that focuses the mother-daughter relationship on female development as the structural theme of the narrative in six ethnic growth novels written by Latina American authors. Quintana Millamoto defends that melancholy -defined here as the feeling of loss or dissatisfaction of maternal love- afflicts the protagonists of the novels analyzed and proposes that writing and other artistic forms help heroines to overcome dissatisfaction in the relationship with the mother. In this sense, Quintana Millamoto argues that the novels depict places of mourning that not only allow the protagonists to heal the conflictive relationships with the maternal figures, but also transcend the devaluation they suffer for being women and for being Latinas.