Default | NEWS

10/17/1996 12:04:00 AM

Rice Alumna Speaks About Extraordinary Life of Evita

By David Medina
Rice News Staff

Photo caption: Marta Nesta

Forty-four years after her death, Argentina's heroine Evita Peron continues to live in the hearts of people who hope for better days in Latin America, said Marta Nesta de Taccetti, a South American literature scholar.

"Because there is a lack of political leadership in Latin America, Evita is more alive today than ever," Nesta explained. "She is the incarnation of the ideal political discourse that the American people have been waiting for. She represents solidarity, dignity and love."

Nesta spoke at Rice University on Sept. 27. Her talk, "Eva Peron: The Fiction and Reality of a Historical Character," was sponsored by the department of Hispanic and Classical Studies.

Nesta received an M.A. in Spanish from Rice University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in Latin American literature from New York University in 1987. She lives in Mexico City with her husband, Argentina's ambassador to Mexico.

Evita's life lends itself to myth-making. An illegitimate child, she was born in 1919 in a small Argentine farming village. To escape poverty, Evita moved at the age of 15 to Buenos Aires and pursued an acting career.

"Even while she was struggling to make a living, it was in her nature to help others," said Nesta.

Later, when her husband ruled Argentina, Evita's kindness and generosity toward the poor became legendary.

She married Juan Domingo Peron in 1945. A year later he became president of Argentina. Evita went through a great transformation, shedding her rich lifestyle to become a more humble person. She tamed her hair and did away with the jewelry. She became interested in social work and virtually ran the ministries of health and labor.

In Evita's six years as first lady of Argentina, she commanded a huge and faithful political following.

"She was the bridge between Peron [her husband] and the people," said Nesta. "When she died, the bridge fell."

Three years after Evita died of cancer at age 33, Peron's support weakened. He was overthrown in 1955 by a military coup.

Evita's popularity today has reached mythological proportions, said Nesta. Her life is the subject of several postmodernist books that blend fiction and historical facts to tell the story of this remarkable woman.

"Santa Evita" by Tomas Eloy Martinez, a political journalist, is a novel that according to Nesta destroys or at least attempts to destroy the myth. Consequently, the book presents a dual image of Evita as a saint and as a whore. The book is based on numerous interviews and years of research.

Abel Posse's "La Pasion Segun Eva" is an epic story that portrays Evita as a Christ-like figure who gives completely of herself to help the Argentine people.

"Eva Peron, La Biografia" by poet and journalist Alicia Dujovne Ortiz appears to be a biography. But, as the author interjects her voice to spin the tale from a feminist point of view, we see that the story of Evita's life is a novel, Nesta explained.

She prefers the last book, Nesta said, because it is written by a woman who understands what women had to endure in Argentina at that time.

"But all three books are pale reflections of the life of an extraordinary woman," Nesta said. "I think that Evita was a trailblazer for women in Argentina and Latin America."