Dear Diego: Analysis of Major Characters
"Dear Diego: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex relationship between Angelina Beloff, a Russian painter, and Diego Rivera, a prominent Mexican artist. Beloff, also known as Quiela, has a significant ten-year romantic connection with Rivera while they are both in Paris from 1910 to 1920. Despite their deep bond, Rivera ultimately leaves Beloff, compelling her to write letters to him for nine months, hoping for a response that never comes. This reflects the emotional turmoil she experiences as she grapples with his absence, illustrating themes of unreciprocated love and artistic yearning.
Rivera, portrayed only through Beloff's letters, embodies the spirit of freedom and expression in Latin American art, a contrast to Beloff's more constrained artistic identity shaped by her European heritage. The dynamic between the two characters highlights cultural differences and individual struggles within the context of their respective artistic journeys. Ultimately, "Dear Diego" offers insights into their relationship, prompting readers to reflect on themes of love, loss, and the pursuit of artistic identity across cultural divides.
Dear Diego: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Elena Poniatowska
First published: Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela, 1978 (English translation, 1986)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Paris, France, and Mexico City, Mexico
Plot: Epistolary
Time: The 1920's and 1935
Angelina Beloff (ahn-gahl-EE-nah BEH-lof), called Quiela (kee-EH-lah), a Russian painter of landscapes, still lifes, and portraits who also works as an engraver, lithographer, and book illustrator. She is Diego Rivera's lover in Paris from 1910 to 1920. After he leaves her, she writes to him for a period of nine months until she realizes that he is neither coming back nor sending for her. More than ten years later, she travels to Mexico, where he has gone, but she does not look for him.
Diego Rivera (dee-EH-goh ree-VEH-rah), a Mexican painter who lives with Beloff in Paris. He returns to Mexico in the wake of the Mexican Revolution. His ten-year relationship with Beloff (Quiela for him) is portrayed in Dear Diego, but as a character he appears only through her letters. He is judged in the novel because he leaves her and never writes back to her; he merely sends money once in a while. He represents the freedom of expression in contemporary Latin American art that Beloff lacks as a result of her European background.