Alienation and loneliness in Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela by Elena Poniatowska

Abstract

This article examines Elena Poniatowska’s Dear Diego, Yours Quiela (1978) through the lenses of alienation and solitude, understood as consequences of emotional abandonment and identity subordination. The central approach focuses on the unilateral epistolary voice of Angelina Beloff, whose letters reveal a gradual emotional, creative, and existential disintegration caused by Diego Rivera’s silence. The main objective is to analyze how the epistolary structure constructs a loss of self and reshapes both space and artistic vocation under the weight of absence. The scope of the study emphasizes the subjective, symbolic, and gender dimensions of the novel, highlighting its implicit critique of unequal power relations that historically marginalized women artists. Methodologically, the article employs a close textual and hermeneutic reading of the letters, examining narrative voice, emotional language, and symbols of mourning. The analysis demonstrates that solitude in the novel transcends emotional loneliness, functioning as a profound form of identity and creative alienation.