Las cosas que me gusta en El Reino de este Mundo son los aspectos históricos, las prácticas espirituales contrastantes de las dos culturas representadas, y la continuidad entre cada capítulo.
Antes de leer, yo siempre pensaba que Haití estaba afuera de la historia Latino Americana. Supe que su historia estaba llena con conflictos, y que Francia y España tenían presencia allí. Pero parece que Haití fue un país muy importante con la liberación y la abolición de la esclavitud.
Disfruto la manera en que Carpentier pinta el paisaje social. En la superficie él presenta los detalles de su obra con imparcialidad, pero el hecho de escribir sobre la Revolución Haitiana parece decir que él es un defensor de ser consciente de la crueldad de los blancos. El tono de su escrita es gráfico e implacable. La misma atención se ha puesto en los detalles de los eventos clave y la vida cotidiana que sobre todo revela el ámbito en Haití en este momento poco antes de la revolución.
Sobre los detalles, las prácticas espirituales de los Negros son muy interesantes. La fe que tienen y el misticismo obscuro me fascinan. Parece que actúan según los instintos naturales. Hay una fluidez en su comportamiento. Todo lo que creen es opuesto de las creencias de los Blancos, que avanza como una gran máquina contraria al orden natural.
La continuidad de la historia entre los capítulos cortos de la novela hace que sea fácil de leer. Es decir que más fácil de meterse para el lector. Hay tiempo suficiente para formar relación e interés en el desarrollo de los personajes. Antes de leer la novela, encontraba un análisis por un autor, que debe quedar desconocido, que dijo que los capítulos no tenían nada que ver entre sí. Supongo que refiere a los cuatro largos capítulos que constituyen la forma de la novela entera, pero Carpentier captura perfectamente un momento de la historia mundial.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Magic-Realism began as a natural accident.
A thought occurred to me about the birth of magic-realism in Latin American literature. Obviously it was an accident.
Certain authors had an interest in anthropology, especially as a means to explain their own cultural roots. Their meztiso-blood determined that they would need to take two avenues in their research. The European half of their heritage was very well documented and easy to trace back in scrupulous detail at least 1,500 years. Ok, no problem.However, researching their indigenous roots was going to be quite more arduous.
First of all, any random information that they could have gleaned from deciphered sun calendars, excavations of ruins, and partial integration into the lives of actual living descendents of full-blooded indigenous people, was going to leave many gaps in the big picture. There was going to be a lot of unknown elements. That which was known would ring true as factual & realistic. Piecing together that which was not entirely known or understood would actually smack of magic or fantasy because of the many unexplained details.
Latin American writers took upon themselves the task of creating works of fiction in order to abstractly explain their modern culture's origins. Thanks to either a fertile imagination or short-sightedness, the results were abstract, ambiguous & enigmatic. However it came about, these works proved to be an interesting read and spawned a new genre that in itself became a reflection of the identity that was initially being sought.
Now, of course, the academic world has analysed and dissected ad nauseum the works of Asturias, Carpentier, Garcia-Marquez, et al., to the point of mass exploitation.
Although I believe we live in a "Three minute world" where people in general, (and especially young, over-worked undergraduate students!), have only an iota of the previous capacity for maintaining a reasonable span of attention, it is possible that with a healthy commitment of time & energy, the initial profound fascination that gripped the international readership can once again be regained!
Certain authors had an interest in anthropology, especially as a means to explain their own cultural roots. Their meztiso-blood determined that they would need to take two avenues in their research. The European half of their heritage was very well documented and easy to trace back in scrupulous detail at least 1,500 years. Ok, no problem.However, researching their indigenous roots was going to be quite more arduous.
First of all, any random information that they could have gleaned from deciphered sun calendars, excavations of ruins, and partial integration into the lives of actual living descendents of full-blooded indigenous people, was going to leave many gaps in the big picture. There was going to be a lot of unknown elements. That which was known would ring true as factual & realistic. Piecing together that which was not entirely known or understood would actually smack of magic or fantasy because of the many unexplained details.
Latin American writers took upon themselves the task of creating works of fiction in order to abstractly explain their modern culture's origins. Thanks to either a fertile imagination or short-sightedness, the results were abstract, ambiguous & enigmatic. However it came about, these works proved to be an interesting read and spawned a new genre that in itself became a reflection of the identity that was initially being sought.
Now, of course, the academic world has analysed and dissected ad nauseum the works of Asturias, Carpentier, Garcia-Marquez, et al., to the point of mass exploitation.
Although I believe we live in a "Three minute world" where people in general, (and especially young, over-worked undergraduate students!), have only an iota of the previous capacity for maintaining a reasonable span of attention, it is possible that with a healthy commitment of time & energy, the initial profound fascination that gripped the international readership can once again be regained!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
La caja es tan importante como el regalo que hay dentro!
Solo quería comentar sobre la forma del libro entero de Leyendas por Asturias. Tiene una forma muy organizada y lógica, y a pesar de todo, muy artística.
Al principio tenemos tres cuentos, más o menos sencillos y cortos, que lleva cuidadosamente al lector a la segunda parte lo que consiste en las leyendas. Las cinco leyendas aunque son breves, tienen aspectos del escrito que son difíciles entender y sabemos que ya estamos en un mundo irreal. Luego el libro contiene la obra ´Cuculcán´. Este es mucho más largo que los demás, trata profundamente con el mágico-realismo como las leyendas del anterior, pero es una obra de teatro, un estilo nuevo hasta ahora en el libro. Al final tenemos el índice de modismos que explica las frases alegóricas y los términos desconocidos.
Así ´Leyendas´ ofrece una variedad que sigue un progreso artístico aparte de los detalles de la prosa. Creo que al lado de decir algo impresionante, es importante como presentar la información. La manera de que Asturias ha presentado sus cuentos y leyendas tiene mucho impacto porque no asusta al lector, a quien puede meterse poco a poco sin ahogarse por la fuerza de tratar de entender.
Es como la cena de Navidad, primero tenemos la ensalada (los primeros 3 cuentos) para dar ganas de comer algo más substancial, luego viene la carne y verduras (las leyendas y el teatro), finalmente el postre (el índice) que nos da exacto lo que queremos – ¡las respuestas!
Al principio tenemos tres cuentos, más o menos sencillos y cortos, que lleva cuidadosamente al lector a la segunda parte lo que consiste en las leyendas. Las cinco leyendas aunque son breves, tienen aspectos del escrito que son difíciles entender y sabemos que ya estamos en un mundo irreal. Luego el libro contiene la obra ´Cuculcán´. Este es mucho más largo que los demás, trata profundamente con el mágico-realismo como las leyendas del anterior, pero es una obra de teatro, un estilo nuevo hasta ahora en el libro. Al final tenemos el índice de modismos que explica las frases alegóricas y los términos desconocidos.
Así ´Leyendas´ ofrece una variedad que sigue un progreso artístico aparte de los detalles de la prosa. Creo que al lado de decir algo impresionante, es importante como presentar la información. La manera de que Asturias ha presentado sus cuentos y leyendas tiene mucho impacto porque no asusta al lector, a quien puede meterse poco a poco sin ahogarse por la fuerza de tratar de entender.
Es como la cena de Navidad, primero tenemos la ensalada (los primeros 3 cuentos) para dar ganas de comer algo más substancial, luego viene la carne y verduras (las leyendas y el teatro), finalmente el postre (el índice) que nos da exacto lo que queremos – ¡las respuestas!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Leyendas part one
I am impressed by Leyendas, and enjoy reading the stories, but I am a little lost. There is so much ambiguity that trying to understand everything is a challenge. There is an air of freshness that seems like Asturias is breaking new ground. Is it prose? Well kind of but not really because the writing is so poetic, with dense metaphor and repetition. Is it reality or fantasy? Asturias weaves a nest of labyrinths, then suddenly reels the reader back in. I guess he didn't want to dwell in the mundane for too long, which is a relief although it taxes me to have to engage so thoroughly. By the way, there's no way that I can ramble sufficiently in this blog entry for 500 words. It's not that I don't have an opinion or incapable of expressing one - quite the opposite. I find it loathsome to express anything personal that I have to post onto the net. Every time I turn it seems I am forced to relinquish another piece of my privacy. I think technical "how to" blogs are more interesting because they can be factual, impartial, scientific. So in order to help myself, I could approach this blog as a kind of literary analysis blog - which I may deem worthwhile, but then how could I say anything interesting and original in just 30 minutes? Reading about the minutiae of other people's daily lives I find to be nauseating - how could anyone be so vain to think that anyone else gives a shit? How could anyone be so ignorant to think that divulging their little secrets won't bite them in the ass someday? Plus too many people are talking endlessly but saying absolutely nothing ;) So I may as well get in line with the rest of the sheep and do what I'm told and spend another 6 years jumping through the bureaucratic hoops of the academic hypocrisy. What I enjoy the most about Leyendas is the rhythm of the writing. For example, in Ahora Que Me Recuerdo, there is a gradual development from calm, to exciting, and suddenly back to calm. By "calm" I mean normal, predictable, sober, and mundane. I get the feeling of falling into a psilocybin-induced trance, tripping along the precipice of sanity. This rhythm is almost musical and leads the reader through a concise progression of emotion which is satisfying and easily discernible thanks to the brevity of the story. Among the other stories or leyendas, certain themes appear regularly such as "la naturaleza", animals, the personification of mountains and earthly geography as gods, and religion - of the natural, indigenous quality as well as the influence of the unnatural, dangerous and heretical nature of European christianity. These leyendas are obviously based in the mythology of the indigenous people of the land, and in that way the personification of animals, mountains, man, and the weather as gods is to be expected, but it does not detract from the enjoyment of reading these stories. More on this later ...
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
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