Washington, D.C. : Board of Editors of the Hispanic American Review
Location:
Library, University of Illinois
Related Item Details:
83(2) : pg. 361-363
Notes:
This article reviews two books by Ilan Stavans "Art and Anger: Essays on Politics and the Imagination" and "Imagining Columbus: The Literary Voyage." The author states, "At their best, these books offer insightful new readings of the ways in which literature has shaped the history of Latin America, from the moment Columbus read Marco Polo to the years Gabriel García Márquez has spend as an informal advisor to Fidel Castro." He later states, "'Art and Anger' is a collection of essays mostly about literature and politics in Latin America. Some are intended to introduce lesser-known writers such as Felipe Alfau, Ricardo Piglia, and Alfred Bryce Echenique, to a North American audience. Others reassess the titans of Latin American letters, such as Octavio Paz, Gabriel García Márquez, and Mario Vargas Llosa."
"In critical theory, representation is often linked to the development of social themes that endorse violence, but its potential as a means to process the effects of violence is not always examined. This dissertation studies how textual representation can transform violence into a force that consolidates the affective and normative structures of a community. In the works studied here, violence is portrayed as a destructive and frightening phenomenon, but also as an experience of survival that strengthens communal ties. My analysis is based on theories of the nation as an entity constructed through narratives of violence, and my focus is Colombia, a country with a conflictive process of national consolidation. Precisely for that reason, Colombia has for years invoked its subsistence as a nation through textual representation. Few nations have originated so much public representation of their violence as Colombia, both for local and global audiences. The corpus of this dissertation is comprised of textual narratives written by Colombian authors from various perspectives and in different styles. Works included here are a textbook compiled in 1910 to teach national history in secondary schools, a sociological study of violence as a national problem from 1962, two early novels by Gabriel Garcia Márquez, two compilations of testimonial narratives, by Alfredo Molano and Patricia Lara, a novel by Fernando Vallejo and another by Laura Restrepo. Some of these texts emphasize a call for social involvement and others a reflection on the social effects of violence, in both practical and mythical terms. All of them have in common the reference to violence as an experience of survival, linked to the idea of national community. They register the disruptions, the fear, and the pain provoked by violence, bearing witness to the desire for a social order that would not include it, only possible through a new process of representation. The main conclusion of my analysis is that although textual representation can be an ally or an indirect supporter of social structures that promote violence, it also had the potential to be the means for the development of alternatives to these same structures."
Analyzes the issues and problems associated with contemporary family structure in Medellín. Briefly mentions how Alonso Salazar, Gabriel García Márquez, Victor Gaviriar, among others, managed to portray the urban family structure well.
Erika Munk interviews Nilo Cruz, the writer of the play "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," which was inspired by Gabriel García Márquez's short story by the same name. They briefly discuss Márquez's influence on the play and the playwright.
Canada : Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Location:
Library, University of Illinois
Related Item Details:
28(55-56) : p.165
Notes:
LeGrand writes, "It has often been said that in Colombia, one was born Liberal or Conservative; Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel In Evil Hour (La Mala Hora) vividly portrays how such affiliations were lived at the local level."