week6. pedro páramo –
As someone who previously didn’t know much about magical realism at all, I think Pedro Páramo was the best first impression I could have been given. Though I did read 100 Years of Solitude previously, I have to be honest and say I don’t remember a lot of it. Probably because I was much younger when I read it, but I still can see the influences that Juan Rulfo had on Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s writing. Especially in terms of his brand of magical realism. Also interesting that (in my version of the book), Gabriel Garcia Márquez wrote the foreword and Susan Sonntag wrote the afterword – which I didn’t know was a thing until now!
Pedro Páramo was a subtle, muted, yet vivid story and I thoroughly enjoyed the surrealistic visuals and the symmetry between life & death, living & dead, sinning & repenting, passion & fury.
The symmetry, or more specifically the dualistic themes, however, was something I couldn’t quite put my finger on or verbalize completely. There was definitely a lot of dual themes and elements of (parallel) pairs that were present, but however much they were symmetrical with each other, there was always this atmosphere of asymmetry. Not to say that it felt ‘wrong’ per se, but the whole tone of the book felt odd, slightly off-putting – which is likely how the main character felt as well. The book was a fast read, which also surprised me, it set, (in my head at least), a pace for how events were unfolding within the book. I was getting tired at the thought of how little sleep the poor guy wasn’t getting.
I think the aspect of confusion worked very well for this book. I think I say this with greater ease because last week was Labyrinths, so really, any book is many times less confusing in comparison. Unlike Jorge Luis Borges’ book, I was able to navigate the narrative and carry on reading with whatever confusion I had in my mind. Which I think is the discerning factor of whether confusion elevates or possibly diminishes the reader’s experience and understanding.
Overall, I very much enjoyed reading Pedro Páramo. I thought it was really interesting to see the characters in life and in death; purgatory allowed for a glimpse into a life (or a living death), not normally possible.
I think my question for you is: first of all, how does this book compare to others you’ve read? Does this match your personal expectations of ‘magical realism’? Do you think any of the characters, ghost or ghost-like, have a chance at redemption in purgatory (or after)?
One reply on “week6. pedro páramo”
“Pedro Páramo was a subtle, muted, yet vivid story”. I think I agree with your description of the novel, but without forgetting that we are telling the stories of a kind of Purgatory, as you well wrote. Perhaps the complexities of this type of narrative are different from those of Labyrinths, but it is not such an easy read either. The construction of the atmosphere, just to take one element, makes this ambiguous reality very vivid at the same time.