Apr

11

Reflection: Span365

Posted by: | April 11, 2010 | Comments Off on Reflection: Span365

It’s absolutely insane to think how fast this semester has gone. Where was this time-flying ability back in October?? Looking back through all my blogs, we certainly covered a lot of interesting material. I have never been much for literature, analysis, interpretation or anything of the sort, but I’m actually surprised at how much I have learned and how much I have understood while reading each book.

I do have to say my favorite book was El Reino de Este Mundo. The concept of ‘lo maravilloso’ instead of ‘lo magico’ was much more applicable in my mind – everyone seems to apply the word ‘magic’ to things beyond their understanding, even though it usually doesn’t work that way. I felt the integration and contrasts between the interpretations of the slaves and the ‘blancos’ was incredibly realistic, in that these differences still apply to the modern world. Also, I enjoyed the story which somewhat followed Ti Noel in his experiences – it was almost as though a movie could be made where a camera just follows his daily life/encounters (The Truman Show style). The question Jon asked in class (not too sure if it was specifically regarding this book or not…) that affected me the most was asking what exactly is real and what isn’t – I find it incredibly difficult to answer this question regarding any kind of book because it’s near impossible to apply modern day concepts and interpretations to non-modern ideas or stories, especially when the integrity of a culture is in question.

All side-tracking aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the open-mindedness of the course and the discussion/ideas that were brought up in class. And now… back to the Wikipedia project!

Apr

11

Conclusiones de Span 365

Posted by: | April 11, 2010 | Comments Off on Conclusiones de Span 365

I have thoroughly enjoyed this class. I think that the structure of the class – the blogs, commentary, paragraph discussion, etc – created a community in class in which students were able to develop opinions about the readings both in and out of class. I have to say something which I unfortunately can’t say about all of my upper level Spanish courses, Jon established an atmosphere in class where I think the majority of students felt comfortable expressing their ideas no matter what their level of Spanish.

The choice of readings in particular taught us about the evolution of Latin American literature and what led to the magical realism movement. The stream-of-consciousness narration in Leyendas de Guatemala shows how the European surrealist movement influenced Asturias. At the same time, he was very lyrical and poetic in his writing. I think that this experimentation with language and form was more attune to the indigenous Maya culture that he was trying to represent. In this first reading, we start to get a feeling for the importance of the question of Latin American identity in the author’s writing. For Asturias, although he had European parents, he still felt a strong connection to the Maya people. I think he identified with the culture’s spirituality, which inspired him to enter the mind of a Maya character in his book Hombres de maíz. By allowing himself to be influenced by the indigenous cultures of Guatemala, Asturias differentiated himself from the European literary movements.

The question of identity is also prevalent in El reino de este mundo. When I talk about identity, I’m thinking that the authors of the “boom” period were trying to differentiate themselves from European literature. Living in a culture thoroughly permeated by European customs, politics, and power, these authors felt that indigenous civilization and mythology, colonization, oppression, African Diaspora, mestizaje…were themes that were specific to Latin America and could not be properly represented by anyone but themselves and with a new style. While Asturias achieved this by writing about Maya mythology, Carpentier achieved this by telling the bloody political history of Haiti. Not just the history however, he told the story from the perspective of Ti Noel, a black slave who practiced vudu. Like Maya mythology, the vudu spirituality allowed Carpentier to experiment with form and narration style as well.

In 100 años, many common themes of Latin American history were brought together. Maybe we can look at Macondo as a microcosm and condensed history for much of Latin America. And it does represent certain parts of Latin American history and politics quite well. The authors of McOndo cannot disagree with this. I think that they were tired of being pigeonholed into a genre that did not adequately represent them. For that reason, more contemporary authors sought to break the stereotype/identity mold by trying something that nobody expected of them, to identify with North American/European culture. Identity remains a question for the authors as seen and discussed in “La mujer quimicamente compatible”. No matter what the authors in McOndo say, technology does not make them so similar to the rest of the world. Latin America experienced a very distinct colonization in which they were left to build a political/economic/social system by themselves post-independence. In most places this was styled after European governments, but was it viable a region so different? I think the question of identity is an overarching question that permeates all of the books we have read and should not be overlooked. Anywho…wrapping up,

Before I took this class, the idea that I had of magical realism was that that reality and fantasy were convoluted in a narration that exceeded the boundaries of time. Although the experimentation with time is a component in magical realism, I now put much more emphasis on the style of narration than anything. I think that the author of the book I am using for my wikipedia article could not have said it better:

“El realismo mágico es el tono en que se cuenta lo fantástico: lo mágico lo aportan las técnicas periodísticas utilizadas en la narración – todo lleno de datos precisos que concretizan el tiempo, el espacio, los personajes, la situación…-; el realismo lo pone la imaginación del escritor.”

Gutiérrez points to the writer when defining magical realism. I think we similarly have come to the conclusion that it is not so much time, space, and lyricism/rhythm that contribute to the genre (all themes that can be found in other genres as well such as surrealism), but how the writer tells the story. We put trust in the author who, as we have seen, manipulates that trust by making the fantastical normal and reality (ie the historical/politically inspired writing) fantastical.
I think this class was…fantastic! Sorry for not completing every single blog but I definitely put in the effort.

Apr

10

Span 365 The Course

Posted by: | April 10, 2010 | Comments Off on Span 365 The Course

The course centers around magical realism and for the most part I thought I knew what it was and that the 3 books we read where all examples of magical realism; to which I was mistaken which left me lost on the concept. All three books seemed to use the same elements and had just a bit of magic to them and where set in the jungles or country side scenery, which are traits of magical realism. So the reality of it is the concept of magical realism is still lost on me.

Ending the course with the anti magical realism book McOndo which proved to be quite different from everything else we have read. The short stories seemed relatively pointless they are like individuals stories to themselves, with no real significance, just stories of I guess common peoples life’s. These stories dont appear to go into any great depth, there set in a urban environment and are about real life with no magical or anything unexplainable even in the romanticized pheromonal state of attraction people call love which in the one story is called a chemical reaction.

Over all out of everything we have read the best book was kingdom of this world. It was a lot more interesting than the other two novels just in the way everything is laid out, the events that happen and its a lot more straight forward than 100 yrs of solitude which was just confusing as hell with 100’s of different ways of looking at it.

Apr

10

Magical Realism: an inside joke?

Posted by: | April 10, 2010 | Comments Off on Magical Realism: an inside joke?

Wow, it’s hard to believe how unbelievably fast this semester (or this year, or the past 4 years even) have gone by. Sitting here writing this last blog post, I’m trying to reflect through the whirlwind that has been the semester to try to come to terms with magical realism.

We have seen that it’s a genre primarily associated with the latin american literature “boom”. It uses the supernatural or fantastical and makes it appear as a commonality and ordinary to, presumably, explain the current state of things. The works we’ve examined seem to have common elements: a marginalized or repressed group, which is usually the cause of conflict; an ambiguous timeline, and, as aforementioned, the inclusion of the fantastical in daily life.
I still question the use of the genre as a means to explain the current state of things. As I previously mentioned, it seems nonsensical to use magical realism to explain the present. Why not base it in historical fact? Sure, a basic time line such as: “in year x this happened, etc.” is boring. But it creates a lot less confusion for the reader to understand the current state of Guatemala, Haiti, Colombia or elsewhere. So why not tell it as it is, rather than using moving mountains and other fantastical elements? It seems sometimes that the writers are on mushrooms or trying to create a feeling akin to it.

But maybe there is a purpose to include fantastical elements. As Jon commented on my post, it’s the use of the myth that forms magical realism. Maybe, then, it makes sense to use magical realism as a myth. Here’s why: myths are usually told and kept within a distinct culture, so the fantastical elements present within a book would make sense to someone from Guatemala or Haiti since they might carry the nuances that take shape as a result of a group’s history, geography, and culture. So maybe what it is is is a sort of inside joke. Sure, you can read about the moving mountains of Guatemala, but you had to be there to understand it.
Any thoughts?

Apr

10

Flipping the coin.

Posted by: | April 10, 2010 | Comments Off on Flipping the coin.

The most interesting part of this course for me has come at the end with the comparison of McOndo and Macondo. As a HUGE fan of magical realism, I was at first thrown off with the mission statement of McOndo’s editors…..Why would they want to criticize such a beautiful genre of writing? But after reading a few of the stories within the collaborative work, I realize that they are right: Latin America was being stereotyped, and in a big way. Reading the works of authors who are young, innovative, and not well-known is always an eye-opening event. I certainly didn’t enjoy all of them that I read (ie: “Mi estado físico”….sorry, boring), but on the whole they delved into a Latin America that we don’t usually see, but that we can all relate to. Why? Because it is a world almost identical to ours.

McOndo dances around with the idea of globalization. It’s ironic that they were searching for the true flavour of Latin American literature, and ended up with an interrelation of all things human. Well, maybe not ALL things human….

I say this because I was surprised at the utter lack of female author representation in McOndo. What does this tell us? That Latin America does not have female writers? That their work is sub-par? That they are not supported? Clearly, Latin America has female writers (many of them celebrated…although we know Jon’s thoughts on Laura Esquivel!) The last scenario is perhaps more the case. Where are these unsupported, unknown female writers, and why didn’t McOndo track them down in order to add them to the shortlist of young and upcoming Latin American writers? Now, I’m not a feminist or on a mission to bring Latin American women into the limelight for whatever their achievements in writing are (ah, see….total ignorance on that subject!); but c’mon editors, let’s not be too one-sided here! Show the world all of the identities enveloped in that phrase of “Latin American Writers“.

Overall, this course was a pleasure. It has piqued my interest in magical realism and provided background and insight into its method and symbolism. Once again, rounding the course out with a book dedicated to changing the perspective on Latin American writing was an engaging concept. I may still attribute some of the best magical realism out there to the writers of Latin America, but at least now I have witnessed the other side of that coin.

Apr

8

Entre Los Tres Libros

Posted by: | April 8, 2010 | Comments Off on Entre Los Tres Libros

Yes yes, I know. This is incredibly late to be posting this topic. Genius that I am forgot to copy/paste this entry out of my notes when it was due – I was too happy about going to bed/sleeping to remember to completely fulfill the homework for the evening. Nonetheless…

Discutimos en clase muchas diferencias y continuidades entre los tres libros, unas que son muy evidentes y otras más oscuras. El uso de personificación entre objetos y la naturaleza, la idea general para escribir la historia (tipo de antropología, historia de colonización o simplemente para disfrutar un cuento), las cualidades mágicas que cambian entre los tres libros, la diferencia entre una cosa real, una maravillosa, una mítica y una de mágica: todas esas cosas son muy evidentes. Sin embargo, y para mi, lo más interesante entre los tres libros es el uso y como los autores aplican el realismo mágico a sus propios cuentos. En unos, el realismo mágico es la cosa que crea el argumento de la historia, o sea aumenta un argumento básico. En otros, el realismo mágico es solamente otra cualidad dentro de la historia; podríamos omitirlo y todavía tenemos un cuento lógico y interesante. Por ejemplo, en Leyendas de Guatemala, la idea de cosas sobrenaturales es el foco de todo el argumento mientras que en los otros dos libros el uso de magia es simplemente una idea que amplia el cuento.

La otra cosa más intrigante para mi es la diferencia de opinión dentro de los libros y discutida en clase. En el Reino de Este Mundo, podemos ver la variedad de perspectivas sobre una situación en la interpretación de los esclavos y los blancos. También, en Cien Años de Soledad, hay una diferencia entre opinión con el uso de perspectiva de la buena familia y la de un indígena. La pregunta en clase que más me gusta es la de ¿que es magia y que es real? dentro de los libros. La idea de aplicar connotaciones y significadas modernas a unos textos con una base primitivo o complejo es completamente loca. Pero, es interesante entender las diferencias entre el pasado y el presente de la perspectiva de unos libros.

Apr

8

McOndo

Posted by: | April 8, 2010 | Comments Off on McOndo

I had an interest to learn a little more behind the McOndo movement and decided to read further into some articles and reviews. It was interesting to first learn how Fuguet had come about the idea just after being denied to publish one of his works in the U.S. The reason for the rejection, as per the publisher, was because it did not follow the ‘magical’ formula that was expected of the Latin-American author. Out of his frustration and to prove that Latin-American authors can write more than just within the magical realism genre he set out on the McOndo movement. As a result, McOndo was able to now create an interest and to showcase the literary abilities that do not focus solely on the magical realism genre. But it turns out there is a little more to it than that. As it all became a David and Goliath scenario where the big business and big corporations, in this case the publishers in the US that initially denied Fuguet, saw that the magical realism genre was in demand and that is where the profits were to be made. And instead of Fuguet going along with it, he saw the injustice in all of this; that you are essentially denying the artistic ability of other authors a chance to publish their works and to allow creativity to flourish. Similar to the circumstances of small businesses being pushed out buy the Walmart types or the Microsoft’s that buy out small companies to take over their patents etc. and reduce the competition. With works from other authors they found the inspiration and a way to break the mold of what was expected of them. As the movement gained popularity so did its success in publishing a larger variety and body of works.

Apr

7

¿quién quiere un mcondo?

Posted by: | April 7, 2010 | Comments Off on ¿quién quiere un mcondo?

Estoy disfrutando mucho los cuentos de McOndo. A leer más, me parece que hay un gran tema del rechazo de lo imaginario…algo que va contra lo que aparece en los textos que hemos leído hasta ahora del realismo mágico. Los escritores del Boom creían una manera de visualizar a América Latina como algo distinto, raro y increíble y se esfuerza los escritores de McOndo un nuevo representación de América Latina. Este representación es una en la cual ya no es exótica ni extraña.

Los escritores de McOndo son jóvenes y saben que sus raíces en América Latina ya están incorporados completamente en el mundo globalizado llena de McDonalds y Ipods. Distinto de realismo mágico, McOndo acepta a esta realidad y nos cuenta sus cuentos ‘cotidianos’ que mantienen su propio estilo del mágico o la fantasía. Muchos contienen personajes reales que comen en lugares familiares, se hacen cosas familiares que también hacemos hoy y se distingue entre los de los textos del realismo mágico donde apareció lo maraviolloso , a veces indudablemente inexplicable (como cómo puede nacer una persona con cola de cerdo). Podemos verlo en el primer cuento de Edmundo Paz Soldán, Amor a la Distancia…no sabemos si el narrador es un mentiroso o sea “flaky” porque engaña a otra chica donde estudia el narrador y nos cuenta los detalles en la carta a su querida…A mi me gustó el final cuando nos encontramos que no va a mandar la carta. Paz Soldán nos deja en sus oraciones conclusiones pensar que puede ser su interés; todo que escribe y hace él es ficción y eso es donde se queda lo imaginario aun hoy en día como en los cuentos de McOndo.

Algo más que me sorprendió es el carácter grafico de algunos de los cuentos, en particular lo de Juan Forn en el que el primer oración es “Hay gente que fornica hasta el agotamiento; hay gente que reza hasta disolver su soledad en ese puñado de palabras repetidas como un autohipnosis…” ¿Que crudo, no? Aunque es fuerte, a mi me fascino mucho este estilo con su giro de modernidad –algo fresco que todavía deja el lector en un mundo más allá.

Te dejo con una cita por Fuguet: Soy un maestro del zapping, de la cultura de apropiación…No invento, absorbo. (Por favor, rebobinar)

Apr

7

McOndo

Posted by: | April 7, 2010 | Comments Off on McOndo

Los cuentos de McOndo me parecen, en general, bastante entretenidos. Todos son muy faciles de leer y todos son simples, en el sentido que no tratan de nada fuera e lo ordinario. Todo lo que pasa son cosas que nos pasan a nosotros mismos o lo mas prbable es que conocemos a alquien que ha tenido experiencias similaers a la de los cuentos. De esta manera, me parece que los cuentos son quizas universales, ya que son cosas que los autores saben que definitivamente pasan en la vida real. Ellos no estan creando nada nuevo, solo estan contando lo que han visto o escuchado y nos lo quieren contar.

Me gusto mucho el cuento de Costa Rica: Solo hablamos de la lluvia (y por supuesto que hay bias aca). Yo que creci en Costa Rica soy fan y muy patriotico de mi pais. El cuento no es necesariamente mas facil de leer para mi. Claro que hay ciertas frases que yo tampoco he usado en mi vida en Costa Rica. Eso si, lo que me gusta mucho son las palabras que Rodrigo Soto usa en el cuento, como: bluyins, pura vida, okey, chaparron… La historia de un joven que esta en un bar tomando alcohol y tratando de estar con una mujer no es nada nuevo. Y los varios malentendidos que complejan la historia son tambien comunes. No me parecio nada en especial o impresionente.

He conocido a mucha gente tambien mu gusto bastante. Excepto por el hecho de que es de Espana (y a decir verdad, no me gusta mucho el vos). Este texto me parece interesante porque son varias historias dentro de ueste cuento. Parece como si el autor estuviera recordando la gente que le importo en su vida. Me parece tambien que el esta feliz de haber conocido q esta gente, ya que ellos le han traido buenas experiencias en la vida. La gente que el no nombra so gente que a decir verdad, no le importo tanto conocer. La gente que si menciona son de: Huelva, Arizona, Mexico D.F., Florencia, Suecia, Portugal, y Barcelona. Esto nos dice de las aventuras y la gran vida que ha tenido el autor.

“Puedes dormir en cualquier parte pero no puedes despertarte en cualquier parte” (175) y “Yo pense en pedir no volver a quedarme dormido, pero preferi novolver a despertarme asustado” (179) son dos lineas de Buenas noches que me encantaron. Ray Loriga nos cuenta como el personaje siempre se queda dormido en todas partes, especialmente en malos momentos, como por ejemplo, cuando esta asustado. Cuando esta feliz y comodo, no se duerme, como en el cine. El personaje no tiene mucho en contra de dormir en cualquier parte, y mas bien dice que no es tan malo dormir afuera, pero si tiene varias recomendaciones. Lo otro diferente del cuento es la relacion entre el y su madre, a quien no ha visto en mucho tiempo.

La mujer quimicamente compatible estuvo… rarisimo. Casi todo el cuento me parecio muy facil de entender, hasta el final, cuando el narrador dice que es Vancouver, pero aveces es Alabama, o Milwakee, o Kansas, o Nevada… Que significa esto??? Me parecio muy interesante la idea de tipos de compatibilidades: quimica, sexual, para dormir, para vivir por juntos por siempre. Creo que seria realmente increible si fuera tan facil poder averiguar que tipo de compatibilidad tendria uno con cierta gente. Tambien me pregunto por que los nombres en este cuento son lugares? Definitivamente me atrajo la atencion el hecho de que la primera palabra del cuento es “Vancouver.”

Creo que la unica historia normal, y mas simple que lei fue La gente de latex. Siguiendo la historia de un actor que trata de conseguir tranajos para vivir, vemos como la vida sexual/amorosa del personaje principal/narrador es afectada por otra actriz. Me intereso la parte que dice que mucho de ese trabajo depende de que tan bueno el agente de uno es. Yo tengo un amigo ahora mismo que tambien es actor/modelo pero el no haria nada si no fuera por su agente. Digo que este cuento es simple porque es como si nos estuvieran contando un cuento sin sorpresas, con tiempo lineal, sin nada magico.

En general, McOndo me ha gustado bastante. Creo que fue una gran idea haber hecho este proyecto y reconocer el tipo de trabajos que han surgido por la influencia de otras obras como 100 anos…

Apr

6

McOndo [1]

Posted by: | April 6, 2010 | Comments Off on McOndo [1]

Dejamos Macondo por McOndo. El Presentación del país McOndo me parece muy sincero con un humor que caracteriza más los periódicos de los universidades de las obras literarias, pero el lector puede relacionar con la lenguaje, y este parece accesible y sincero.

Me parece un poco como un libro que he leído en Barcelona, que se llama Odio Barcelona, que es también un colección de cuentos cortos de autores jóvenes, pero sobre Barcelona. Pero también tiene este sentido de la búsqueda de sentido en cosas ordenarías y la vida diaria.

Pues en realidad es como e opuesto de una búsqueda de la identidad. Es que los autores quieren decir que tienen un identidad fuerte y real, que no tiene nada que ver con lo que pensamos nosotros lectores ignorantes, y entonces ellos tienen que alumbrarnos. Es interesante como algunas sociedades son tan en contra de ser generalizados, pero generalizan todo lo que es extranjero a ellos. No quiero criticar nadie, pero decir que toda la literatura latín americana es como Cien años de soledad es tan ignorante que decir Shakespeare fue el único dramaturgo, o que Mukmuk y Quachi son representantes de la ciudad de Vancouver. Pero si, como dicen ellos, tienen un identidad real que es fuera del realismo mágico, que es el realismo virtual. Pues todas las países tienen sus propios movimientos literarios, y lo que esta transpirando en America Latina hoy, es el movimiento de McOndo. O este es que nos enseña el prólogo.

Los cuentos cortos son muy diferentes a uno a otro. Pero los que he leído tienen en común el aspecto que nombran los lugares. Todas las calles son nombrados, y las plazas, las tiendas, etc. Es que los autores quieren invocar un sentimiento de conocimiento en algunos lectores quienes conocen estos lugares. Como información privilegiada. Como si quieren decir que estas cosas y eventos no pueden pasar en otro lugar.
En el libro Odio Barcelona, unos de los elementos específicos de muchos de los cuentos fue la anonimato de los lugares, las calles, como si Barcelona podría ser cualquier otra ciudad. En algunos cuentos de McOndo no, estas cosas solamente pueden pasar en estos lugares específicos.