Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

narrating about narrative 59
cultures without offending the dominant one. Semioticians fi nd interesting
his constant attempts to negotiate the differing discourses and argue
that his identity, as well as indigenous identity itself, is being constructed
through the narrative process. Hermeneutic analyses tend to accept the stability
of his identity and thus read him as being either an accurate or inaccurate
observer of Peru’s ontological reality.
Another way to consider the discursive foundation of narrative is to examine
the ideology of an entire literary movement. Consider one of Latin
America’s most important literary movements, the Boom. In the 1960s and
1970s, Latin American authors gained worldwide recognition for their innovative
narrative form, known commonly as magical realism. Promoters
claimed that Boom authors had developed an authentic narrative style owing
to Latin America’s distinct history and mixed cultural identity. Boom
texts commonly question linear time, thereby drawing upon indigenous
interpretations of time as circular. They also commonly accept magic as
part of everyday life. This is often read as drawing upon pre-Hispanic religious
beliefs, their mystery and incomprehensibility to Western audiences.
Boom authors tend to make protagonists from prostitutes, the poor, or from
indigenous people. This multiplicity of voices allows contributions from
those traditionally excluded from literary attention. These characters talk
in their vernacular, incorporating local expressions and speech patterns. For
all these reasons, the texts are regarded as a celebration of the uniqueness of
Latin America; at the same time, they are considered technically complex
and are defi ned as high culture.
Essentialist readers tend to focus on the extent to which Boom authors
captured Latin America’s authentic ontological essence. Given the many
Nobel Prizes they won and the extent to which magical realist works have
been accepted into the canon, it is evident that most critics believe the
Boom to have achieved its goals of authentic expression.
Semioticians do not deny the value of Boom literature, and they acknowledge
its achievement in bringing international recognition to Latin
American writers. But they question why its distinct narrative form was
so widely embraced by international audiences. Some semiotic interpreters
have suggested that magical realism reveals more about foreign expectations
for Latin America than about Latin America itself. They contend that
the Latin America portrayed by Boom literature is an exotic, irrational place
where time is circular and magic is a part of daily life, rather than a place of
modern reason and science. From a semiotic perspective, essentialist readers
in the United States and Europe who embrace the Boom might be doing
so because it meets their expectations of Latin Americans as passionate,