Entrevista a Francisco Proaño Arandi: se trataba de crear en el lector una sensación de angustia frente a la realidad (Homenaje)

En este diálogo entre el escritor Francisco Proaño Arandi (Premio latinoamericano José María Arguedas, La Habana, 2010) y el lúcido crítico y ensayista Alejandro Moreano, se pasa revista a los años de formación del narrador, la década de los 60, los tzántzicos, la creación de la revista La bufanda del sol, el Frente Cultural en Quito. Proaño, hurgando en la memoria, reconstruye los diversos momentos de lo que fue el debate político y literario de esos años, el peso de la Revolución cubana, las ideas y las propuestas del compromiso del filósofo Jean-Paul Sartre, las luchas anticolonialistas en África, Mayo del 68 y su repercusión en la juventud del mundo, los escritores del boom de la narrativa latinoamericana, su experiencia como diplomático de carrera durante procesos y gobiernos que se sucedieron en el Ecuador en los años 80 y 90. El escritor también da cuenta de lo que es su universo narrativo, las obsesiones, la presencia de una ciudad como Quito en sus diversas novelas y cuentarios, así como la reflexión que a través de sus personajes realiza de las complejas relaciones de la pareja. Diálogo que no solo significó el encuentro de escritores de una misma generación, sino de dos amigos que han sabido compartir la pasión por la escritura de manera vital.

Romance e experimentação com a linguagem em Boquitas pintadas, de Manuel Puig, e Onde andará Dulce Veiga?, de Caio Fernando de Abreu

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Perdón o condena : discurso y subjetividad en la obra de Isolda María Calzadilla

Siguiendo los pasos de la narrativa latinoamericana del siglo XIX, en los años 30 y 40 en Venezuela, la literatura canónica propuso un trazado más o menos claro de los lugares de heroísmo y villanía involucrados en la refundación nacional. La apuesta iniciada por la intelectualidad del país, desde diciembre de 1935, se dirigía a la construcción de una nación moderna cuya imagen se solidificaba no sólo por medio de la narrativa de ficción, sino también en los registros masivos fundamentados en la oralidad, en los medios de comunicación en general y, particularmente, en fotografías e imágenes reproducidas por revistas de alta circulación, periódicos e, inclusive, en proyecciones audiovisuales. Como ocurre en estos ejercicios de organización nacional, inevitablemente, salieron a la luz por entonces, ciertas subjetividades nómades que generaron su propia discursividad ética y estéticamente ajena a las demandas del canon. Escrituras que crearon, en su interior un espacio de resistencia frente a todos los esfuerzos de normatización propuestos desde el poder. Aquí se inscribe el texto Mujeres (1943), de Isolda Calzadilla, una suerte de novela guión cinematográfico donde se deja en evidencia no sólo la conciencia en el uso del lenguaje de parte de la autora, sino además, la necesidad de replantearse los márgenes del centro urbano, de abrir las posibilidades de desarrollo subjetivo a las mujeres y de mostrar el envés de un mapa modernizante que llega a borrarse por completo detrás de la fachada.

La novela del burdel: Hacia una poetica del espacio prostibulario en la narrativa hispanoamericana

The brothel, as a ‘symbolic location’ was the object of analysis in this dissertation, ascribable to its unusual and recurrent presence in Latin American narrative. The brothel was presented as a scenario, with polyvalent implications of both the space itself, as well as the different archetypes of the characters who occupy it. ^ Our analysis showed how the brothel functions as a cultural entity, social archetype, power center, mythical place and symbolic space, where man plays out his utmost dominant self. To achieve this, the analysis focused on sifting through the concepts of machismo, economic and political power, and the configuration of the ‘house’ as emblematic elements of Latin American culture. ^ The four novels chosen to underwrite this analysis were representative of the historical time frame, from Colonial times to the present, highlighting all the most distinctive features. These, in turn, led the reader to the inescapable fact that owing to certain characteristics of Latin American culture, the brothel maintains its raison d'être as a space that represents existential situations, and that far from converting itself into an anachronism, it will continue to thrive in the most significant achievements of Latin American prose. ^

Relectura del discurso novomundista de Alejo Carpentier y Abel Posse en el contexto de la nueva novela histórica

The purpose of this dissertation was to analyze the narrative works of Alejo Carpentier and Abel Posse within the context of the new Latin American historical novel that revises the Old World-New World Encounter. Focusing on El arpa y la sombra and Los perros del paraíso, the dissertation studied the particular manner in which Latin American novelists, and particularly Alejo Carpentier and Abel Posse, approach and question traditional historiography. The research also compared different novels to identify various trends within the new historical novel that rewrites the foundational period of Latin American literature. This study considered the theories of the new historical novel as proposed by critics such as Seymour Menton, Fernando de Aínsa, Linda Hutcheon, and Brian MacHale. The new novel was examined within the frameworks of postmodern literary and historiographic theories. The study also contemplated the philosophical views that have influenced postmodern thought, and, especially, the ideas of Nietzsche, Heidegger, Lyotard, Harbermas, and Foucault. Research showed two major trends within the new Latin American historical novel. In the case of the first trend, initiated by Alejo Carpentier in 1949 with El reino de este mundo, the novelist’s approach is founded on historicism and factual rigor. The second trend, initiated by Reinaldo Arenas with El mundo alucinante in 1969, is marked by irreverence, parody, irony, and carnavalization. Characterized by intertextuality, dialogism, and anachronism, novels such as Carpentier´s El arpa y la sombra and Posse´s Los perros del paraíso, undermine the values and beliefs instituted by the traditional historiographic paradigm and the discourse of power.

Eden in the age of the fifth sun: The narrative work of Homero Aridjis

Homero Aridjis (b. 1940) is a major Mexican poet, novelist, essayist and ecological activist whose prolific body of work, ranging over forty years and including more than eleven volumes of poetry and thirteen novels, has yet to be studied as a coherent literary corpus in the context of recent Latin American fiction. The purpose of this dissertation was to analyze the narrative works of this author as both illustrative of the changes that have occurred in Latin American fiction since the 1960s when it first burst onto the world scene, as well as to study the uniqueness of this particular author's view of literature as it relates to historical discourse, apocalypticism. and social commitment. ^ Research showed that in the case of the narrative style of Aridjis, major trends in the contemporary Latin American novel were present in such a profuse and model manner as to confirm this author's importance as a prime example of what is commonly known as “Post-Boom” fiction. However, beyond the mere presence of literary elements, this study showed that the author's unique approach to narrative style has altered and expanded the aesthetic and thematic possibilities of the contemporary novel. The area where this is most clearly seen is in his experimentation with the historical genre. By manipulating the referential techniques of what has lately come to be known as the “new historical novel,” Aridjis has written both a cycle of purely historical novels and a cycle of futuristic ones that attempt to transcend the temporal limits traditionally imposed by these narrative forms, fusing them into one constant questioning of the nature of love, hate and identity. In this manner, he has developed a “simultaneist” narrative approach where distinct historical and imagined periods, places, people, things, and texts coexist and interact, widening almost to delirium the interpretative possibilities of the work. ^ This unique view of time and narrative, together with the author's political activism and millenarian view of history, make the novels of Homero Aridjis an important element in understanding the continuing development and evolution of Latin American fiction at the turn of the century. ^

Buried voices: Genres and types of female authorship during the Spanish American colonial period (sixteenth to eighteenth centuries)

This dissertation analyzes various types of non-canonical texts authorized by women from a wide spectrum of classes and races in the Spanish colonies. The female voice, generally absent from official colonial documents of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteen centuries, left a gap in the complex subject of women's history and social participation. Through the study of personal letters, autobiographies, journals, court documents, inquisitorial transcripts, wills and testaments, edicts, orders, proclamations and posters, that voice is recovered. Thus, the Indigenous, Spaniards and African women and their descendants who lived during this period left their written legacy and proof of participation. Beginning with a thorough history of the native woman's interest in writing, this study focuses on how women of all social levels utilized the few means of writing available at their disposal to display a testimonial, critical and sometimes fictional narrative of their surroundings. ^ This investigation concludes that it is necessary to change the traditional image of the passive women of the colonies, subjected to a patriarchal authority and unable to speak or grow on their own. The documents under study, introduced women who were able to self represent themselves as followers of the tradition while at the same time their writings were denying that very same statement. They passed from the private arena to the public one with discourses that confessed their innermost feelings and concerns, challenged the authority of the Inquisitor or the Governor, exposed their sexual freedom and transvestite narratives, successfully developed stratagems that challenged the official ideology of the oppressive religious environment and established their own authority reaching at last the freedom of their souls. ^

Post-revolutionary post-modernism: Central American detective fiction by the turn of the 21st century

Contemporary Central American fiction has become a vital project of revision of the tragic events and the social conditions in the recent history of the countries from which they emerge. The literary projects of Sergio Ramirez (Nicaragua), Dante Liano (Guatemala), Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador), and Ramon Fonseca Mora (Panama), are representative of the latest trends in Central American narrative. These trends conform to a new literary paradigm that consists of an amalgam of styles and discourses, which combine the testimonial, the historical, and the political with the mystery and suspense of noir thrillers. Contemporary Central American noir narrative depicts the persistent war against social injustice, violence, criminal activities, as well as the new technological advances and economic challenges of the post-war neo-liberal order that still prevails throughout the region. ^ Drawing on postmodernism theory proposed by Ihab Hassan, Linda Hutcheon and Brian MacHale, I argued that the new Central American literary paradigm exemplified by Sergio Ramirez's El cielo llora por mí, Dante Liano's El hombre de Montserrat, Horacio Castellanos Moya's El arma en el hombre and La diabla en el espejo , and Ramon Fonseca Mora's El desenterrador, are highly structured novels that display the characteristic marks of postmodern cultural expression through their ambivalence, which results from the coexistence of multiple styles and conflicting ideologies and narrative trends. The novels analyzed in this dissertation make use of a noir sensitivity in which corruption, decay and disillusionment are at their core to portray the events that shaped the modern history of the countries from which they emerge. The revolutionary armed struggle, the state of terror imposed by military regimes and the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, are among the major themes of these contemporary works of fiction, which I have categorized as perfect examples of the post-revolutionary post-modernism Central American detective fiction at the turn of the 21st century.^

Post-Revolutionary Post-Modernism: Central American Detective Fiction by the Turn of the 21st Century

Contemporary Central American fiction has become a vital project of revision of the tragic events and the social conditions in the recent history of the countries from which they emerge. The literary projects of Sergio Ramirez (Nicaragua), Dante Liano (Guatemala), Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador), and Ramon Fonseca Mora (Panama), are representative of the latest trends in Central American narrative. These trends conform to a new literary paradigm that consists of an amalgam of styles and discourses, which combine the testimonial, the historical, and the political with the mystery and suspense of noir thrillers. Contemporary Central American noir narrative depicts the persistent war against social injustice, violence, criminal activities, as well as the new technological advances and economic challenges of the post-war neo-liberal order that still prevails throughout the region. Drawing on postmodernism theory proposed by Ihab Hassan, Linda Hutcheon and Brian MacHale, I argued that the new Central American literary paradigm exemplified by Sergio Ramirez’s El cielo llora por mí, Dante Liano’s El hombre de Montserrat, Horacio Castellanos Moya’s El arma en el hombre and La diabla en el espejo, and Ramon Fonseca Mora’s El desenterrador, are highly structured novels that display the characteristic marks of postmodern cultural expression through their ambivalence, which results from the coexistence of multiple styles and conflicting ideologies and narrative trends. The novels analyzed in this dissertation make use of a noir sensitivity in which corruption, decay and disillusionment are at their core to portray the events that shaped the modern history of the countries from which they emerge. The revolutionary armed struggle, the state of terror imposed by military regimes and the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, are among the major themes of these contemporary works of fiction, which I have categorized as perfect examples of the post-revolutionary post-modernism Central American detective fiction at the turn of the 21st century.

The role of the Internet on export market growth : an empirical study in Latin America

The Internet has been shown to positively influence the export activities of firms from developed countries. However, the literature is vague as to whether the Internet has an impact on the export market growth of firms form developing countries. This paper examines of a cross-national sample of 204 firms from a Latin American country (Chile). The results show that Internet marketing activities positively influence information availability and business relationships, which lead to an increase in export market growth. The findings indicate that the Internet influences not only information availability for export performance but also business relationships generally thought to be face to face interactions in nature.

Huellas de Eros y Thánatos en la narrativa de Diamela Eltit : La palabra en movimiento en el juego entre tropos, metáforas y deconstrucciones lingüísticas

Väitöskirja analysoi espanjan kielen dekonstruktioita ruumiin metaforista ja troopeista koostuvassa aineistossa chileläisen kirjailijan Diamela Eltitin (1949 -) neljässä romaanissa: Lumpérica (1983), Vaca sagrada (1991), El infarto del alma (1994) ja Los trabajadores de la muerte (1998). Näkökulma on kielen muutoksessa Eltitin proosassa 1980- ja 1990-luvuilla alkaen kokeellisesta huippuvaiheesta 1983, jolloin hän julkaisi esikoisromaaninsa Lumpérica. Tutkimus korostaa Eltitin romaanien historiallista arvoa, kirjallisuuden tapaa murtaa kielen rakenteita ja sitä miten tämä murros kytkeytyy taideteoreettiseen muutokseen kulttuuridiskursseissa. Tutkimus tarkastelee Eltitin kehityskaarta kenraali Augusto Pinochetin sotilasvallankaappauksesta 1973 halki sotilashallituksen kauden (1973-1990) aina kansalaisyhteiskunnan vahvistumiseen ja vuoteen 1998. Tutkimus analysoi ruumiin troopeista ja metaforista koostuvaa tutkimusaineistoa lingvistiikan, kirjallisuustieteen, historian ja sukupuolen tutkimuksen monitieteisessä viitekehyksessä. Sen vuoksi väitöskirja liittyy espanjalaisen filologian, yleisen kirjallisuustieteen, Latinalaisen Amerikan tutkimuksen ja naistutkimuksen oppiaineisiin. Kolme tärkeintä oppiteoreettista runkoa ovat lingvistinen strukturalismi, dekonstruktio ja feministiset kirjallisuusteoriat. Dekonstruktiivinen lähestymistapa tekstiin korostaa kielen merkityksen muodostumisen filosofista perustaa. Se pyrkii selvittämään, miten merkitys muodostuu kirjoittajan, tekstin ja lukijan välillä. Tekstikritiikki koostuu semanttisesta ja dekonstruktiivisesta tekstianalyysistä, jonka metodologisen mallin perusta on tanskalaisen kielitieteilijän Louis Hjelmslevin (1899-1965) kielitieteellinen malli. Väitös ei käytä mallia suoraan, vaan soveltaa sitä kaunokirjallisuuden tutkimukseen. Oppiteoreettisen viitekehyksen osalta tutkimus sijoittuu strukturalismin ja poststrukturalismin murrokseen. Tutkimus korostaa Eltitin radikaalia muotokieltä ja teatraalisuutta, hänen kielensä visuaalisuutta ja ruumiin metaforien eroottista jännitettä, mikä ilmenee mm. falloksen metaforaksi tulkitun hehkuvan valon kuvissa romaanissa Lumpérica. Vanhat kreikkalaiset myytit Éros ja Thánatos kasvavat esille länsimaisen taidehistorian perinteestä ja kontekstualisoituvat uusiksi kielikuviksi Chilen kirjallisessa maaperässä. Ne muodostavat Eltitin taiteellisen tuotannon pysyvän aihepiirin ja luovat teoksiin synkkää ja karua virettä sekä tummia ja eroottisia sävyjä. Tutkimus osoittaa, että Eltit dekonstruoi kieltä, mutta dekonstruktiot eivät ole jatkuvia eivätkä samanlaisia kaikissa romaaneissa. Kielellisten dekonstruktioiden variaatio on laaja eikä Eltit murra kielen syntaktisia ja morfologisia rakenteita kaikissa teksteissään. Tutkimuksen perusteella väitän, että Eltitin kirjoituksesta puhuttaessa useat tutkijat käyttävät epämääräisesti dekonstruktio-termiä. Useiden tutkijoiden toteamus dekonstruktiosta Diamela Eltitin kirjallisessa tuotannossa pysyvänä piirteenä on epätäsmällinen. Sen sijaan dekonstruktiivinen kirjoitus tarkoittaa Eltitillä laajasti vaihtelevaa lähestymistapaa kieleen, mikä ilmenee kehityslinjana hänen tuotannossaan ja eri tavoin jokaisessa teoksessa.

Social Interactions and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Latin America

In this paper, we seek to examine the effect of comparisons and social capital on subjective well-being. Furthermore, we test if, through social influence and exposure, social capital is either an enhancer or appeaser of the comparison effect. Using the Latinobarómetro Survey (2007) we find that in contrast to most previous studies, the comparison effect on well-being is positive; that is, the better others perform, the happier the individual is. We also find that social capital is among the strongest correlates of individuals’ subjective well-being in Latin American countries. Furthermore, our findings suggest that social contacts may enhance the comparison effect on individual’s happiness, which is more intense for those who perform worse in their reference group.

Payments for Water Ecosystem Services in Latin America: Evidence from Reported Experience

27 p.

No coração da tempestade: uma reflexão sobre o insólito em Vinte e zinco, de Mia Couto

Em Vinte e zinco, o escritor moçambicano Mia Couto, recorrendo ao universo telúrico de seu país, tenta recuperar, ficcionalmente, um período cronológico que perpassa dias imediatamente anteriores e posteriores à Revolução dos Cravos em Portugal, quando se deu a queda do regime salazarista, no 25 de Abril de 1974, iniciando a narrativa em 19 de Abril e concluindo-a no dia 30. O escritor vale-se de recursos lúdicos inerentes à produção ficcional, somados às possibilidades estéticas oferecidas ao longo do processo de resgate sociocultural dos valores da terra. Assim, conta uma história em que elementos do maravilhoso são legíveis como comuns à realidade quotidiana. A narrativa apresenta a função da Casa dos Castro os integrantes da família e suas relações com África e das demais personagens que transitam ao seu redor seja na figura de negros, seja na de alguns brancos, estes, assimilados ao avesso ou não. Essas personagens juntas mesmo que estejam, em determinados momentos, em lados opostos caminham, como representação da dualidade colonial, em direção à apoteótica cena insólita em que se dão a ascensão do Napolo e a tempestade que cai ao final, manchando a terra às vésperas do 25 de Abril. Mia Couto, em um universo cercado de mitos, crenças e tradições, torna visível o invisível, espelhando, no plano da diegese, a realidade desse cenário, e recupera, pela via das trocas culturais ao longo dos séculos, estratégias de construção narrativa ficcional desenvolvidas nas literaturas latino-americanas a fim de representar Moçambique em sua obra. Assim, apropria-se dos preceitos do Real Maravilhoso, em sua vertente africana aqui chamada de Real Animismo miacoutiano para apresentar essa mestiçagem cultural com imagens plurivalentes do real