UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, MERCED Reading

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, MERCED Reading (for) Magical Gaps: The Novice Reader’s Aesthetic Response to Magical Realism A Thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in World Cultures by Carl Joseph Ponzio Committee in charge: Professor Manuel M. Martín-Rodríguez, Chair Professor Virginia Adan-Lifante Professor Ignacio López-Calvo Professor Teenie Matlock 2013 Copyright Carl Joseph Ponzio, 2013 All rights reserved The Thesis of Carl Joseph Ponzio is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ________________________________________________________________________ Virginia Adan-Lifante ________________________________________________________________________ Ignacio López-Calvo ________________________________________________________________________ Teenie Matlock ________________________________________________________________________ Manuel M. Martín-Rodríguez, Chair University of California, Merced 2013 iii Dedication This work would not be possible without the students that I have had the pleasure of training while at UC Merced. Each group taught me something about myself as an instructor, and I must continue to enhance my pedagogical skills in order to prepare my students for their next step – whatever that step may be. To the two people I could not prosper without – Robyn McCreight and Anthony Paramo. My travels and study have kept me away for far too long, but, as we continue to become improved, talented individuals, we will each undergo periods when we must sacrifice our most valued possession, time. Hours of strenuous training lie ahead; nevertheless, I know I can always depend on each of you to alleviate the stress I feel when I cannot fulfill my responsibilities as a partner to you, Robyn, or a brother to you, Anthony. Forgiving is not forgetting: it is remembering with the promise for a better tomorrow. Better days await us as we remain dedicated to improving ourselves and others. Now, let us step outside of our respective caves and get some sunlight! To the rest of my family and friends, my analyses fail without you. You each lend me your eyes while I traverse literary and tangible worlds. Joseph Conrad once asserted that it was his duty to help the world see: I cannot help but wonder how his closest friends and family first provided him with the very talent he wanted to gift to his readers. While I would like to thank each of my formal and informal teachers individually, it is simply not feasible. However, to withhold certain names would be absolutely criminal. Richard Ferrie, your dedication to helping every student succeed in a way that best suits him or her still inspires me to send budding learners to college. Katherine D. Harris, without the OCE, the ICE, and your fervor for making me a better writer through the bumps and bruises, I would not have been ready for graduate school. Manuel M. Martín-Rodríguez, your figurative couch served me best through the many moments of exasperation. More importantly, your dedication to a life in search of readers has transformed this former literary enthusiast into a scholar capable of appreciating what, how, and why people read as they do. I would also like to thank committee members Virginia Adan-Lifante, Ignacio López-Calvo, Teenie Matlock for their insight and praise through what has been the most rewarding project of my academic career. Finally, to my mother and my father. Without the both of you, my life of books would not be possible. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………….vi Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..vii Introduction: Introduction: The Novice Reader, Magical Realism, and the Potential of Ambiguity…………………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter One: “Who Wants to Share?”: Relations Between the Novice Reader and the Intent of the Perceived Author(ity)………………………………………………………17 Chapter Two: The Mechanics of Magic in Like Water for Chocolate…………………..43 Chapter Three: Occidental Fit: Merging Zones as Paradoxical Centers in The House of the Spirits………………………………………………………………………………...69 Chapter Four: “Everything is Known”: Synthesizing Macondo’s Vacant Memories…...93 Conclusion: Maturing as a Community……………………………………………...…119 Works Cited………………………………………………………………………….…125 v Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge and thank the University of California, Merced for the opportunity to work as a teacher’s assistant while researching and writing this work. vi ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Reading (for) Magical Gaps: The Novice Reader’s Aesthetic Response to Magical Realism by Carl Joseph Ponzio Master of Arts, Emphasis in World Cultures University of California, Merced, 2013 Professor Manuel M. Martín-Rodríguez, Chair The purpose of the following work is to propose a theoretically supported understanding of a methodology used by actual readers who exhibit apprehension when asked to respond to a text with an imaginative interpretation. I argue that once an author’s vision is considered to be absolute, those people I deem novice readers will primarily search a text for fundamental textual clues – or important moments in the plot – that appear indicative of the author’s intentions. Basing the detective-like method used by novice readers in reader response theory, the same reading models of Wolfgang Iser and Stanley Fish are later considered in order to explore how the ambiguity of works written in the magical realist mode can benefit readers who formerly sought to uncover a single reading. In particular, selected works from Laura Esquivel, Isabel Allende, and Gabriel García Márquez are each analyzed for their potential to enhance aesthetic reading strategies. vii Introduction: The Novice Reader, Magical Realism, and the Potential of Ambiguity The purpose of the following work is to propose a theoretically supported understanding of a methodology used by actual readers who, based on my observations, exhibit apprehension when asked to respond to a text with an imaginative interpretation. I propose that these individuals – who I deem novice readers – primarily search for authorial intent rather than formulate their own textual analysis, such behavior spawning from standardized interpretive strategies implemented predominantly in high school. Feeling a need to obtain a “correct” reading, students making the transition from secondary institutions to college with little confidence in their analytical skills most often exemplify the characteristics of the novice reader. To scour a text for the plotline or “close reading” moments – major textual events that the novice may deem indicative of the author’s intent – signifies the novice reader’s methodology. Thus, anyone can be a novice reader if they withhold their own imaginative response in favor of extracting an objective meaning.1 After further highlighting the novice reader, I will argue that magical realism can provide novice readers with a frame that can enhance their interpretative skills through the mode’s ability to subtly and explicitly blend the real and the fantastic.2 The frame acts as a catalyst for the novice reader’s initiation into an imagined space where subtle nuances do not need the absolute or rational explanations expected of them from other genres rooted predominantly in realism. Specifically, the ambivalence found in magical realist works exemplifies multiple possibilities for explanations regarding fantastic occurrences. With magic originating from multiple sources and from various perceptions, the novice can arrive at the realization that his partisanship or view enables new takes on magic’s surreptitious manifestations and functionality. Though data collected from focus groups is pending, I would nevertheless like to suggest that a consistent use of aesthetic reading practices will best suit the novice reader’s maturity— their will to engage with the text.3 Uttered with a sense of taboo, magical realist texts, almost inexplicably, became one of the most highly recognized modes in literature after Gabriel García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude was translated into English in 1970. Prior to international success, the mode endured a lengthy tenure of amalgamation and transformation before featuring recognizable figures such as Father Nicanor, the floating priest who enjoys an enchanting cup of chocolate or Clara, the clairvoyant mute who 1 It should be noted that the term is not intended to signify gender. Though I predominantly use a masculine pronoun, I do not link the novice reader’s skills to a particular gender. Most magical realist and Latin American literature scholars are familiar with the resistance to Julio Cortázar’s gendered reading strategies. See Simpkins, 61. 2 The term “mode” is used to suggest that magical realism is not its own genre, but a technique that traverses the boundaries of proper genres. See Schroeder, 13. 3 Though an outline of how the suggested focus groups will function does not exist anywhere in this work, I would like to stress that factor’s shaping novice readers’ identity will undoubtedly influence their readings. I do not intend to skirt the issue. However, as my focus in this work centers on highlighting the general methods exercised by novice readers and developing a schematic for improving their analytical skills, I leave considerations for focus groups and their procedures for observing and aiding various types of novice readers for a later work. 1 2 envisions her own fettered marriage outfitted with an abusive spouse. Scholars and

Load more