Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 8-2014 Nationalism, Universality, and Globalization: Notes on the Narrative of Three Guatemalan Authors Marcie Noble Western Michigan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the Latin American Languages and Societies Commons, and the Latin American Literature Commons Recommended Citation Noble, Marcie, "Nationalism, Universality, and Globalization: Notes on the Narrative of Three Guatemalan Authors" (2014). Dissertations. 310. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/310 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NATIONALISM, UNIVERSALITY, AND GLOBALIZATION: NOTES ON THE NARRATIVE OF THREE GUATEMALAN AUTHORS by Marcie Noble A dissertation submitted to the Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Spanish Western Michigan University August 2014 Doctoral Committee: Michael Millar, Ph.D., Chair Antonio Isea, Ph.D. Benjamín Torres, Ph.D. Kristina Wirtz, Ph.D. NATIONALISM, UNIVERSALITY, AND GLOBALIZATION: NOTES ON THE NARRATIVE OF THREE GUATEMALAN AUTHORS Marcie Noble, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2014 This dissertation examines various works of literature produced by three Guatemalan authors: Miguel Ángel Asturias (1899-1974), Augusto Monterroso (1921- 2003), and Rodrigo Rey Rosa (1958) in order to trace a trajectory in the narrative written by Guatemalans from a nationally focused literature to one that is increasingly global. The first chapter provides an overview of the study and clarifies the terminology applied throughout the dissertation. In chapter two I analyze El Señor Presidente (1946), Hombres de maíz (1949), and Mulata de Tal (1963) as key examples of Asturias’ nationally focused works, which continually represented and mythologized Guatemala. In chapter three I concentrate on the narrative of Augusto Monterroso, with whom Guatemalan literature moves beyond the boundaries of the concept of nationhood and toward a more cosmopolitan perspective. I examine short stories, fables, essays and anecdotes from Obras completas (y otros cuentos) (1959), La oveja negra y demás fábulas (1969), Movimiento perpetuo (1972), La palabra mágica (1983), La letra e (1987), and his only novel, Lo demás es silencio: la vida y la obra de Eduardo Torres (1982). Finally, Rey Rosa is studied in the fourth chapter as the more global author. This is shown through the analysis of his collection of short stories Ningún lugar sagrado (1998), and several novels: El cojo bueno (1996), La orilla africana (1999), Caballeriza (2006), and Severina (2011). Throughout the study, I use an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates the ideas of a wide array of scholars, including Benedict Anderson, Doris Sommer, Ulrich Beck, Ulf Hannerz, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Edward Said, and Bernat Castany Prado. © 2014 Marcie Noble ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my dissertation committee, whose patience and thoughtful reviews of my work have challenged me, encouraged me, and been an integral part of the shaping of this project. In the beginning of this process, I understood that through my research I would be learning more about this topic than one might believe possible. But I had no inkling of the journey of self-discovery upon which I was about to embark. And I wish to express, not only to my committee members, but also to the entire department, my profound gratitude for this opportunity. I also wish to thank my family and friends who supported me throughout my journey. Your love and understanding, hot meals, cold drinks, and general companionship have been invaluable these last several years. I am in your debt. Marcie Noble ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... ii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II: MIGUEL ANGEL ASTURIAS ............................................................................................. 32 CHAPTER III: AUGUSTO MONTERROSO .............................................................................................. 73 CHAPTER IV: RODRIGO REY ROSA ..................................................................................................... 126 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................. 196 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................................... 200 iii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Central American Literature in general and, more specific to this study, Guatemalan Literature is an area that is often underrepresented in the canon of Hispanic American letters. In a study of Masters and PhD reading lists completed by Joan L. Brown and Crista Johnson, only two Central American born authors appeared on more than fifty percent of the lists. Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío was present ninety-eight percent of the time, and Guatemalan Miguel Ángel Asturias achieved seventy-seven percent.1 The fact that Guatemala has suffered through decades of civil war and strings of ruthless dictatorships made literary production difficult, and the kind of fiction an author was producing could also be a predicament. Many authors and critics believed that politically committed literature—literature written with the goal of revealing the problems of the writer’s era and influencing change—was the only acceptable path in the region. This discourse can be observed as early as the post-independence era. For example, Jean Franco makes reference to the literary groups that were forming in Latin America in the first half of the nineteenth century, many of which “were constituted with the deliberate intention of encouraging a national literature” and “sometimes, these circles were political as well as literary.”2 Furthermore, Franco explains that Romanticism was a dominant topic of discussion for these groups, and in Latin America Romanticism was closely associated with notions of individual freedom and nationalism: “The new literature was thus identified with political and social reform in the minds of 1 Joan L. Brown and Crista Johnson, “Required Reading: The Canon in Spanish and Spanish American Literature,” Hispania 81, no. 1 (March 1998): 1-19. 2 Jean Franco, An Introduction to Spanish-American Literature (London: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 46. Reference to this discourse can also be seen in the first two chapters of Franco’s The Decline and Fall of the Lettered City (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002), and Will H. Corral’s “General Introduction” in The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013). 1 young intellectuals who held on to these ideals during dark periods of oppression, dictatorship and civil war. In such periods, literature was sometimes the only form of activity left open to them, so that the novel and even poetry came to be regarded as instruments for attacking injustices, and for creating a sense of partriotism and civic pride.”3 Narrowing the focus to the region of Central America, John Beverly has also argued that “literature was not only a means of revolutionary politics but also a model for it in Central America. Why this was the case had to do not only with the content of individual texts (i.e., with something that might be revealed by a hermeneutic or deconstructive analysis) but also with the way literature itself was positioned as a social practice by the processes of combined and uneven development in Central American history.”4 Werner Mackenbach has stated even more forcefully that in Central America, “la literatura se convierte en un arma en la lucha por la liberación (nacional)” and he explains: En esta estrecha relación entre política y literatura le es conferida a la literatura una función central en la construcción de la nación, sea en los movimientos guerrilleros como arma cultural para la realización de un proyecto nacional/social contra los vendepatrias (también en sentido cultural) ante el imperialismo del "gran hermano" del Norte, sea como proyecto de gobierno, en donde la literatura se convierte en una institución nacional.5 While evidence of political commitment has been highly valued in the isthmus, expressing commitment to a resistance movement could cost a writer his or her life. Writer/revolutionaries of Guatemala’s Generación comprometida, which formed after the 1954 CIA-backed coup of the left-leaning government gave way to military rule in 3 Franco, An Introduction to Spanish-American Literature, 47. 4 John Beverley, “‘Through All Things Modern’: Second Thoughts on Testimonio,” Boundary 18, no. 2 (1991): 11-12. 5 Werner Mackenbach, “Entre política, historia y ficción. Tendencias en la narrativa centroamericana a finales del siglo XX,” Istmo 15 (julio-diciembre 2007), http://istmo.denison.edu/n15/articulos/mackenbach.html. 2 Guatemala, considered works that were not overtly committed to the resistance movements of Central America as flawed or of less importance. One example of this