Ciencia y Cultura ISSN: 2077-3323 [email protected] Universidad Católica Boliviana San Pablo Bolivia

Aldama, Frederick Flash Fiction of the Latin/o Americas. Another Approach Ciencia y Cultura, núm. 31, diciembre, 2013, pp. 229-252 Universidad Católica Boliviana San Pablo La Paz, Bolivia

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Flash Fiction of the Latin/o Americas. Another Approach

Frederick Aldama*

Abstract:

This essay focuses on how a select few flash fictions are built by Latino authors and consumed by readers (Latino and otherwise) who share a com- mon, deep ancestral evolution that has led to the growing of some funda- mental cognitive and emotive biological mechanisms. It therefore turns to the insights offered by the research in the brain sciences and cognitive developmental psychology as well as to a specific analysis of several U.S. Latino flash fictions. In each flash fiction we shall see how these authors use language, narrative technique, and imagination to give in a few brushs- trokes a representation of the full range of human emotions, moral dilem- mas, and cognitive capabilities. Aldama opens the essay with the discussion of Monterroso’s El dinosaurio as a primer of sorts to indicate what happens when readers encounter Latino narrative fiction generally and Latino short short fiction (flash fiction) specifically. While he focuses on the flash fiction created by U.S. Latinos, much of what he discusses below can reveal much about what readers do generally when they encounter narrative fiction. This could be seen in the short short format other than Latino flash fictions such as those from China known as “smoke-long stories” or from Japan 229 known as “palm-of-the-hand stories”. But it also applies more globally to any and all kinds of narrative fiction —novels, comic books, and films and from all over the planet. That is, the exploration of Latino authored flash fiction can and does reveal much about how such all variety of narrative fic- tion blueprints trigger and then guide a complex array of our mind/brain’s sense-making faculties.

* The hioO State University. 230

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas nal formats; ofnarrative space; theexpanding orshrinking theuseofdifferent or longspeeding up or slowingfictio- (short) down of narrative time in short andplot; code-switching; the Spanish/English ofstory thecarefulinterplay as in content, literature (political the teaching ofLatino including orotherwise) Today, options, we outotherimportant lookandseethatwe back may have left its teaching. approach theonly for documentbecame literature associo-political Latino/a authors and scholars. feminist nence of Latina time, Over of the interpreting instance) continued topromi togainmomentum inthe1980swithrise - versus position mainstream, (Latinos andpolitical of auniqueidentity for judiced mainstream U.S. Latino literature astheexpression of The interpreting revolved aroundissues: political livinginapre whatitwasliketobeaLatino - anchored toquestions waslargely that that begantogrow thisperiod during 1970s, renaissance ofthelate1960sandearly literary thebodyofscholarship theLatino chargedliterature thatcharacterized a result ofthemore politically American, émigré authors)asliterature American andSouth . andCentral As American,(Mexican CubanAmerican, American, Rican Puerto Dominican have free felt to study the large body of literature by and about U.S. Latinos studieswhere ofLatino scholars there hasnotbeenamoment inthehistory seemed to overshadow those seeking to study the literature of Latinos. That is, ment of division in phenomenathe study of cultural Americas of the Latin There isaslight additional complicationtothispicture. mo- Thisinglorious nativas prove otherwise. it seemed. thisessayforalter/ andthentheinvitationwrite The symposium to regroupedscholars back. andpulled shouldmeet, And thetwain never orso textual concerns, toputcontext intoplay. aimedsingularly sothey The literary large had become tooisolatedfrom studieswrit con- the sensethatliterary reason. studiesheld cultural Those attheavant-gardeLatin/o American of good for studies—andarguably sides were versus taken—cultural literary Americas. Inthere literatureaxis oftheLatin/o wasatimewhen departments of approaches phenomena tothestudyofcultural we identifyon thevertical time now. That today there is room atthe variety robust andlargeforall table alter/nativasthen for what I have some focus sensedfor brought into sharp culturalesenelLos estudios sigloXXI latinoamericanos in the 21st Century/ ”verview and Studies Cultural ofthisessayforthesymposium American writing “Latin The 1.

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a complex array of formal tools such as: the stylistic device of as: toolssuch device a complex arrayofformal thestylistic 231

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick Brown on Brown: Chicano Representations of Gender, Sexuality, and Eth- Sexuality, of ChicanoGender, Representations Brown on Brown: (2003), and its unofficial theoretical se- and Criticism (2003), Narrative Postethnic A User’s Guide to Postcolonial and Latino Borderland Fiction Postcolonial Guide to nicityA User’s (2005) and in the culminated Historywork writing This Concise of The Routledge (2009). - since pu and the others I have books In these (2012). of Latino/a Literature but a turnedcontext, to I have film and other narrative formats, blished on in involved mechanisms are and cognitive emotive in the sense of how context I’ve of Latino making and the audience´s consuming literature. the creator´s found sciences and useful the incorporation in the cognitive made of advances theory narrative with tools from This along allowed have socio-neurobiology. and analyzeme to explore variousrecipes (what how Latino fiction narrative imagining, trigger elsewhere) and guide our interpreting, “blueprints” I call While been might have such an approach and feeling mechanismsof readers. myselffind I a today at sitting decadea ago, eyes apprehensive with at looked cultural and literarytable where the health of one scholars alike can promote can we offer and other scholars students our table where at a I sit another. to enrich options of different an understanding of the making and consuming I would this end, To identify as Latino we literature. the cultural phenomena short a on journey might approach I in the way the reader, you, like to invite consuming. and its making and Latino flash fiction, the object: quels: quels: I began to formally in the writing to such questions seek answers of my first book, I have dedicated much of my teaching, research, and writing and to the answering research, dedicated of my teaching, I have much of several foundational and interlocking Latino concerning questions litera- Whygenerally? attracted to Latino we fiction are we like the do Why ture. about that does it come not others? How Latino —and of some creators work to the or another one degree refersLatino in in all guises fiction its narrative Whatlife”? “real world patentlytime is same the real at but duplicating not narra of - in the making and consuming involved mind/brain mechanisms are we why do and work does How fiction narrative Latino In short: fiction? tive it? with spend our time engaged types of voice (serious, ironic, humorous, for instance) and perspective (from (from for instance) and perspective humorous, ironic, types (serious, of voice story);the in poetry outside use to the inside verse traditional and free-verse of for instance. and pantoum, villanelle, forms such as the sonnet, 232

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas In thislight, outtheconcepts Ifill withsomefollowing oftheadditional details: of possibleandplausibleexplanations ofthephenomena underconsideration. orsets generatethehypothesesorconjectures totheseries since they pertaining In thescientificprocedure asawholetheabductive operationsare primordial, tothescientificmethod: structure of atripartite Peirce Sanders Charles (1839-1914), ofPragmatism, thefounder asone part tified Karl andbyby andrefutations Popper´s methodofconjectures general humanfaculty,in thetextorrepresentation we usethatsingularly iden- We Monterroso’s follow lead stepby step, univocally, andwhere there are gaps thenguideshowtriggers thesefunctionsinthereader’s operate encounter. details, chosen deliberately blueprint andafew ofevent careful choice thestory memory,include relevancy, segmentation, functions. andgapfilling With the a heavy working of the reader’s sense that making (or semantic) mechanisms asto amorphous require are sufficiently the time-space markers ofthestory the different degrees the reader inthistime/spacemust fill presence. Here, manipulate the different degreeshe can the in which readerfeels this presence; spa ce). Ofcourse, Monterroso iswell aware ofthefact thatinlanguage timeand from apointintimeandspa (necessarily dimension observing ofthenarrator properandspatial asthetemporal aswell there”)dimensionstill ofthestory is, awoke”) andspatial(“the dinosaurwas contains(“he atemporal thestory thir bott, 2008:13). Thereevent isan recounted, butitistoldfrom theposition ofa tituting anarrative: “the representation ofevents” oraseries ofanevent (Ab spa intimeand the reader thatplotsanevent for tomakesenseoftheasastory sary Monterroso’s story. short famousshort This one linecontainsthatisneces all heawoke,“When ”, thedinosaur wasstillthere Augusto opensandcloses 2. • • •

ce are necessarily present,ce are necessarily fiction short butthatinthemakingofhisshort ce. identifiedas cons Itdoessobytypically more fulfilling thanthebasics d-person narrator the hypothesesby present andfuture experience. hastodowiththeconfirmation of orfalsification and theinductive part potheses; elaborationofthehy isconcernedwiththelogical - the deductive part hypotheses; mendation ofexplanatory generation andrecom isconcernedwiththeoriginal the abductive- part A CaseoftheF this event atthemoment thisevent ofits happening.observing That lash Fiction - - - - 233

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick is a different kind of creative mechanism. It involves the logical It involves mechanism. kind of creative is a different is in essence a creative ability plausible connections to imagine a creative is in essence Abduction Abduction as eventual- causal disparatebetween events regu relations and possible our biology it was based in thought an adaptive and had Peirce larities. va- and proposed that established hypotheses mental process value as a rious which paths along the empirical exploration and understanding of not only we formulate In abduction reality most fruitfully may proceed. in what amounts to a sort choose them among we of cost- hypotheses, benefit evaluation. Deduction to in order process the abductive analysis furnished by of the conjectures as possible. and consistent complete, distinct, of them as make each one or the pertinent predictions conjectures those It aims also to derive from future to the unknown present the known from (inferences retrodictions also as a means to or past) which as tests and therefore could be used establish the truth value (true of the hypotheses. or false) by the abductive hypotheses the offered where Induction is the final stage, to empirical submitted are by deduction confirma- and refined procedure further is harnessed process the and creative the Here falsification. or tion attached even more becomes flight of scientific imagination speculative and future. both present to experience, • • • I underline- does not think that painting as mimesis has aesthe that Changeux This points to a subtle tic import because the imagination. over it lacks power “Whereas ofpossessed a is concept scientific the science and art: between difference We can think of these three processes as the unified mechanism as the unified of all thought can processes of these three think We - “ArtNeuroscien and in Thus, and walks of life. in all endeavors and reasoning of offers insists that “(a) painting mea- Jean-Pierre Changeux plurality a ce”, He further argues that the act (1994:191). in many ways” ning and is coded of which the in the process of viewing a recreation, becomes the painting They echo each put to the test. forth the painting are hypotheses brought by or discar either corrected - they are not, if they are or, preserved, other and are not may cases, in some and clues images meanings that, suggest Shapes, ded. been parthave of the artist´s and simply intentions originate in the viewer´s The painting affects experiences. personal from resulting long-term memory, this stock memories of unconscious and brings focusing them to the surface by the compartment short-term on the viewer´s of conscious attention memory. “shared dream ” a It becomes imaginaryAn starts dialogue with the painting. 1994:191). (Changeux, 234

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas how his readers will experience his deliberately chosen bits of information bitsofinformation chosen how hisreadersdeliberately experience will another layer ofanachrony readers for topuzzleout. Monterroso just chooses andrecounts theevent, presenceexistence ofanarrating thatobserves adding of theproblem entity. ofthenarrating Then, the reader must makesenseofthe intime. back tioned) hasbeentransported And, thenthere isthemakingsense (ifindeedwe settleon humanasthe thishumanentity that possibly “he” men - this lineofthinking, thereader mightcontinue tomakesenseby imagining proto-humans thetimeofdinosaurs.that even didnotexistduring Along additional meaningmakingactivities mustin. kick Mostreaders would know to have activitiesassleeping. such Ifwe imaginethis “he” tobeahuman, then opposed toarock, large enough(asopposedtoanamoeba, say) ofasize say) the is readeran organic creature guess that this entity to make the educated (as couldbehuman,original) ornot. Yet theaddition oftheword “awoke” guides what, where? The mention of“he” (thispronounSpanish isunspecifiedinthe be”and thatcan desires called (192). pleasurethatanyonehypotheses formulateinwardly, can concerning consciousor not, echoes hypotheses that have to do with its meaning, but above all because it echoes the also emotion anddesire. Hewrites: “A painting is likely to us affect because it thebrain,of ” reason thatof (192), representation adding thatartistic involves apainting involvesthat “viewing functionsinthehierarchyremarks thehighestof aromantictinction doesnotimply stand. We seethislater, whenChangeux play andindividualamajorrole”subjectivity experience (191-192). Butthisdis- evocation, of its power opens outonaplurality intellectual of speculations inwhich the start at universality, art, of thework meaning and aims from precise because of to initially askandanswer:to initially who, allowus The bitsofinformation segment intounitsofmeaning. wants hisreaders toparse, or he theinformation includes ofcuttingthatonly is aform ting inandoutinformation; it isalready ofselec- aform story decision tobeginandendhis into play. First, Monterroso’s veral creative functions come andseethese- avant lalettre story,short orflash fiction We read Monterroso’s short 235

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick Readers who encounter such flash fictions experience of such who encounter such fictions Readers flash the pleasure of these everyday deliberate manipulations and conspicuous ope- cognitive story. one-sentence smile after deeply experiencing Monterroso’s We rations. Why write write this subject and why also ask: about and not it this way We otherwise?Why write this storyWhat format in this concise and not another? finally, in me -in my thoughts and feelings? And, this produced has impact For this did the parts up to a total experienceaesthetic effort? add of a unified will centrally this essay consider in the involved the mental faculties reason, the blueprint the constructed by of storiescreating in this format (author), involved in faculties and the mental author for others to follow (flash fiction), of the story or recreating the blueprintthe reconstruction (reader). from These mind/brain’s sense-making faculties are not special to the act of reading reading act of not special to the are sense-making faculties These mind/brain’s They operate in all of our generally fiction or narrative flash fictions se. per to Day and interactions. communications, everyday activities, sense-making the operation of foundational faculties without be impossible lifewould day segmen- memory for instance: working), and (long-term encoding suchas, relevancytivity and (sensory experience and linguistic in meaningful units), is enough information us to fillfor in the gaps as abo- gap filling (“he awoke” (anticipate and imagine infinite number of counterfactual future recursion ve), flash fiction given of a the author It is just that others. among possibilities), blueprint a concise these operations. that manipulates creates I open with this discussion of Monterroso’s story as a primersorts of to in- of Monterroso’s this discussion I open with Latino encounter when readers what happens brushstrokes dicate broad with generally fiction narrative and Latino short short specifi- (flash fiction) fiction much Latinos, U.S. by created I on the flash fiction while focus said, This cally. - do genera what readers about canof what I will much discuss below reveal in the short This could short story llywhen they fiction. encounter narrative as format China known from other than Latino such flash fictions as those But stories”. “palm-of-the-hand as Japan known or from stories” “smoke-long globallyit also applies more —novels, and all fiction to any kinds of narrative exploration the is, That all planet. the over from and films— and books, comic how such much about all flash fictionof Latinoreveal can and does authored variety blueprints fiction of narrative trigger array of and then guide a complex faculties. sense-making our mind/brain’s and how the presentation of this information (blueprint) guides the reader’s information of this (blueprint) the reader’s guides the presentation and how making faculties. and meaning segmentation subsequent 236

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas Latino flashfictionsLatino weseeaBorgesian affirmationofthe creative possibilities plines: philosophical meditation, physics, biology, journalism, you name it. In ofdisci- reproduce variety all toenvelope stylistically use thisformat andeven dilemmas. We see here can authorsofflashfiction andelsewherehow Latino ofmoral variety andimmersedinall complexity ofpsychological variety all characters depictedwith of inhabited variety afictionalby all perience world options. and moral worldviews ablinkofaneye, Innearly thereader ex- can aspossible,quickly few pages evinceina to capacity flashfictions possessthe hit theirtarget (theirintendedeffect onthemeansandas reader)few withas demandagreat they andplotto concentrationBecause ofnarrative devices ofsocialtypes, variety with all experiences, situations, thoughtsandfeelings. filled readers draw and intensively intostoryworlds to quickly format story We authors explored seeineachoftheLatino here short auseoftheshort monster ofthenovel. and baggy authorsafresh, couldoffer format concise story vitalalternative tothe onerous expressed bythe sensibility Borges Jorgealready Luis : in1944Ficciones this Junot Díaz, HelenaMaría Viramontes, Ríos—andmany others andAlberto cross-pollinations.to such We Cisneros, on seeintheauthorsIfocus —Sandra traditions”literary (14). And, indeedtheproducts lendtoauthority themselves literature’stin American influencecontinues,Latinos createeven astheir own borders- transcends and thatLa form to show America the short-short “how flash fiction alongside practitioners present andpastform Latin ofthe from Thomas, include deliberately Ray Gonzalez and authorand editor U.S.Latino their Note”“Editors´ (2010), Shapard LatinoRobert toSuddenFiction James letters. American inLatin tradition have along history Indeed, story short in micro fiction) by U.S.rather Latino authors is recent, andshort story the short offlashfiction (sometimes alsoknown asmicrorrelato thewriting While dilemmas,moral andcognitive capabilities. brush-strokes arepresentationin afew rangeofhumanemotions, ofthefull how theseauthorsuselanguage, narrative technique, andimagination togive U.S. ofseveral analysis flashfictions. Latino Inflashfictioneach shall see we aswell astoaspecific sciencesandcognitivebrain developmental psychology The essaytherefore will totheinsightsoffered turn bythe research inthe growing ofsome fundamentalcognitive mechanisms. andemotive biological whoshare acommon,otherwise) evolution thathasledtothe deepancestral flash fictions are built Latinoauthorsand consumed by by(Latino and readers This contributiontotheissueofalter/nativas on focuses how aselect few or 237

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick . Many former and current interpreters of flash fiction seek former interpreters of flash fiction Many and current . 1 Init

O the to mathematical flash fictions equations —everything reasoning, (from products of by humans existing as made (all hermeneuticalthis culture interpretations of makes and it efforts to assign meaning imagination); and the emotions to material and to assess their value or importance intellectual and culture to humankind).

Along the same lines, others have variously called them “dribbles”, “quick fic- “quick variously “dribbles”, have others called them lines, same the Along sought to validate flash Others have fiction”. “napkin or fiction”, “fast tion”, genealogical roots; by its tracing fiction format as a legitimate narrative fiction Others as its progenitor. Tales Twice-Told Hawthorne’s identified have some (some of so the constraint cap fewoffer of how words initial formulations experience with a resultant perceptual this at 250) lends itself to a gestaltic co-editors Robert the Shapard and James For psychological impact. intensive means that the story (13) can be on the page” of ink “amount the little Thomas in its totality apprehended writer both in mind of the subsequently and in the Ray Gonzalez chooses to capture this sense of the Indeed, mind of the reader. Tara While (14). fiction” “sudden calling by immediacy it impact of emotive Masih (2009) also takes a stab at identifying formal elements such as word Masih resolution), and and plot (conflict characterization, count (25-1,000), of work a simply is fiction flash a story miniature, in “a ultimately concludes: art carved a grain of rice on of import —something to the artist or writer that space into a small square outcome, by design or either reduced, and is confined using the structural devices line and paragraph form of prose with the purpose these what another, or way One (xi). impact” emotional intense, an creating of interpreters try use langua- authors of flash fiction on is how to put their finger to cut into and out of a paragraph to point of view where and formge (from for instance) within a perceptually- small apprehen of temporality, and order various means to understand its form and content from identifyingvarious mea- of means to understand its form from and content forspecificity instance) to formulating a numbers, page count and (word sure coined the term Thomas James for instance, In 1992, of psychological effect. this short of boundaries identify the to shortmeasure of story fiction” “flash or short story. novella, format as not the novel, 1 ur speciesmakesmaterial(everything itmakesintellectual culture culture humansandexistingasobjects); by made Just as our many cultural making activities generally cultural making activities Just as our many (and naturally) spin out the creating see this with so too do we all variety frameworks, of interpretative of flash fictions 3. ial Identifications of shortof fiction writing stories of making the in fascination our satisfy that lifewith the mind. of the 238

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan formulatedoftheprose taleinthe19 In many ways, offlashfiction interpreters such are attemptingtoidentifywhat ofthismeaningmaking.making faculties —andthe subsequentexperience ded unit(Masih’s “small square”, say)theirreaders’ toengage anew meaning that run countertotheir reflex emotions.that run imagineand They work through in experience;they ponder, they assess, andmodifytheiractions inways —even balanced, healthy functioning. Children begintothinkabouttheemotions the emotion andreason become atonce andunifiedintheir system separate tual mapping of world,the social and physical among many others. In time the recursive capacity, andlanguage function, memory - andcounterfac causal grow hisorherreason itsassociative thatinclude andall mechanisms system inhibition (theparent acts asasurrogate reason system, say) sotheinfantcan period, and thisearly aspace offers ofcomfort thesocial(generally) During fed. and orneglectedandsmilecoowhentouched whenhungry cry They cognitive undeveloped and rather orreason alreadysystem system inplace. intheworld, babiesarrive When emotion developed dosowitharather they long creatures. evolution asatonce socialand biological once independent and dependent in their of our function —and this because cognitiveintegrated andemotive systems. These systems ain Matters expression ofour can consider itaparticularized we rrative fiction generally) thatgoes all intothemakingandconsuming offlashfictions (andna- With 4. ted by theauthor’s aesthetic goals andaspirations. order andtemporal thatare aspointofview such genera- devices storytelling aswell as careful selection ofwords assyntax such aswell asshapingdevices there format must bea story preters short mentioned above) thatintheshort the reader. That is, insists (andthislesssowiththe forcefully recent inter- Poe fiction aflashorsudden, should achieve new psychological-aesthetic effect on Poe’s words. oftheseunitsmeaninginkedon thepage, few With theflash ofatmosphere(emotiveunity cognitive) andofeffect” —a “unity (633), in along withtheway theseunitsofmeaningare conveyed, shouldadd uptoa (1880:637). That is, the words, sentences, (unitsofmeaning) andparagraphs him who contemplatesleave “inthe mind of ” the fullest satisfaction it (...) a sense of the author’s withintheconceit ofconcision can carefuldesignofthestory of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1842publishedTwice-Told Tales hereflects on how

Br th century. Inhisreview grosso modo aregrosso at 239

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick Without the knowledge of science that we have today, Borges puts at center puts at center Borges Without today, have of science that we the knowledge of his cha- these foundational properties of the mind in the creating stage Before (1944). Memorious” the “Funes in his short story, Funes racter Ireneo did not Funes of imagining then writing began the work Borges the story, - he exerci That is, so to speak. the story created Borges building it, by exist. both of sed his counterfactual capacity to imagine then anticipate the future, He then to the brain faculty. call mechanism related we which the recursive are him an infinitely and invest capacious the characterchooses Funes to create with Funes he creates So, and paradoxes. likes his ironies But Borges memory. to do anything faculties with it. but without the mental memory, a prodigious because he lacks the mental mechanisms(select in and of relevance Rather, - pre out information) and gap filling (feeling of continuity of experience past, to he lacks the capacity counterfactual thinking, to exercise and future), sent, He has no generalize this imagination. on and abstract —to imagine and act He has no to select informationa situation. how relevant to means of knowing He has no means to eliminate information. mental means for how knowing He of being able to demarcate the boundaries units of information. between lacks the capacity will never of reality to cut into the continuum and therefore encoding of way no has He experiencehis of sense make to able be reality. of actions. his in errors predictive lacks decrease the informationtherefore and He is and always will be (as a fictional character) a mountain of unparsable, Within this snapshot of our development (authors, readers, and all on others readers, Within (authors, this snapshot of our development develop other crucial we mental mechanisms such as the capacity the planet), relevant to identify what is and not This us allows filling. of relevance and gap or otherwise) (fictional or situation context given in any we that guides how while information at us often comes For instance, fill of information. in gaps can and retrieval than we at rates higher for encode much that lea- processing necessarily ves rateinformationthe of between transmission our of gap and a our gap filling capacity allows us to experience ourselves the and processing, or the other when one And, worldand seamless fashion. in a rather continuous brain is not functions) other interrelated of these mechanismsthe many (and (a property imagination the fails. of these faculties) in this usual way, working their minds possible and probabilistic outcomes to actions and actually to actions do the outcomes possible and probabilistic their minds the They grow expectations. and/or their their environments to modify work capacity new new consider that allow them to create maps to and possibilities will be in for situation their what outcomes probabilistic with plans formulate the world in the future. 240

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas 3 that isattheendof function islinkedtothehippocampus dvances intheneurosciences thatmemory indicate 2 unencodable information in our capacities to createin our capacities fiction making tools, among otherthings, and to function andexpress themselves withourmemory interface ofwhich ning all tosegment, islinkedtoourcapacity recursive capacity gapfill, and makemea- one another to establish more and longor less connections),durable term this (modules)andnetworked locations (theneuronstopological connect among mind. Given ismultifunctional, thatourbrain working atonce inconcentrated a flashfiction. inlanguage, operator Itisacentral counting, of andtheory making an arrowit be tools for used to give to hunt or shapeto the devices ofmind,as theory oftime, theory oftoolmaking—whether andthetheory sing above recursion. capacitiesfound inmanyand This isoftheactivitiessuch ofthesemany interrelatedcause mechanisms. mind/brain Imentioned inpas- oftheirfictions isalsopossiblebe- The toolstheseauthorsuseinthecrafting reader parse, can makesenseof, anew. reality experience and even ofaesthetic awillfulness intent,With thatthe add uptoablueprint thesecan intounits of meaning. information that allow the author to organize capacity elsewhere)are ofthediscourseoperator results all device ofthissegmentation thegenerative istold(what Icall ofhow aswell asthe choice thestory story writing aflashfiction story writing acupofteaoropeningbox topouring ofcereal,nicating toimaginingthen —from aspects of muchto reality segment all related commu to our capacity - ouractivefor existenceandouractive capacities necessary shows: ofrelevanceandgapfilling are notonly ourtheory gious memory. Nonetheless, Borges’s Funes whatneuroscience doesportray aboutwhatwe aprodi coulddowithsuch readers- whofantasize likemyself Borges, ofcourse, thereader’s seekstotickle —especially withthisstory brain inference, deduction, would all berelevant. and/orabduction) because himtoselectinto (and out);for there would (either benogaps to befilled by storedmass ofinformation inhisbrain. There would benothingidentifiable (norinterest thatmatter)tomakeafirstcutintothemiasmic for the capacity afirstlineofflashfiction, hishandatwriting were totry he wouldnot have

to generateabstractions islimited, likeFunes. leadingasautismor characters topathologies such tend toremember concepts andforgetirrelevantdetails. theseneurons are missingorlessdeveloped,When ourability create ofneurons the abstractencodingusedtostoreactivity that linkperceptionmemories; and memory hence, we information. pathwayneural thatprocesses sensory networking Intheneural ofthebrain, itappearsthatthesynaptic interacted with a new object,interacted withanew activatedregions brain selectively they associatedwithdominant-hand grasping. in regions associated with processing those changes inperception and action. readers read thatacharacter When isidentified also demonstratesthatwhenwe situation read changesinanarrated selective activity brain aboutparticular segmentation on andthenevent operates theresultingdescribed representations from came justasifthey perception. It The r A esearch conducted by Jeffrey Zacks shows that when one reads a story one constructs asimulationesearch events conductedone constructs by shows ofthe Zacks thatwhen Jeffreyone reads astory 2 . To putit more ofthisessay, inthe terms ifFunes 3 .

Where the author chooses tobeginandendthe theauthorchooses Where imagining intheworld, butbothare very 241

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick operate fully in the recursive mode. For instance, the discourse operator the instance, For operatefully mode. in the recursive could give shape to a story by using the second person as with Díaz’s “Alma” “Alma” shape to a storycould give as with Díaz’s person using the second by or shape a story narrator with person intermixed using a judgmental third by but a few to mention “Miss Clairol”, Viramontes’s discourse as in indirect free these Latino authors use tools created In this sense, possibilities. of the many boundlessto the shape give to operates that creativity on itself of language shape to The tool of the discourse operator gives the principle of recursion. the Stated otherwise, blueprint. and predetermined constructed, the planned, all And this shaping of time —all passage this is shape. scenery, the thematics, operator of dis- is built into the story“generative what I call by elsewhere the syntax temporal play, include that would such devices as point of view, course” to charactersto and readers attracts what words, In other on. so and placement, They like those of Díaz andflash fictions the story Viramontes is not are . se per (It might be true that the number of stories attracted to how the story is told. but because generative of the that can be told amount to only a handful or so, property an infinite number of iterations.)have we Latino fiction of narrative shape to their of the discourse operator use the tool to give then, authors, When a Latino author of flash fiction formulates a story, even before applyingeven before When a Latino a story, fiction formulates author of flash That the story can guises. appear in many the story to the discourse operator, of a story the formulation a certain already amount of creativity. requires is, than it is in the guise of in the guise of iteration But this creativity is more match at Whatever in a story are aspects there they creative don’t recursion. discourse of discourse where potential far— the creative all —not even by does Latino authors of flash fiction use their recursive tool making tool to recursive capacities Latino use their of flash fiction authors shape to the tool or operator —to make the to give of discourse make fiction of fictionality, (1999) signposts includeThese tools all of Dorrit Cohn’s story. instru the different - (1982) narrator-narratee constructions, Gerald Prince’s and mode, ments of analysis such Genette as frequency, by Gérard identified This operator is constantly giving shape others. with many along duration, the story on and acting a potentially element and giving it number of infinite on the story operation This operation —the discourse operator— is of shapes. The discourse operator operates thinking. course an application of recursive makes it so distinctivelyThis is what powerfully and manner. in a recursive creative. engage with the products of these tools. While make tools what animals some of these tools. with the products engage tools in ordermake we but onlynot tools, make we that is humans to unique is including recursive capacity making, tool our use in we is, That . make tools to of flash fiction. use in the making we those tools 242

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas in mind that even the use of flash fiction as a format can become a mechanical application —a new form of form new —a application can become in the mind use a mechanical that of even flash fiction format as a 4 artifact —the flash fiction tomakesomethingin thereorganizingofreality new ofthebuildingblocks useoftheimagination— deliberate reconstruction deliberate —avery a very andinnovationthatinvolvestheseinterrelatedcreativity all faculties brain are together. tomakeaunifiedimpression and howfitorganically itwill this All work. decidewherebe placed,They will thisinformation howbeshaped, itwill beshapedintotheglobaland final will versionthe selectedinformation ofthe that appeartobeunplanned, unforeseen, unwilledinthetext. decidehowThey decidewhattokeepanddeleteintheir They work,even thoseitems withthespecificaimof makingflashfictions. mechanisms lated mind/brain be asitisandtheway(s) explore itmight theworld tofully the above capacities As neurosociologicalcreatures, authorsofflashfiction Latino exerciseall of 5. and feeling. the reader thephenomenon ofestrangementaslinkedtoperception, thought of therespective flashfiction. can this createin AsseenwiththeBorges story reader’s parsingintounits(segmenting)andmeaningmaking(semanticizing) guidethe thatwill togiveout ofourrecursive shapetoablueprint capacity —andwithanidealreaderstories inmind. That is, usethistoolminted they that little something a Mexican that grocerlittle something a Mexican puts into your bag, token of apprecia- epigraphthatexplainswhatapilónis: asmall Cisneros toinclude chooses the reader them with new, to experience fresh senses, thoughts, and feelings. from thatguide shapetothesebuildingblocks inways to give reality new selectsin(andout)information,Cisneros carefully event, andcharacterization —a timebeforea timeofherchildhood shefirst got herperiod. However, at ofawoman lookingnostalgically (thenarrator) back astory this issimply Take Cisneros andherflashfiction, ofSandra thecase “Pilón”. down Stripped a compellingstory. product,an artificial aproduct oftheimagination— thatallowsthemtomake skill, imagination, andresponsibilitytosubjectmatter. — It’s tostyle thiswill mentalfaculties according useofall toforgesomethingthe deliberate new to elsewhereinmywork,under theimpulseofwhatIhave called thewillto: style

as expressed infictionalform. spendtheirtime directing They theseinterre- relation ensue. intoacookieturned cutter, ofhabituation, form anew from boredom which ofany aesthetic andthedestruction habituation. andgave great satisfactionThe innovationthatsurprised andpleasure to readers —thatgave beauty— Keep

Building Blo cks ofReality cks 4 .can They by make new employing specificdevices 243

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick J. C. Calderón Indeed, Cisneros’s “flash fiction” selects details and way of presenting these de- way of selects details and “flash fiction” Cisneros’s Indeed, - meaning-ma this narrator/character to orientate as a way tails by the reader’s deduction, of induction, gap-fillon our processes based we king mechanisms; explicitly does not need to know that for instance, reader, The and abduction. the narrator/character and after is talking about a time before the arrival of her menstrual experiencing period nor that this narrator/character from went Cisneros sets up the story initially with the expectation that the reader will, sets up the storyCisneros will, initiallythat the reader with the expectation encounter in the opening paragraph of the storylike those mentioned proper, a belo- a father, “of characters or a character who is grieving the loss over deliberately Cisneros However, (147). a child God ran with” whom away ved, sense-making informationorientates that she provides the readers misdirects; gap filling and memory working encoding, segmentivity, (relevancy, processes narrator/characterThe doesn’t only direction. another in them to take like), the but rather innocence of the loss of the recall one, loved the tragedy of a lost childhood as a girl as it interweaves a sense of loss of one’s with and through the narrator/character By the fourth turns her very short paragraph, homeland. my body. “How my body wasn’t making this shift before clear: gaze past, to the ball I was a of I was a being as close to a spirit as a spirit. a body. have I didn’t red that puberty, the me I was before I mean the planet. across light floating The series of sentences that (148). to carry have you Rio Bravo over” yourself identifying childhood from as a girlmove to adulthood in contradistinction from that flows move is a simultaneous there (narrating present), as a woman existence to the heaviness of body and place. and possibilities of movement tion for your patronage. patronage. foryour tion only help This doesn’t (non-Spanish the reader make meaning speaker) but of a particular word, it also orientates the way will segment the reader Whate - the story proper. unfoldswill ver a be like little gift the narra- from - tor/character to the rea storyder/listener of the storyof this reading their extension by (and patronage; forcontinued their the author generally) of Cisneros off possibly a pay will that have the reading if they to its end. continue 244

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas wasn’t invites thereader thatultimately tosee, mybody”) feel, andthinkabout before (“How mybody andtwo stepsback oftakingonefeeling stepforward ofmovement,patterning thatgive the withsomeforward sentencesmoving the words tothecutsfrom onetoanother— toinfuseitwitha paragraph selectedto —from thestory The way Cisneroschooses tosegmentherstory behind. crossing andtothoseleft to. Oncetheseborders have beencrossed, happenstotheone transformation andhomeland thatherchildhood are return never places shecan sees clearly time, doesn’t thenarrator/character sentiment. give intoaclichéd Rather, she andhomeland (Mexico).to imagineboththelossofgirlhood At thesame ” and there here grants caught between (149). directsThe information the reader that doesn’t anymore. exist existed.That never I invented. A country Like all emi- song, thattime, thatplace, Iamhomesickfor, allbound are together inacountry reflect: Idon’t “And itiswithanyone how know else, methesethings, butfor that Cisneros thisuponce againattheendby picks havinghernarrator/character Imean”that country (148). and national belonging: Rubicon.red “Then that never The goingbackthere. To arethey tomakeintheirmindsbetween thiscrossing over intowomanhood andCisneros follows paragraph reminds thereader movement oftheparallel into anadultofself-doubtandfear. full Inathree short, likesentence staccato girl’s pleasure (aesthetic, inhersenseofselfasunboundedand even) “happiest” fearful. aThe transforms young that reader a larger gap-fills context —asociety girl, sheisweightless andfree; asawoman sheiswatched, bullied, bludgeoned, anddemerit. merit orboy) intoaparticular (as girl the accident ofbirth Asa processesgap filling inalarger tofill picture: thatturns society apatriarchal down by thedetailsdirect genderthereader’s expectation andcorporeality; andthenawomana pre-pubescent burdened girl by abodythatisweighed tion thereader for remember) (andperhaps tofeel whatitislikebeboth you to” sentence fear alife of (148). - provides thisinforma The narrator/character dragging itabout. isn’tThere world thetobully you withit, bludgeon you, condemn yet. isn’tThere female thebody’s thesenseof volatility,weight,rude its thenuisanceof She isn’t being of watched. aware body her Notof causingmento aware look ather relayracter/narrator herown senseofthismoment: “She doesn’t look inmirrors. and puberty, have bodies” they forget girls (148). Andtohave- chooses thecha to relaycharacter theages as of, details such between somewhere “girls say, eight Cisneros paragraph her narrator/ to select for chooses short In the next very yourself over”having “to carry are thereader enoughdetailfor toimaginethis. tobeingrootedmovement freely inplace. The mention of “red RioBravo” and 245

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick (41), for instance. for instance. (41), ” and “muñeca” ” a person like Alma with no sexual hang-ups. Nor do we have any any have we do Nor hang-ups. no sexual with like Alma person a be (40). It offers little insight into, for instance, what makes a person like like person a makes what instance, for offersIt into, insight little (40). insight into how a relationship between two healthy, mutually attracted young mutually attracted young healthy, two between a relationship into how insight to the overall All of this adds unity of the of vision people actually develops. narrator Díaz’s simply hormone-driven adults college-aged are. story: young, The in public. not think or speak dare speaks and thinks things that many you flaunting, flaunting, see her on the street, “when you narrator how mentions first your “on (40) and how knowexactly everywhat nigger thinking” is walks that to Díaz adds (41). come on her tits or her face to ” if wanted she asked you you date politically sensibility incorrect the element of code swit- this no-holds-barred, “pópola the use of Spanish slang such as ching: The narrator also moves between a colloquial and more The narratorformal a colloquial between also moves and more English usa- (42) appear alongside “be-nutted and condom” beshatted diaper” “baby’s ge: - “dis and (41), “prevaricating” (41), “incontrovertible” (41), “pelagic” like words The different formalcontent ingredients and for instance. (42), sembling face” aesthetic present a unified to an author who seeks in this flash fiction up to add Indeed, for the reader, the second person voice and overall ironic tone convey convey tone and overall voice ironic person the second for the reader, Indeed, Skinner) point of view; it doesn’t a kind of behaviorist (in the sense of B.F. muchoffer depth to most about: the male it seems to know character that even you Alma loves driving, block; a steroid-addicted you “Alma is slender as a reed, books” Alma Junot Díaz’s “Alma” is a radical departure from Cisneros —in form- and con Cisneros a radical is departure from “Alma” Junot Díaz’s in address person Díaz chooses to use the second already, As I mentioned tent. story shape to his tense to give the present —a story of two that follows lives a narrator who Díaz chooses to invent early twentysomethings. sexually active, chooses He to open the feels very the unnamed male character. to proximate girlfrienda have “You named story this character: with the narrator addressing exist Dominicanto big seems a that and neck ass horse tender long a has who Alma, ofout orbit” moon the An drag could that ass fourtha in jeans. beyond dimension - as discour address person the second As a rather infrequently form, used (39). perspective storythe to shape operatorse give that orientto reader’s the works narrating constantly present intrusive, It is an in a specific way. the content on to the characters directly connected and events that is at once of the storyvoice is the reader It is as if and side-ways or tangentially to the reader. connected they and think overhearingand how act tell what another person someone —who they are. what it means to come of age as a Latina who experiences the border crossing as a Latina of age crossing experiences who to come what it means the border girlhood and countryfrom to womanhood of origin to host country (Mexico) and the same. as one (U.S.) 246

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas reader’s —butwithanew between fantasyandreality senseof thisdisparity As the narrative unfolds, selects other details that would heighten Viramontes romanced unrolling andpointing toes. andalsosexy —slowly toes whenshedoes” (104). being her asat once aprincess describes The narrator about thewayhewillunsnapnylons, her andshe willunrollthemslowly, point her hernylonstogirdle,she clips remarks: thenarrator good“She feels thinking elegance” (102)—andheractualsinglemom reality: working atfactory. As her date,—for she imagines her “satinlike” dress chiffon as soundsof “crinkled her selfasyoung besweptfeet andlithewhowill offher by a romantic lover Viramontes’s Arlene’s upandjudges alsoplays negatively blueprint fantasyof in andhold theirbreath, to can theseamsdoallthey keepthebody contained” (102). remarks: fits “Thedress too tight. through,Herarms squeeze plumpbreathe her hips ” andgnawed chewed (101). readies herdate, for Arlene When thenarrator own issuesandanxietiesexpressed inhernailbiting: Champhas “stubby nails, And, thatthis mother failstonoticeherdaughter’s makes itclear thenarrator she asksherdaughteraquestion, notinterested she’s intheanswer. clearly her daughter. She’s self-centered; depictedasamotherwhoistotally when spits outgum, thatare tootight, wears clothes anddoesn’t listento really seeing andall-judging. Here judges andelsewherethenarrator Arlene. She Arlene’smake upfor date. creates whoisatonce anarrator all- Viramontes out picking anddaughterChampatKmart It openswiththemotherArlene to free indirect discourse)asthelensthrough thereader which looks through. justaday.and for athird-person chooses shifts (withoccasional narrator She Gleason’s Jackie andshark-finned Dodge are dancinggirls mentioned) past ( pre-pubescent daughter. sometime areality inthe tocutintosuch chooses She about the day ofayoung, inthe life a story working singlemotherandher vitate around mother/daughterrelationships. down, Stripped thisissimply takenfrom- thosebuildingblocks thatgra (and out)andreorganize reality Clairol”“Miss In her story to select in chooses Helena María Viramontes cluster around thewell-known themeofthefailedromancecluster 6 5 that

relation withthesubject(theaudienceorreaders). object (inthiscase, new kindof aflashfiction) initsturn thatwill createarelationship withthesubject,new aesthetic a toreorientoursenseofanobject.operator can bethe orkindof This resultofcreating —adifferent somethingsort new (1991)asenstrangement, Shklovsky formulatedbyprecisely Victor by one makesnew usingtoolsofthediscourse The moder reading of the story anaesthetic experience. reading ofthestory he doesn’tforward, to giveflavorjust code switching it andits toLatino propel the story but also does this to make the but we of the seewordsin the careful choice the way soundas wellthem as mean. for that he they is choosing That is, Díaz makes new ’s unified aesthetic,for instance, Latinoness, its invests awaySpanish slanginsuch thatitnot thestory only uses nist endless search to nist endless “make it new” inwriting, music, painting, wasthefightagainsthabituation. More 5

the reader’s that of reality of those building blocks experience 6 . 247

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick Alberto in the Ríos also chooses to slice into reality a relationship to depict the de- However, “Back of My Own in a Crowd”. Head making of his story, to gap fill kind of story another tails he chooses guide the reader —a story that and her husband via the objects a widower between a relationship centers on narrator a first person who Ríos chooses to invent while together. they shared know doesn’t reader The (61). Adolfo” “My husband is gone opens the story thus: “They have Then narrator with: follows sufficient information. isn’t There why. enough infor- is given reader The (61). him fromstolen and there is no news” me, in a La- no newsand “ ” ” “Stolen to begin to make sense of the story. now mation husband The gap fills the most likely the reader context. tin American context: “He The narratoradds: then and most likely dead. is a political, desaparecido me as well” they took him, inside me for that when they took has been so many years story the once at is This blueprint the new. something doing is flash, a In (61). the self (wife) how and the other (husband) form on of loss and a meditation cannot one exist without the other. where a unit in a dialectical relationship, herself in every she sees object she encounters that the husband is gone, Not so “Because of this kitchen, been in so much I’ve She remarks, in their home. (61). is in me” it as well of much At first glance, we see Arlene see narrator a we judges who inventing Viramontes a as glance, first At While this who is out of step with reality. and someone uncouth, mother, bad Viramontes includes tools such shaping as narrator certainly is judgmental, to fill more in and imagine a little that guide the reader discourse indirect free is guided to imagine for instance, reader, The the surface of the story. beyond was able to she Arlene an unplanned daughter before who had as a woman learn through we And, others. independent from fully self, her own explore exploratoryChamp´s of discourse indirect devicethis free of seeing of way plastic She imagines eyelashes the mother figure. on things that is less reliant own daydreams. in her (101) and finds pleasure ” as “insects on display twist. Arlene is not lost to this difference. will and - the difference She knows Arlene not lost to this difference. is twist. Arlene how narratorThe mentions one tell to intends Champ fullyit. engages herclosed she eyes “How she lost her virginity: of how up version a made day skin she had ever felt softest was the or how the penis and wondered expect, what to She intends connect” for searched to a place (105). how it tickled her, her, against “her was a first fuck not the truth: and version romantic more to tell this, her so ofsight the at her apricot vagina, prematurely, ejaculated who Puppet named guy (105). ” and fuzzy plump 248

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas strong senseofhow man-made objectsdefineustotheextentthat andnatural this”one life. usandallof of All (61). The details allow the reader to have this Adolfo. We that pulseandthiskitchen, shared inthisworld. andourstory We shared ithome,beginning firstbrought whenwe us, butwhich of came thenpart meand it:defined “Thatclock. tail thatkeptusupinthe Itisa withan beast itself electrical another objectthathad come todefineherwithhusband, buthow they withherreflecting on notjust toaclose yet thestory tobring Ríos chooses else maywhatever differentiate us, we belong all tothesamespecies. humans as belonging of all der the identification to the same species.Latino or ” stronger feeling from myself (62). The reader isencouraged once againtoconsi- feel stronger,This makesme butonly can’tbecause I help it.feel I tooweak to stop Iamwalking. walkingwhere are thatIamthecrowd. we And much thecrowd of mind’s seeherselffrom eye shecan behind. And thensheremarks, “I amso ” inacrowd walking andIseethatlookshead myown likethebackof (61). Inher thatIlook,places now aswell, outthere imaginemyself Ican outsidethishouse. I’m sinceit’s“since Iseemyself possibleto menow for seemyself, sinceIaminsomany to contemplate thetremendous oftheimagination. feat The widow reflects: of your selfasaself.a way ofdefiningthememory And, thereader isguided activities.these objectsinourdaily ofobjectsandtheiruseisalso The recalling between theself(subject)andother(objects)inway weof continuity use self. The establishesreader relationships isguidedto reflect on how memory ofthe isalsomemory oftheoutsideworld to contemplate justhow memory thecupboard” abowl from reached for I’ve (61). The details here guide the reader there’s meatthemoment, of two orthree, orfour. suddenlyallthetimes Iseemyself isoutsideofherself,that which theobjectsinkitchen. muses: She “It’s like of function —amemory multiple layers ofhermemory because ofreflexivity crumbling. literally self andtheworld And, we seehow theseobjectstrigger sense of their world. Througheyes the of the widow the the reader experiences fragmentation ofselfthathappenssimultaneous withthebreaking upofone’s myself” (61). Ríosselectsindetailstodirect thereader toimaginethissenseof not simply likeI’m seeingmyself, seen butthatI’m allthetimesI’ve seeingaswell handle manytimes, likesomethingmore, butthisfeels somethingdifferent. feels This therefrigerator. of Ihave insidethe seenmyself thechrome handleonthefront of areobjects asifthey from notseparate hersenseofself: “I’m inthelongsilver activities withinthiskitchen. tohave Ríoschooses hercontinue totalkabout senses wereindividualactions by and andherparticular educated thiskitchen this.of all She, the narrator, her all these seesobjects herself because in all thereader amountofdetailfor Ríos selectsinjusttheright tomakesense 249

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick The ontological concept of the relationship between self and other. between relationship ontologicalThe of the concept as other makes the self. the other in as much by the self is made How the self without understand or classify, or separate, to impossible is it How because the self makes the self and the other doing the same of the other, just as the other makes the self. the use how use them; the way you are by who you objects determine How a continuityactivation of objects in turn of time and self in their reflect of our memory. and cannot exist in a void. it doesn’t how is formed; the imagination How even though in material has to be anchored reality, the imagination How material imagination. reality is transcended by is always the imagination something. How about without content. no imagination no images, are there How is always consciousness How of something. conscious a turnHow of events can shake deeply our sense of self (and other) in the world that the only to attain meaning is in death. to such way a degree • • • • • • • • • • Ríos offers readers a blueprint that guides their inference and gap filling pro- a blueprint gap filling and readers that guides their inference Ríos offers vehicle flash fiction can be a just how It also shows for formulating cesses. suchmetaphysical concepts as: story most fun- flash fiction some of the two-page explores reader the In Ríos’s damental categories in ontology —and without the technical (metaphysics) experienreader - The seen in a philosophical treatise. and argumentation words the first-person ces a journey by of deep ontological set in motion meditation who feels the deep pain of losing her husband. narration of a woman we define those objects. In the final lines of the storyIn the final lines takes an relationship this objects. define those we I know what this alive. is in the clock That animal “ She remarks: turn. ominous Ríos selects Again, (62). do” to Know I have what mean. what it has to means, to the followingthe right sense: make information for adequate and the reader always it end; an and beginning a of marking the is time of talk widower’s The an end in everyday a beginning and marks are normal all activities life where When Ríos brings the storyinscribed in time and all to an life is time-bound. (62). ” is alive time erupts“animal in the clock briskly as a beast —as the end, filled out the story the details that have And one to reader the up till lead now has arrivedThe time for suicide. conclusion. 250

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Universidad Católica Boliviana Flash FictionoftheLatin/oAmericas of Latinos living in a contemporary U.S. livinginacontemporary of Latinos biologically grown emotion/cognitive to biologically systems expressionwillful hasshown, journey hope thisshort flashfiction isthe Latino resultofthe new tocreatethatmakeconstantly and Ríosusespecificnarrative devices stories to have a unified aesthetic impact on the reader. Cisneros,Viramontes, Díaz, intoexistenceanew mentioned above tobring ofthestory.purposes theinterrelated faculties mind/brain These authorsapply thegoal todisciplinetheirimaginationthemselves according tothe aimsand the concision ofform. Authors like Cisneros, Viramontes, Díaz, andRíosfix work oftheauthor’s discipliningoftheimagination the study of flash fiction, or offered in the above approachI endby to remarking observations on afew nativas evinces. refuting, andrefining. There are manyinthisissueofalter/ othersastheessays forandinterest inbuilding, affinity It isone thatIhappentohave aparticular rature. Ofcourse, inthesmorgasbord thisisbutoneofapproaches. possibility luding Remarks beanoption toapproachdies thatthiscan phenomena cultural aslite- such stu- American ofussittingaroundthe senseinall tableofLatin/o thegrand cement will narrative form short explorationofashort I hopethatthisshort 6. andend. ning andmiddle theselfgrowswhich thengrows together with another, andthathasabegin - sorrowfelt totheself/otherdialecticrole played by time asamilieuin from inofgapthe thefilling repressive, fascist regime elidedtothewidow’s until itmakes sense. Thepay off: the readerfollowitsblueprint: learns howto However, that we so exquisitely return to it again and again is written the story difficulttoparsein thatissomewhat forustomakesense. order astory for . ofnon-recognition the shock That is, makes choice ofshapingdevices Ríos´s and proximity (thenarrative’s appealingstyle). At first, the reader experiences dower metaphors, withsuch images, reflections andnot, say, a philosopher) tools) creates acombination investing ofestrangement(hischoice thewi- Ríos’s ofthediscourse(narrative shaping useofthegenerative willful device

the readers perceptual, cognitive, andemotive experience. Finally, asI Conc of andengagement .microrrelatos Their making requires the massive with our (authorsandreaders) socio- product in the world thataims product intheworld re create within theconstraintof the real experiences 251

Revista número 31 • diciembre 2013 Frederick Aldama Frederick . Cambridge and New edition. nd London: H.G. Bohn, 1851. Bohn, H.G. London: London & New York: LondonYork: & New e Concise History of Latino/a Literature. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x000178803;seq=13;view Brookline, MA: MA: Writing Flash Fiction. Brookline, The Rose Metal Pressto Field Guide Austin: University Austin: and Latino Borderland Fiction. ser´s Postcolonial Guide to own on Brown: Chicano Representations of Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity. and Ethnicity. Sexuality, of Chicano Gender, Representations own on Brown: Translated by Jane E. Lewin. Foreword Foreword Lewin. Jane E. by Translated An Essay in Method. Discourse. arrative The Routledg Br A U N Austin: University of Texas Press, Press, Texas University of Austin: Criticism. Narrative Postethnic Luis. Frederick Translated by Jane E. Lewin. Ithaca, New Ithaca, Lewin. Jane E. by Translated Discourse Revisited. Narrative Gérard. , Tara ed. ed. Tara 27.3, 1994, 189-201. 1994, Leonardo 27.3, and Neuroscience”. “Art Jean-Pierre. eux, Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-Short from Stories Sudden Fiction Latino: In: the United “Pilón”. Sandra. os, Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-Short from Stories and Sudden Fiction Latino: States In: the United “Alma”. Junot. 77.2 ( Today Literature July World “Back of My Own in a Crowd.” Head Alberto. es, Jorge Luis. “Funes the Memorious” (“Funes el memorioso”). In: Ficciones. New In: el memorioso”). (“Funes the Memorious” “Funes Luis. Jorge es, Twice-Told Tales. Tales. Twice-Told Nathaniel. thorne, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. University Hopkins Press, Johns Baltimore: The Distinction of Fiction. Dorrit. hn, Conversations on Cognitive Cultural Cultural on Cognitive Conversations Colm Hogan. Luis and Patrick Frederick Aldama, New York: Mouton, Mouton, New York: Functioning ofNarrative. Form and The Narratology: Gerald. rince, 8 vols. Charles Hartshorne, Charles Hartshorne, 8 vols. of Charles Sanders Peirce. Papers Collected Charles Sanders. eirce, New York: . Allan of Poe Edgar Works Select In: “Nathaniel Hawthorne”. Edgar Allan. oe, Abbott, Ríos, P P ------Haw Masih, P 1931- Harvard University Mass.: Press, Cambridge, eds. Burks W. and Arthur Weiss, Paul 1958. 1880. Widdleton, W.J. 1982. Co Díaz, Genette =1up;num=v 61-62. 2003): Chang Cisner 1980. Cornell University Press, York: New Ithaca, Culler. Jonathan by 2009. Rose Metal Press, of Texas Press, 2009. Press, Texas of ------2012. Routledge, 6. forthcoming 2014. State Ohio University Press, . and Aesthetics Language, Literature, Studies: Borg W.W. York: New and GonzalezRay eds. Thomas, James Robert Shapard, Latin America. 39-42. 2010: Norton, 1988. Cornell University Press, York: Aldama, ------1944. Editorial Sur, 1962; Press, Grove York: Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005. Press, Texas University of Austin: New and GonzalezRay eds. Thomas, James Robert Shapard, America and Latin States . 147-149. 2010: Norton, W.W. York: 2003. York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Cambridge University Press, York:

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,Agenda 2010. April http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2010/04/sci-brief.aspx Z eds. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010: 100-106. theUnited States. andLatinAmerica from Shapard, Robert James Thomas, Ray Gonzalez and V New York: W.W.Norton, 1992. Tho Press, 1991. S theUnited States andLatinAmerica.NewYork:Stories from W.W.Norton, 2010. S hklovsky, Victor. acks, Jeffrey.“How intoEvents”.Our Experience Organize We Psychological Science iramontes, HelenaMaría. Clairol”.“Miss In: Latino: SuddenFiction Stories Short-Short mas, James, Denise Thomas, and Tom Hazuka, eds. Fiction: Flash 72 Very Stories . Short .Prose of Theory Trans. BenjaminSher. Elmwood Park, Il: Archive Dalkey