Fantasy and Realism in Contemporary Ecuadorian Literature (1976-2006)
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FANTASY AND REALISM IN CONTEMPORARY ECUADORIAN LITERATURE (1976-2006) KIMBERLY CONTAG, PhD MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY, MANKATO 2020 1 Copyright © 2020 Kimberly Contag. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author. 2 CONTENTS Acknowledgements 5 Chapter One—An Introduction to Contemporary Ecuadorian Literature 7 Miguel Donoso, Nunca más el mar 12 Contemporary historical events and the writer’s lens 16 Chapter Two—Exploring Fantasy and Realism in Ecuadorian literature: Designing a model for different genres 20 Carlos Béjar Portilla, Cuentos fantásticos 20 Luis Campos, La Marujita se ha muerto con leucemia 29 La escoba 30 Chapter Three—Fantasy and Realism in the Ecuadorian Novel since 1976 34 Marco Antonio Rodríguez Historia de un intruso 36 Abdón Ubidia Sueño de lobos 38 Iván Egüez El Poder del Gran Señor 42 Carlos Carrión Una niña adorada 45 Eliécer Cárdenas Que te perdone el viento 47 Juan Valdano Anillos de serpiente 49 Argentina Chiriboga Jonatás y Manuela 52 Alicia Yánez Cossío Sé que vienen a matarme 54 Juan Valdano El fuego y la sombra 55 Carlos Carrión ¿Quién me ayuda a matar a mi mujer? 57 Javier Vásconez El retorno de las moscas 59 Lucrecia Maldonado Salvo el Calvario 62 Edna Iturralde Aventura en los Llanganates 64 Soledad Córdova La señora Antuquita 65 Silvia Rey Veleta 66 Alfonso Reece D. Morga 67 Chapter Four—Fantasy and Realism in the Short Story and Flash fiction or microcuento 70 Jorge Dávila Vázquez El dominio escondido 70 Abdón Ubidia DivertInventos 75 Santiago Páez Profundo en la galaxia 78 Modesto Ponce Maldonado También tus arcillas 83 Oswaldo Encalada Vásquez El día de las puertas cerradas 84 Huilo Ruales Hualca Y todo este rollo también me jode 87 Aminta Buenaño Mujeres divinas 90 Máximo Ortega Vintimilla El hombre que pintaba mariposas muertas 94 Martha Rodríguez Nada más el futuro 97 Liliana Miraglia “El infierno” 98 Iván Egüez “El triple salto” 99 Sara Vanégas Coveña “Barro” 100 3 Jorge Dávila Vázquez Acerca de los ángeles. Historias para volar 101 Paulina Soto Muchachas ocultas 103 Francisco Proaño Arandi “La doblez” 104 Jennie Carrasco Molina Cuentos de ceniza 106 Edna Iturralde Verde fue mi selva 108 Raquel Rodas Morales Ecuador, cuentos de mi país 111 Chapter Five—Fantasy and Realism in Ecuadorian Poetry 115 Julio Pazos Barrera 115 Ramiro Oviedo 117 Violeta Luna 120 Euler Granda 121 Cristóbal Zapata 123 Sara Vanégas Coveña 124 Catalina Sojos 126 Rodrigo Pesántez 129 Violeta Luna 129 Sophía Yáñez 131 Beatriz Vera 132 Marcelo Silva 134 Bruno Sáenz 135 Roberto Altamirano 136 Marialuz Albuja 137 Chapter Six—Fantasy and Realism in Contemporary Ecuadorian Theater 139 Alicia Yánez Cossío 141 Arístides Vargas 141 Isidro Luna 142 Juan Carlos Terán Guerra 142 Hugo Avilés Espinosa 143 Jorge Dávila Vázquez 144 Carlos Martínez Borja 145 Abdón Ubidia 147 Carlos Martínez Borja 149 Peky Andino 150 Viviana Cordero 153 Luis Miguel Campos 154 Cristian Cortez 155 Arístides Vargas 157 Jorge Dávila Vázquez 159 Conclusion 161 Works Cited 165 Select Bibliography of Literary Criticism 172 4 Acknowledgements I had been searching for a new direction in my scholarship since the publication of Where the Clouds Meet the Water in 2004. My first thought was to write a book on Ecuadorian women writers until May of 2005, when my husband and colleague, Jim Grabowska, and I took a private course on Ecuadorian literature with writer and professor Jorge Dávila Vázquez (funded by a faculty research grant from Minnesota State University, Mankato). It was clear after learning about the current state of Ecuadorian literature and its poor distribution beyond regions of the Ecuadorian border that a broader-based book on Ecuadorian writers would be preferable due to the scarcity of general scholarship on Ecuadorian literature in English. I was astounded by the lack of information about Ecuadorian writers, even from city to city and bookstore to bookstore in different provinces of Ecuador. When I was in Ecuador in 2004 and 2005, I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet Ecuadorian writers and editors; however, I was dismayed by the scattered availability of texts. When I returned to the U.S., it was obvious that the book project on contemporary Ecuadorian writers would fill a huge gap in Latin American literary studies in the U.S. and international context, and it would also be a contribution to Ecuadorian literary studies. I also realized that this project would be impossible to complete from the U.S. given the lack of distribution of texts; I would have to travel to Ecuador to conduct the research. In the fall of 2005, I applied for a Fulbright Scholar Award for research on “Fantasy and Realism: New Voices in Ecuadorian Literature Since 1975.” It was a bold project that would require significant reading and writing time in Ecuador. I suspected the initial research and first draft of the manuscript would take me the better part of a year. I was expecting to receive notification concerning my application for a year-long sabbatical from Minnesota State Mankato and hoping the Fulbright award would come through. If successful, my family and I had decided that we would all be willing to move to Cuenca, Ecuador, so I could conduct the research and write the book. I was notified in the spring of 2006 that the Fulbright organization would support four months of research through collaboration with the State University of Cuenca, Ecuador, where I have had the priviledge of conducting research in the library. I am grateful to Fulbright for sponsoring this project with so much enthusiasm, and to the University of Cuenca for their willingness to allow me to consult the books in their library. I express my deepest gratitude to Minnesota State Mankato’s College of Arts and Humanities for supporting my proposal to continue my research with the Nadine Andreas Faculty Research Award in the summer of 2009 and the Arts and Humanities Faculty Research Grant in 2013, and to the Department of World Languages and Cultures for their enthusiastic support for my sabbatical research and continuing research trips to complete the project in Ecuador. While living and conducting research in Ecuador, I had the opportunity to meet many writers, scholars, and university professionals who aided me in the completion of this project. I would like to acknowledge those who have been fundamental to my success: Dr. Jorge Dávila (emeritus faculty, Universidad Estatal de Cuenca/Casa de la Cultura) and Margarita Dávila (Encuentro Literario, Universidad de Cuenca) made texts available to me when I could not find them elsewhere and provided the necessary contacts through the Encuentro de escritores ecuatorianos in 2005, 2006, and 2009; Sara Vanégas Coveña 5 (Universidad del Azuay) helped me make contacts with contemporary writers through an organization of poets. She also gave me books that helped to focus my writing and provided some of the necessary publication history, biographical data, and historical data necessary to carry out the project. Both Jorge Dávila and Sara Vanégas Conveña invited me to organize poetry recitals, literary conferences, and literary encounters that shaped my research. I also wish to thank Dr. Juan Martínez (University of Cuenca and Estudio Sampere) for helping me make significant contacts within the youngest and newest writers in Cuenca and for facilitating my attendance at cultural events through his directorship at Estudio Sampere-Cuenca. I extend my wholehearted appreciation to the Fulbright Commission in Quito, and particularly to Susana Cabeza de Vaca (director in 2006-07) and Karen Aguilar for always making sure that I could accomplish what I intended and for organizing talks so I could share my expertise with Ecuadorians. The most important acknowledgement of gratitude without a doubt goes to my husband, Dr. Jim Grabowska, and our sons, who were willing to uproot their lives in Minnesota and travel with me on our grand Ecuadorian adventure. Our sons, Alex, Andrew, and Benjamin attended the Colegio Alemán-Stiehle in Challuabamba in a moutain valley near Cuenca, and their daily lives became a struggle to understand physics, chemistry, biology, literature, music, social studies, and so on, in a Spanish and German bilingual school environment. I appreciate my husband Jim’s ongoing support for my scholarship and his willingness to forgo a sabbatical in Portugal or Brazil so that he could accompany us to Ecuador and conduct his own research in second language pedagogy. His interest and involvement in the Ecuadorian educational system, political process, and environmental issues have enriched my own understanding of Ecuador and its systems. His love and support during the research year and during subsequent research trips has been fundamental to the completion of the project. I also extend my deep appreciation to members of the Pietro and Beti (León) Tosi family who invited us into their family life during our stay in Ecuador. The support of my parents, Ann and Dr. Carlos Contag, and other family and friends in the U.S. made it possible for us to be absent from Minnesota. I express my appreciation to Katrina Reed, David H. Mitchell, Andrew Halbur and Daniel Tamez Garza who assisted in the revision and editing versions that led to the final manuscript. I dedicate this book to the Ecuadorian writers whose voices deserve to be understood beyond the borders placed by social, economic, geographic, and political boundaries. Kimberly Contag December 2020 6 Chapter One—An Introduction to Contemporary Ecuadorian Literature Anyone who reviews literary criticism of Ecuadorian literature since the 1970s (and Latin American literary criticism since the 1950s) will realize that there has been an effort on the part of critics to explore how Ecuadorian literature fits into the broad panorama of Latin American literary and cultural production and, more specifically, how Ecuadorian writers measure up to the generations of writers identified with various movements, like the boom, the so-called new Latin American novel, and the later new historical novel.