Politics and identity in modern Latin American fiction

Since spending a study year abroad at the Universidad de Veracruz in Xalapa, Mexico, I have been fascinated by modern Latin American fiction. The works of literature I find particularly interesting originated from the Boom (1960s) and Post-Boom eras. Post boom and contemporary literature is vibrant and varied. One of the biggest Boom legacies was undoubtedly the use of magical realism in Latin American fiction. Readers may be familiar with Jorge Luis Borges who was highly influential for the boom generation, although he is not categorised as a boom writer. He is perhaps the most defining of Latin American authors for all time.

Others may be more familiar with boom writers such as Julio Cortazar, Emir Rodriguez Monegal, Carlos Fuentes and Augusto Roa Bastos. Undoubtedly, the best known author from this literary period is Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who published 'Cien anos de Soledad' in 1966. The literary boom arose following greater economic prosperity in Latin America during the years following the second world war. This new narrative style can be broadly defined by writers who crossed traditional boundaries and experimented with new structures. Many were inspired by North American and European writers such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. The boom was also influenced by the political turmoil in countries such as Cuba and a number of literary works written during the boom foreshadowed the dictatorships and economic turmoil the would follow in the 1970s and 1980s.

Conversely post boom contemporary authors generally broke with the tendency towards the use of magical realism. They also preferred to set their novels against the backdrop and in the context of contemporary society and popularised political writing, making it accessible to the masses. Yet some popular post boom authors such as Laura Esquival traded on the success of the magical realism which characterised much of genre. Her popular best seller 'Como agua para chocolate' was also made into a very well known film. Elena Poniatowska, famous for 'Querido Diego, te abrazo quierla' engaged in non-fiction chronicles, following the journalistic style of Carlos Monsivais and Pedro Lemebel. Another well known post boom author Manuel Puig, who wrote the bestseller 'El beso de la mujer arana' was well known for his use of irony to make a serious point. In order to examine how politics and the search for Latin American identity has influenced post boom contemporary literature, my first article on Politics and Identity in Modern Latin American Fiction will focus on 'La Casa de Los espiritos' by Isabel Allende.

'La casa de los espiritos' chronicles the lives of three generations of the Trueba family of Chile. The novel has been compared repeatedly to Marques's 'Cien anos de soledad' and it is clear that Allende owes Marques a great debt. In both novels, Latin American history is explored through the medium of a lengthy family saga and many parallels can be drawn between characters in both novels. What is different is that 'La casa de los espiritos' refers unequivocally to a specific reality, whereas 'Cien anos de soledad' offers allegorical glimpses of reality from the refuge of patent unreality. However, both novels are magical realist, with characters life being punctuated by fantastic and improbable events. In Allende's work, the references to 20th century Chile are unmistakable and the saga of the Trueba family does not only represent the Chilean experience but takes place within a modern Chilean context and is shaped by it. Hence there is a greater realism about the more recent novel.

The story documents the fortunes of the the del Valle and Trueba family, focusing mainly on Clara and Rosa del Valle who are the daughters of Severo and Novea del Valle. Their youngest daughter, Clara, has paranormal powers and keeps a detailed diary of her life. Using her physic abilities, Clara predicts a death in the family. Shortly after this her sister Rosa the Beautiful dies, breaking the heart of Esteban Trueba who is the main male character and whose life provides a narrative backbone to the novel. He is deeply in love with the mermaid-like, green-haired Rosa and has been toiling in the mines to earn a suitable fortune so that he can support her. Following her death he eventually marries Clara and after their wedding, his dreamy, passive wife finds happiness in developing her psychic powers and spirits, artists, and mediums flock to the Truebas' big house in the city. Clara's world represents the indigenous population of Latin America, with the implication that the native people are deeply mysterious and unknowable to the European conquistadors.

Clara gives birth to a daughter named Blanca who as a young woman befriends a boy named Pedro Tercero who lives near the family hacienda in the countryside at Tres Marias that Esteban Trueba inherited from his family and made his fortune improving. Pedro Tercero and Blanca eventually become lovers. Life runs smoothly until Pedro Tercero is banished from the hacienda by Esteban, on account of his revolutionary communist/socialist ideas. Clara spends her time teaching and helping peasant children and Blanca is sent to a convent school. Eventually Blanca fakes an illness so that she can return to the hacienda and be close to Pedro Tercero. She subsequently gives birth to their daughter, Alba, yet is forced to marry a French Count named Jean de Satigny.

It is significant that one of the main characters, upon whose diaries the text is based, is called Clara, translating as 'Clear' and 'Claire' as not only is she clairvoyant but her name implies the need for clarity as do the names of her children and grandchildren. The names Novea, Clara, Blanca, and Alba are more or less synonyms. However, Novea means snow-white and while Alba means white in Latin, it also means Dawn in Spanish. Alba herself does represent the dawn of a new beginning and is key in the search for an authentic, contemporary Latin American identity. She is the bridge between the passive, oppressed peasants (who the other women in the family represent) and her grandfather, Esteban Trueba, who represents the European invaders and the old patriarchal system. This is highlighted at the beginning of the novel, when Esteban rapes Panchia Garcia, a reference to the plundered lands and indigenous population who have been violated.

As the novel progresses, Esteban becomes isolated from every member of his family except for Alba, whom he is very fond of. He has a tense relationship with his daughter Blanca but shows genuine love and devotion to his granddaughter. He runs as a senator for the Conservative Party but is nervous about whether or not he will win. Clara informs him that "those who have always won will win again" and this becomes his motto. This suggests a feeling in Chile and Latin America as a whole that oppressive, patriarchal dictatorships will always win. Blanca eventually leaves Jean and once again begins dating Pedro Tercero, now a revolutionary singer/songwriter.

When she is older, Blanca's daughter Alba attends a local college where she meets Miguel, a revolutionary and out of love for him she involves herself in student protests against the conservative government. After the victory of the People's Party (a socialist movement), Alba celebrates with Miguel. Fearing a Communist dictatorship, Esteban Trueba and his fellow politicians plan a military coup against the socialist government. However, when the military coup is set into action, the military men relish their power and grow out of control. Esteban's gentle son Jaime is viciously and pointlessly killed by power-driven soldiers along with many others. This brings about a radical change in his attitude and character as a direct result of watching those who possess power spiralling out of control, which mirrors the political situation in Latin America.

'La casa de los espiritos' also offers a female perspective on reality. Though Esteban Trueba provides a narrative backbone to the novel, the patriarchy that he engenders provides a counterpoint to the attitudes and behaviours of the female characters. Not only do they represent increasing independence with each new generation, they also show women's integration in the class struggle. Nivea is a suffragette yet well off and not at all in touch with the working classes.

Her daughter Clara defies her husband, shunning domestic duties as well as wearing feminine clothes and jewellery. Then her daughter Blanca stands up to her father, has a child out of wedlock and a lasting love affair with a peasant leader and revolutionary singer. Finally her daughter Alba joins a student political movement and falls in love with a guerrilla leader. She identifies with ordinary people when she is tortured alongside them, put into a prison camp and eventually ends up in a shanty town.

The combination of optimism and political realism in the novel is a key pointer to the direction of much post-boom fiction. The pessimism and abract contemplation found in many Boom novels is on the wane and the post-boom novel (via popular forms) focuses directly on Latin America's political tragedies in a direct and meaningful way, offering hope for the future.