Transnationalism and Testimonio in Contemporary Central American Migrant Literature

This article explores contemporary Central American literature dealing with transnationalism in migrant narratives from the region within the framework of testimonio. The transnational elements in literary texts read as testimonio were also present in previous Latin American narratives but were ignored in critical writing about this genre. These elements often included two countries, and involved transmission of, as well as continuous negotiation between, different languages. Moreover, the immediate translation of these texts into English made them available more to an international audience than to the citizens of the countries in which they were mostly set. Taking Odyssey to the North by Mario Bencastro, and The Tattooed Soldier by Hector Tobar as my point of reference, I will argue that these and several other contemporary Central American works of fiction can be read as testimonio. These works, by focusing attention on the repercussions of the civil war in a new context, depict migration to the United States

“Ningún lugar sagrado” de Rodrigo Rey Rosa: una ficción paranoica desde la diáspora centroamericana

This paper analyzes “Ningún lugar sagrado” (1998) by the Guatemalan writer Rodrigo Rey Rosa as a ‘ficción paranoica’ (“La ficción paranoica”, Clarín, 10 de octubre de 1991; Blanco nocturno, Anagrama, Barcelona, 2010). I will explain that Rey Rosa’s short story does not include univocal clues to identify the protagonist as an unreliable narrator whose overinterpretations give rise to a misrepresentation of the facts. According to my reading of “Ningún lugar sagrado”, the paranoiac features of the main character contribute to the ambiguity of the text that, in fact, never explicitly confirms or discredits his persecutory ideas. Following this line of argument, I suggest that Rey Rosa’s short story narrates an “imaginario de amenaza” (“La ficción paranoica”, Clarín, 10 de octubre de 1991) that, alluding to the climate of repression, intrigues and complicities in postwar Guatemala, generates paranoia –including that of the reader. “Ningún lugar sagrado” points to a more general tendency in recent Central American literature that, from the realm of fiction, highlights the widespread nature of paranoia in the region. Unlike social discourses that discuss the topic, these literary texts make use of narrative techniques that do not necessarily respond to a referential notion of truth (including hyperboles, digressions, irony and narrative ambiguity), when constructing the voice of a paranoiac character. According to my perspective, such narrative techniques lend themselves especially to capturing the alienating dimensions of violence in Central America where paranoia, rather than being a question of truth or exaggeration, constitutes a survival strategy.

El hombre de Montserrat: writings on violence in the latin american crime fiction

The article adresses the novel El hombre de Montserrat, written by the Guatemalan writer Dante Liano and recognized within the genre of crime fiction, as a precursory model for a narrative that established a way of rewriting the history of violence in Central American countries in both fictional and theoretical terms. Dante Liano’s successful reception has turned the novel into a reference of the Central American literature of the nineties. This is due to the fact that his narrative is replete with mechanisms that were seen in the best works of the previous Latin American narrative, far from the great discourses, by a displaying genre hybridization, a parodic transgression or lexical localism. This article analyses the interweaving of genres and the subversion of the plot, the characters and the rewriting of the history against the postulates of the classic detective novel.

¿Habrá moros en la costa? La producción cultural centroamericana leída desde España / Would there be Moors on the Coast? Central American Cultural Production as Read from Spain

Resumen: La literatura centroamericana hizo su aparición en la península española cuando Rubén Darío viajo hacia Madrid en 1892. París y Madrid se convirtieron en las metrópolis culturales de Centroamérica a partir de esa fecha. Sin embargo, su pertenencia a la región no fue reconocida como tal. En España esta producción fue leída desde una perspectiva hispano-céntrica que le fue útil a la península para resolver sus propias contradicciones de legitimación en el seno de Europa. En consecuencia, los escritores centroamericanos que publican con éxito en la península no pueden ser centroamericanos y cosmopolitas a la vez. En España se transforman en “hispanoamericanos.” Lo anterior elide su centro-americanidad, impidiendo la validación de sus pertenencias afectivas regionales o nacionales a un espacio específico.Palabras clave: Literatura, Modernismo, Darío, Hispanoamérica, istmo, cosmopolitismo, Centro-americanidad, marginalidad.Abstract: Central American literature first appeared in the Spanish peninsula when Rubén Darío traveled to Madrid in 1892. Paris and Madrid became since then the Central American cultural metropoles. However, their belongingness to the region was not recognized as such. In Spain, this production was read from a Hispano-centric perspective that was useful for the peninsula to solve its own issues of legitimization within Europe. As a result, Central American writers that publish successfully in Spain cannot be Central American and Cosmopolitan at the same time. In Spain, they become “Hispanic Americans”. This elides their Central Americanness, preventing the validation of their regional or national affective belonging to a specific space.Keywords: Literature, Modernism, Darío, Hispanic America, isthmus, Cosmopolitism, Central Americanity, marginality.

El árbol de Adán, de Gerardo Guinea Diez. Narrativa y memoria del genocidio guatemalteco (El árbol de Adán, by Gerardo Guinea Diez. Narrative and Remembrance of the Genocide in Guatemala)

El estudio analiza la propuesta estética de una de las novelas menos estudiadas sobre el genocidio guatemalteco: El árbol de Adán. Se efectúa un recorrido sobre la obra de ficción del escritor Gerardo Guinea Diez, e incursiona en algunos elementos de su poética para señalar las diferencias con la llamada «literatura de posguerra centroamericana», así como con el modelo predominante que entre los historiadores literarios se tiene. Muestra esos otros imaginarios que desde el interior de los países centroamericanos se construyen, muchas veces a contrapelo de lo que se conoce desde fuera de las fronteras del Istmo.This study analyzes the aesthetic proposal of one of the least known novels about the Guatemalan genocide: El Árbol de Adán (Adam’s Tree). It explores the fictional works of Gerardo Guinea Diez, and addresses the author’s poetic style, to emphasize the discrepancies between his work and that of the so-called “post-war school of Central American literature” and the predominant model supported by historians. The article reveals these other imaginary worlds created from within the Central American countries, but which often contrast with widespread perceptions of those who are outside the region.

Yvette Aparicio. Post-conflict Central American Literature: Searching for Home and Longing to Belong. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2013.

Vargas Vila, más allá de la hipérbole

Yvette Aparicio. Post-Conflict Central American Literature: Searching for Home and Longing to Belong. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2014. 168 pp.

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