Aspects of Transculturation in Latin America: The Case of Marvelous Realism

When Angel Rama borrowed the concept of “transculturation” from Fernando Ortiz’s anthropological studies and applied it to the literary production of Latin America to refer to those works which broke with the old dichotomy between the indiscriminate importation of European models and the expression...

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Autor principal: Coutinho, Eduardo F.
Formato: Artículo revista
Lenguaje:Español
Publicado: Centro de Investigaciones de la Facultad de Lenguas (CIFAL), Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Avenida Enrique Barros s/n, Ciudad Universitaria. Córdoba, Argentina. Correo electrónico: revistacylc@lenguas.unc.edu.ar 2021
Materias:
transculturation
Latin American literature
marvelous realism
transculturación
literatura latinoamericana
realismo maravilloso
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/CultyLit/article/view/36293
Aporte de:
Revista de Culturas y Literaturas Comparadas de Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
id I10-R337-article-36293
record_format ojs
spelling I10-R337-article-362932021-12-27T14:28:29Z Aspects of Transculturation in Latin America: The Case of Marvelous Realism Aspectos de la transculturación en América Latina: el caso del realismo maravilloso Coutinho, Eduardo F. transculturation Latin American literature marvelous realism transculturación literatura latinoamericana realismo maravilloso When Angel Rama borrowed the concept of “transculturation” from Fernando Ortiz’s anthropological studies and applied it to the literary production of Latin America to refer to those works which broke with the old dichotomy between the indiscriminate importation of European models and the expression of an autochthonism turned to local conditions, his proposal was received with acclaim by Latin Americans. Later, though, the concept was associated with the idea of a resolution of conflicts by means of the configuration of something new and original, resulting from the mixture, or even fusion, of antithetic elements, which gave way to a reaction on the part of literary critics and scholars. In this paper, we will try to show how this concept, in spite of the criticism it has received, not only has had a fundamental role for the understanding of Latin American literary and cultural production, but also continues to be an extremely useful analytic instrument, especially if we move our focus from the notion of synthesis, which is simply one of its aspects, to that of a contradictory tension that can never be completely resolved. For this purpose, we will take as an example the case of “marvelous realism”, which resulted from the transculturation of different forms of the European fantasy genre and aspects coming from Native and Afro-American cultures. Cuando Ángel Rama importó de los trabajos antropológicos de Fernando Ortiz el concepto de “transculturación” y lo aplicó a la producción literaria del continente latinoamericano para referirse a las obras que habían roto con la vieja dicotomía entre la incorporación indiscriminada de modelos europeos y la expresión de una autoctonía vuelta hacia las condiciones locales, su propuesta encontró una amplia receptividad por parte de los intelectuales latinoamericanos. Sin embargo, más tarde, el concepto fue asociado a la idea de resolución de conflictos a través de la configuración de algo nuevo y original, resultante de la mezcla, o hasta fusión, de elementos antitéticos, lo que ocasionó una reacción de parte de críticos y teóricos de la literatura. En este trabajo, procuramos mostrar cómo el concepto, a despecho de las críticas que ha recibido, tuvo no solo un rol fundamental para la comprensión de la producción literaria y cultural latinoamericana, sino cómo sigue siendo muy útil como instrumento analítico, sobre todo si desviamos nuestra atención de la noción de síntesis, que es simplemente uno de sus aspectos, hacia la de una tensión contradictoria que no se resuelve completamente. Para eso, tomaremos como ejemplo el caso del “realismo maravilloso”, que resultó de la transculturación de formas distintas del fantástico europeo con aspectos provenientes de las culturas indígenas y afroamericanas. Centro de Investigaciones de la Facultad de Lenguas (CIFAL), Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Avenida Enrique Barros s/n, Ciudad Universitaria. Córdoba, Argentina. Correo electrónico: revistacylc@lenguas.unc.edu.ar 2021-12-27 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf text/html https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/CultyLit/article/view/36293 Revista de Culturas y Literaturas Comparadas; Núm. 12 (2021) 2591-3883 1852-4737 spa https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/CultyLit/article/view/36293/36586 https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/CultyLit/article/view/36293/36587 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
institution Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
institution_str I-10
repository_str R-337
container_title_str Revista de Culturas y Literaturas Comparadas
language Español
format Artículo revista
topic transculturation
Latin American literature
marvelous realism
transculturación
literatura latinoamericana
realismo maravilloso
spellingShingle transculturation
Latin American literature
marvelous realism
transculturación
literatura latinoamericana
realismo maravilloso
Coutinho, Eduardo F.
Aspects of Transculturation in Latin America: The Case of Marvelous Realism
topic_facet transculturation
Latin American literature
marvelous realism
transculturación
literatura latinoamericana
realismo maravilloso
author Coutinho, Eduardo F.
author_facet Coutinho, Eduardo F.
author_sort Coutinho, Eduardo F.
title Aspects of Transculturation in Latin America: The Case of Marvelous Realism
title_short Aspects of Transculturation in Latin America: The Case of Marvelous Realism
title_full Aspects of Transculturation in Latin America: The Case of Marvelous Realism
title_fullStr Aspects of Transculturation in Latin America: The Case of Marvelous Realism
title_full_unstemmed Aspects of Transculturation in Latin America: The Case of Marvelous Realism
title_sort aspects of transculturation in latin america: the case of marvelous realism
description When Angel Rama borrowed the concept of “transculturation” from Fernando Ortiz’s anthropological studies and applied it to the literary production of Latin America to refer to those works which broke with the old dichotomy between the indiscriminate importation of European models and the expression of an autochthonism turned to local conditions, his proposal was received with acclaim by Latin Americans. Later, though, the concept was associated with the idea of a resolution of conflicts by means of the configuration of something new and original, resulting from the mixture, or even fusion, of antithetic elements, which gave way to a reaction on the part of literary critics and scholars. In this paper, we will try to show how this concept, in spite of the criticism it has received, not only has had a fundamental role for the understanding of Latin American literary and cultural production, but also continues to be an extremely useful analytic instrument, especially if we move our focus from the notion of synthesis, which is simply one of its aspects, to that of a contradictory tension that can never be completely resolved. For this purpose, we will take as an example the case of “marvelous realism”, which resulted from the transculturation of different forms of the European fantasy genre and aspects coming from Native and Afro-American cultures.
publisher Centro de Investigaciones de la Facultad de Lenguas (CIFAL), Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Avenida Enrique Barros s/n, Ciudad Universitaria. Córdoba, Argentina. Correo electrónico: revistacylc@lenguas.unc.edu.ar
publishDate 2021
url https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/CultyLit/article/view/36293
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first_indexed 2024-09-03T21:19:25Z
last_indexed 2024-09-03T21:19:25Z
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