Miguel Angel Asturias's Archeology of Return (Cambridge Studies in Latin American and Iberian Literature) [Hardcover]

Reni Prieto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0521434122 | ISBN-13: 978-0521434126

Miguel Angel Asturias (1899-1974) is one of the notable literary figures in Latin America who in the 1920s contrived both to explore and define Latin literature within the mainstream of Western history. He managed to be poetic, political and mythological at the same time, and with a degree of synthesis rarely achieved then or since. As is the case with many Latin American writers, his work is inextricably linked with politics, and he lived in exile for many years. He was influenced by Indian mythology, fantasy and Surrealism and was the first Latin American novelist to understand the implications of anthropology and structural linguistics for culture and for fiction. In 1967, Asturias became the first Latin American novelist to win the Nobel Prize. René Prieto examines how Miguel Angel Asturias turns to the cultural traditions of the ancient Maya and combines them with the rhetoric of surrealism in order to produce three highly complex and widely misunderstood masterpieces; the Leyendas de Guatemala (1930), Hombres de maíz (1949) and Mulata de tal (1963). Asturias is the first American author to succeed in portraying an indigenous world vision that is blatantly non-Western. Borrowing a variety of techniques from preColumbian manuscripts, he creates a new type of literature that is still the best example of the cultural blend typifying the Americas. This is the first book to examine these three novels for their originality beyond the usual political readings normally attributed to them.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The main strengths of Prieto's study are that in sustaining a particular aooroach to Austria's indigenismo, he causes the three chosen works to illuminate each other, as part of a highly defined series." Gordon Brotherston, Modern Language Notes

Book Description

René Prieto examines how Miguel Angel Asturias turns to the cultural traditions of the ancient Maya and combines them with the rhetoric of surrealism in order to produce three highly complex and widely misunderstood masterpieces; the Leyendas de Guatemala (1930), Hombres de maiz (1949) and Mulata de tal (1963).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 319 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 30, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521434122
• ISBN-13: 978-0521434126
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,281,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Very useful for structure of Hombes de Maiz, July 19, 2011

By 

Bruce Merrill (Cambridge, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Miguel Angel Asturias's Archeology of Return (Cambridge Studies in Latin American and Iberian Literature) (Hardcover)

For those who have struggled with Asturias' Hombres de Maiz, trying to figure out if and how it hangs together-- which is basic to determining if it is the masterwork that some claim, or simply too heterogeneous to add up to a substantial novel-- Prieto's structuring of the work with his image 2.2 on p99 is exceedingly useful. Then read p 104-108, the section entitled "Opossum's Dawn." This will give you an initial overview of how the Gaspar, Goyo and Nicho stories intersect. If you find that to the point, then you can go on and read the entire chapter, which is not well organized (I found) but full of insight.

Prieto is also instructive as to how Hombres de Maiz came out of Asturias' struggles with women (the death of his mother & the cracking up of his marriage), his consequent alcoholism, as well as his new hope for land reform in Guatemala, coming after the prior brutal dictatorships that provoked him to write El Senor Presidente.

On the other hand, I do not find Prieto's case for the coherence of Mulata de tal to be persuasive. A much more difficult task! It was beneficial to read both the novel and this exegesis in tandem, but the sheer arbitrary wildness of the amazing Mulata was not tamed. Not for me. Like Hombres, it pertains to how the indigenous culture of Guatemala is challenged /destroyed by the virus of materialism and commerce, but beyond that core theme, it's very difficult (so far) to figure out what Asturias is doing, what all the busy details of the fantastic hallucinatory plot add up to. It's still an amazing read, in any event.

PS I've read both novels two times, and will certainly read Hombres at least once more. I hope that my next time will be when I really "get it."

PPS Isn't it time for a translation of Leyendas into English??