Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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??