CIEN AÑOS DE SOLEDAD AND THE UNIVERSAL COMMENTARY
Considerations on the narrative voice through the lens of
Utopia and Dystopia
Proposed abstract for presentation at the
Duke University Romance Studies Graduate Students Conference
Abstract: Literature has always opened new windows on what we perceive as reality. When discussing the reality of Latin American history, no piece of literature stands out more than Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Cien años de soledad (1967). Through an historical and cultural study of Cien años de soledad, this presentation will discuss the ideal of utopia as seen in the book’s description of the fictional town of Macondo and examine the dystopia of the book’s conclusion in order to contrast the inevitable destruction of the town with its original Edenic state. This study will then use the progression from utopia to dystopia as a lens through which to examine the social and cultural reality of 20th Century Latin America. It will focus on a discussion of the narrative voice in relation to Garcia Marquez’s particular context, giving attention to the issues of neocolonialism, various socialist revolutions, and the rise of certain military regimes. Finally, this paper will comment on the relevance of this discussion to the universal discourse of utopia, with a nod to Biblical and mythological utopias as well as other significant historical metaphors. In conclusion, this study of literature, history, and tradition will show that utopia is a universal ideal, but that, in the reality of our human condition, utopia and dystopia exist concurrently in every society. Even Macondo, the fictional utopia imagined and written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, succumbs to eventual destruction and ruin at the book’s end. It is clear, both in literature and in reality, that utopia is and will remain an unattainable goal as long as we live on this earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment