Essayists and novelists have struggled to capture the uniqueness of Latin America. Although their descriptions are set in specific countries and locations, they tend toward common themes. For example, the Mexican essayist Octavio Paz, in search of his identity as well as that of his nation, wrote about the “labyrinth of solitude.” The Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez examined the experiences of a family and a town through “one hundred years of solitude.” The common theme of solitude becomes for these two men the chief vehicle for understanding Latin American civilization.Gabriel García Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982. In his acceptance speech, “The Solitude of Latin America,” he explained the source of that solitude (you can read the speech by clicking here). To García Márquez, Latin Americans lacked a conventional means of believing their past. Rather, they lived in a world of illusion that produced separation and solitude. This “fantasy reality” could not be understood by outsiders, who were equipped only with their own cultural tools. Europeans, for example, accepted Latin American literature. They, however, ridiculed the Latin Americans’ attempts at social change. Latin Americans were accepted not as distinct whole, but as an incomplete Western form. García Márquez asserts that Latin America is distinct. Latin Americans will invent their own solutions and utopias. They will affirm their own reality, illusory or not.
The concern about identity in Latin America reflects an important facet of Latin American culture, but this is not unique. Other 20th-century civilizations worry about identity issues; these Latin American reflections can thus be compared with the issues of identity in societies such as sub-Saharan Africa.
After reading the speech, I would like you to think about and discuss the following: What occurrences in Latin American history led García Márquez to conclude that the reality of Latin America was “unearthly,” “outsized,” and “unbridled?” What is the source of “solitude” in Latin America? According to García Márquez, in what ways should Europeans view Latin America? Just like the Latin Americans, sub-Saharan Africans also worry about identity issues. Why does the theme of defining identity echo in both African and Latin American civilizations? Is it in effect the same theme? Your thoughts…
6 comments:
he describes it an unearthly reality because all of this distruction is happening and the rest of the world is so unaware of it. How many people would have to be killed for a refugee to be made evert 20 seconds? more importantly how can the world ignore the problems that they created and not help? The united states and western europe must be pretty selfish if theyre going to let innocent people die in order for them to live comfortably. like back to prills dependency theory you say its like a see-saw that ones benefit is the others demise. why couldnt they both be in the middle? but i guess that would be a utopia and human nature is that they want more so i guess a utopia is out of reach
That so many people are fleeing their countries for safer places, to escape the wars and poverty, tying to get away from the disappearances and violence is most likely the reason why he describes it as an "outsized reality" The fact that they are unable to make social change and reform and stop injustice in the government is the reason for their solitude he says. The European and American people seem to think that since they cannot change, why should they bother to help? The Europeans should view Latin America as an area that can be helped and can prosper if they get to a position to do so. The identity issues are most likely coming from the fact that both areas were colonized by the Europeans and feel that the only way to prosper is to conform to Western ideology, which in doing so will lose part of their identity.
Before today, i had no idea what latin america thought or felt about us. I definitly didnt think that they wanted us out and away from latin america.
us and the european countries are very selfish because we are letting a t6on of people die just so that we are fine and that everything goes good for us.. we never think about others and there needs.. we should have looked to them as a place that needed our help and we should have helped them and so should have the europeans
Marquez's words really show how U.S. intervention with Latin America affected it's people. The violence and despair expereinced by the people of these countries influences his writing. He shows how there is promise for better future for his people and the end of their suffering
Gabriel Garcia Marquez makes it clear that he wants Latin American to be viewed with different parameters towards development than Western Europe. He wants his people to have a chance to forge their own destiny, through trial and error like the Europeans, instead of being forced to conform to the pre-established notion of state found in the West. As Latin America is wholly different from Western countries, it shouldn't be expected to be the same. I think this theme of identity crisis is prevalent in both Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa because both regions were never given a chance to be their own states. They were always influenced by foreign powers. And when these powers saw something developing against their wishes, they took immediate action (insert CIA examples here...plentiful examples) in places they didn't even have jurisdiction. Africa is in an even worse condition because of the horrible demarcation techniques employed by European powers at the Berlin Conference. Garcia Marquez points out the unfairness of it all in a logical and clear manner.
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