Sunday, January 10, 2010

So up to this point, Leyendas de Guatemala has proven itself to be quite dense, but still engaging as long as you have a (lots of) cup(s) of coffee and some time to split up the reading. The language Asturias uses in “Guatemala” introduces a style that creates a strong mystical sense of people and places that are seemingly captured in a timeless sequence of events lacking obvious order. Rather than providing a clear framework for the novel, the reader is provided with little traces of a storyline and is challenged to make sense of endless imagery in order to fashion the text into one form.

In this way, Leyendas de Guatemala is unlike any novel or collection of stories that I have read before; I felt that I walked away with a strong impression created through many unlikely sensorial comparisons in the text that are almost impossible to explain completely without some sort of reiteration. Unlike the majority of novels that I’ve encountered, thus far Leyendas de Guatemala did not provide me with something as simple as a storyline as I was expecting to gather. Instead, Asturias seems to carefully present these legends on a completely different plane. I was surprised and confused with endless descriptions that so perfectly capture a wide range of sensations told by way of surely tangible images of nature that are strung together on the skeleton of legends. For this reason, I think to take on half of the novel at once is definitely a sensory overload, leaving little time to really appreciate and understand these images that make up the backbone of Leyendas de Guatemala.


One of the elements of the legends so far that really interests me is the relationship between the pre-colonial and post-colonial within the text. At first, I felt as if there was not a distinct sense of time in the early parts of “Guatemala” as Asturias describes the different cities and practices (note: if one has a deeper understanding and knowledge of Mayan culture it may be a different story, but I’m speaking from a perspective with a pretty basic understanding of the Mayas). Once Asturias begins to describe the arrival of the Spaniards (17) and the text begins describing colonial scenes (18-20), everything seems more familiar, until the beginning of the second paragraph on page twenty where the text fades back into the unfamiliar once again with the line, “El Cuco de los Sueños va hilando los cuentos.”

4 comments:

  1. I agree completely that it is a sensory overload; these types of rich, dense texts need to be SIPPED. :D And, did you notice the reference to green, red, black and white in "Ahora que me acuerdo"? I was wondering if it was related to national colors or a flag?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree, Megan. With such dense imagery, elaborate descriptions and a tough format to follow, this week's reading was quite the challenge. I would like to go slowly, have more time to read and really appreciate the text.

    ReplyDelete
  3. While reading I found it hard to place the legends in a distinct time, especially because Austurias incorporates both pre-colonial and colonial times and jumps from reality to the surreal. I was wondering if this had relation to the Mayans ideas on time because I think the Mayans had a more spiritual and fluid concept of time as life extends into the after life (but I too have basic knowledge of Mayan culture).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Megan, you really killed it with this first blog entry. I completely agree with you that Asturias' writing is dense and complex and, consequently, requires a great deal of attention to be completely appreciated. I too felt like I'd been struck in the face after experiencing the sensory onslaught that is Asturias' writing. Your comment on the link between the pre-colonial and post colonial aspects of Asturias was pretty interesting, and not something that I looked into extensively. Look forward to seeing your thoughts on the next sections.

    ReplyDelete