My project explored the gothic short story across cultures. I wanted to look at the work of three different authors whose work could be categorized as gothic. I started with Gabriel Garcia- Marquez. I had already read his story “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” before and I was very interested in discussing it in terms of the gothic. I was also excited to find a collection of short stories by Rudolfo Anaya, who we previously discussed in class. His short story “The Silence of the Llano” had many gothic elements that made it relevant to my project. Finally, I’ve always been a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe and I was happy to incorporate his famous story “Berenice” into my project.
In our class we have explored Chicano Gothic literature. I was interested in seeing how different cultures dealt with the gothic genre. I wanted to explore just how much ones culture affects their writing, and whether or not this culture shows in their writing. I found that each author’s culture does in fact affect their writing a great deal, and each story gives us a sense of the environment in each each author was writing. I think this is important and relevant to our class because we have been studying the Chicano gothic and how the Chicano culture informs these texts. It is important to know that many other cultures have produced gothic texts that are similar to the Chicano texts yet unique in that they represent the voice another culture.
images:
Your project and presentation were really interesting and your images really complement your project.
It is interesting to see the ties between magical realism and the gothic genre. I was first exposed to Marquez’s magical realism during a Latin American literature course and I really enjoyed the excerpts from his writings. I was sad to learn of his recent passing, as his artistic contributions to Latin America and the world are significant. The hybrid of indigenous, African, Catholicism and other spiritual and cultural elements really resonate with me. Last semester I gained more exposure to Chican@/Latin@ magical realism in my Intro Chican@ lit course. I definitely recommend “Soledad,” by Angie Cruz. It is a coming of age story about a Dominican-American in New York in which the magical real elements are prominent along with the struggles with identity.
Also, I really enjoy Anaya’s writing and I plan on reading more of his books;I enjoy the magical realism he uses. “Silence of the Llano” sounds like an interesting read. It sounds similar to “Bless Me Ultima” in the setting and the historical blending of the indigenous, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo peoples and cultures, along with the magical and gothic elements.