The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction

CONCLUSION: A GLOBAL GENRE IN THE PERIPHERY

217 CONCLUSION A GLOBAL GENRE IN THE PERIPHERY In the preface to his excellent book on the early science fiction of England, France, and the United States, Science Fiction before 1900, Paul Alkon observes that “science fiction has from its outset been an international phenomenon transcending political boundaries while nevertheless taking on distinctive features that reflect different national preoccupations” (xiii).1 Let us then consider the features that have distinguished Latin American science fiction from the outset. A recurring theme of science fiction in Latin America and in other areas of the periphery is the definition of national identity , along with its corollary, the relationship between the post-colonial self and the Northern other. This sf also has a strong tendency toward political content; the nationality, race, and social class of characters are given more weight than in Northern sf. Further, works that may be discussed as sf are more likely to be hybrids, also claimed by other genres.2 The following examination of the characteristics of Latin American sf encompasses the full time span of the genre there, but focuses on the defining elements of nineteenth-century works. From the beginning, Latin Americans themselves havebeenthemostpersistentquestionersastowhether there can be a Latin American science fiction and, if so, what makes it Latin American. “We will only admit the necessity for and the validity of a Latin American sf to the degree that we recognize in it something that could not have been written in other latitudes,” declares critic Pablo Capanna (in “Coloquio a Distancia” 20). The debate as to the acceptable degrees of imitation , borrowing, or influence of Northern sf versus T H E E M E R G E N C E O F L AT I N A M E R I C A N S C I E N C E F I C T I O N 218 the desired percentages and characteristics of local, national, or Latin American contributions is ongoing in the Latin American sf community. In recent decades, this debate has perhaps been clearest in the Brazilian arena, due to the competing volleys of manifestos. In his “Cannibalistic Manifesto of Brazilian Science Fiction—Supernova Movement” [Manifesto Antropofágico da Ficção Científica Brasileira—Movimento Supernova] (1988), inspired by Oswald de Andrade’s “Cannibal Manifesto ” [Manifesto antropófago] (1928), Ivan Carlos Regina protests against the Brazilian tendency to produce derivative sf: “Copying the foreign model creates . . . mental poverty among intellectuals who seek, in grotesque imitation, to recreate the modus vivendi of technologically developed countries.”3 While as recently as 2004, the “AntiBrazilitis Manifesto” [Manifesto Antibrasilitite] attacked—with particular emphasis on sf and other genre media—“the necessity of a mask or veneer of Brazilianness for a work of fiction written/produced by a Brazilian to be taken seriously by critics and by potential financial backers” (Reis).4 Prior to 1920, there were no genre-based literary circles or fandoms in which this debate could take place. Nevertheless, tensions between originality and influence (or nationally produced versus imported, or independent versus colonial identity) formed part of the cultural fabric in the relatively young Latin American nations. The frontispiece of Luis Holmberg’s biography of his father, Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, includes a quotation dated 1876, in his father’s own handwriting, reflecting upon precisely this issue: “I am Argentine, and I love my country, my country which is so beautiful and so prosperous but which has until now gone begging to Europe when she had in her bosom models of her own, sufficient for all the world.” Although, as we have argued, the perils of imitating the North were more often perceived in the nineteenth century as mitigated by the benefits of gaining Northern scienti fic knowledge and by the historical influence of Northern culture, the issue of influence was of supreme importance to writers of science fictional texts at that time. Along with their literary roles, many of these writers participated in the construction of their nations’ identities in political, legal, educational, or scientific capacities. When writing science-fictional works, they were highly cognizant of actively importing literary tools and tropes from Northern science fictional texts, even as they adapted them for their own purposes. C O N C L U S I O N 219 Considering González Echevarría’s pertinent reminder that, in Latin America, “the outside is also...