Literature in Translation: Teaching Issues and Reading Practices

Identity and Relationships in the Context of Latin America

136 literature in translation 136 Identity and Relationships in the Context of Latin America Kathleen Ross Latin America is a vast region of the world comprising several distinct geographical areas (Mesoamerica, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean) where the legacies of Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, and Dutch colonial rule have combined with surviving indigenous languages and cultures to create a complex group of some two dozen or more independent nations and dependent territories. Numerous definitions of the term “Latin America” (originally coined in the nineteenth century) are commonly accepted. Some include countries and territories where French, English, Dutch and other languages (such as Kreyol or Papiamentu) are spoken ; some exclude all but Romance (Latinate) languages; some include only Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking places. For the purposes of this chapter, Spanish America might be a more accurate description of the object of study, because only texts translated from Spanish will be discussed. Undoubtedly, however, many of the concepts to be examined here that deal with identity and relationships in Spanish-speaking countries can be extended, in whole or in part, to other locations in the region as well. Before commencing this focus on issues of identity and relationships and their specific importance to Latin American literature, a caveat is in order. Not only is Latin America a conglomeration of geographical and political components that sometimes differ greatly from each other; in addition, each country exhibits cultural, linguistic, racial, religious, and linguistic variations among its own people. To be sure, there exist myths of national identity, built up over centuries, that present simplified and often homogenized versions of a country’s inhabitants and customs. Many Latin Americans, just like people from any other global region, hold these stereotypes about themselves and others to be true. This chapter, nonetheless, will strive to highlight cultural identity and relationships in the context of latin america 137 differences often erased by national myths, by considering texts that address identity and relationships from both dominant and marginal perspectives. However,ashortessayofthisscopecanonlybegintoscratchthesurfaceofthe multiplicity of human experiences that make up present-day Latin America. The reader, then, should take this essay very much in the spirit of an opening for future inquiry rather than a conclusive pronouncement of truth. Generally speaking, in Latin America family structures and interpersonal relationships are central to a person’s daily life to a greater degree than in North America. Although important patterns of internal and external migration exist—particularly with regard to people from poor countries relocating to the region’s richer nations or to North America—people who are not forced to leave their homes for political or economic reasons are likely to stay in the same town or city where they were born and where their family members live. Young people of both sexes often live at home until they marry or otherwise leave to form their own families. Although many variations on these themes exist, it can be stated confidently that individuality, self-reliance, mobility, and autonomy—characteristics all greatly prized in North American culture and particularly in the United States—are not key valuesinLatin America.There,themaintenanceofintimatefriendships,close family ties, intergenerational continuity, and clan loyalty are cardinal tenets as a person moves through life. One’s identity is thus defined collectively as well as individually, as is the case all over the world; but in Latin America the individual aspect does not automatically predominate. As many literary texts illustrate, this concept of group identity can have negative consequences for those in subordinate positions (such as racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, or women, lesbians, and gay men), because theirtraditionalplaceinthecollectivecanbeupheld aspart ofanaturalorder. Strongfamilyandcommunityrelationships,then,provideopportunitiesboth for individual support and individual constraint. Again, while this dilemma can be seen as part of the human condition everywhere, the emphasis placed on family in Latin America affects identity and relationships in a way that is specific to the region and that is often reflected in its literature. Someofthebest-known works of Latin Americanliteraturethathavebeen translated into English provide evidence for these cultural generalizations. Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, for example, delves into the life of Macondo, an imaginary Colombian town, and the complex history of several generations of the Buendía family. García Márquez’s works 138 literature in translation tell stories of places where a person is defined by his or her family’s history, and where sometimes (such as in his short novel...