Racism utopian Love and Other Demons by Gabriel García Márquez <> <>
Maarten Steenmeijer 
Radboud University - Nijmegen, Netherlands
Radboud University - Nijmegen, Netherlands Summary: According to Gabriel García Márquez
, it is regrettable that over the centuries America has been understood and interpreted according to criteria other. However, in his narrative the Colombian writer, and railed against Western hegemonic paradigm, also part of it, as exemplified by the representation of black culture and identity in Love and Other Demons, idealized and, in turn, garciamarquiano marginalized in the discourse, as expected show in this article.
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In colonial society depicted in The Love and Other Demons, the latest and extraordinary novel by García Márquez, the presence of Indians is low and, moreover, is restricted to the world of the Creoles of focus in history. These three characters: Sagunta, an old Celestina, the deacon who plays host to the bishop's palace, and the father of Bernarda Cabrera (Servant's mother Mary). In fact, this is a mestizo who, thanks to his energy and cunning, has gained a social and economic position in society negligible colonial. His daughter extends these qualities, becoming an avid, calculating, ruthless, merciless and lascivious that seduces abruptly to the second Marquis of Casalduero to be his wife. Unscrupulously then neglects her daughter, devoted to trade with great fervor and passion for Judas Iscariot, a former slave to become a bullfighter and gigolo, who spread a fatal addiction to fermented honey and cacao tablets, by which the 'mixed wild call mostrador'1 aristocracy will inevitably transformed into a ruin. Add to this that she, after the death of her lover, insists on meeting his 'eagerness to satisfy a military belly' (ibid.) with blacks in the mill of the family and the conclusion seems justified that the wife of Marquis is a one-dimensional character, such as the rigid and unforgiving abbess of the convent of Santa Clara. Unlike what happens with the nun - a symbol of Spain more self-absorbed and dogmatic - but towards the end of the novel adds a constituent tragic to life and person of Bernarda Cabrera when it opened his chest to husband, takes stock of a soulless life and failed.
This does not mean that it is consistent to consider Bernarda Cabrera and his father and perverted people for a society based on a racist mentality that causes harmful ambitions and aspirations in interracial subjects, motivated or encouraged by their identity and insecure and shifting position, do not hesitate to seize without scruple , any opportunity to raise the economic and social ladder. It is revealing, for example, Bernarda Cabrera does not mind Mary Servant disease by fatal consequences but the potential social consequences.
One of the most ruthless representatives of the colonial system is, without doubt, the Marquis de Casalduero, a slave trader who, thanks to 'his master swindler and venality of the customs' was' the luckiest individual handler his century. " (61) His son, 'Don Ygnacio de Alfaro and Dueñas, second Marquis of Casalduero and Lord of Darien "(16), is a caricature of the aristocracy embodied by his father
Ygnacio, the sole heir, showed no signs of anything. He grew up with certain signs of mental retardation, was illiterate until the age of merit, and did not want anyone. The first sign of life that he met twenty years was that was willing to love and marry one of the inmates of the Divina Pastora, whose singing and shouting rocked his childhood. (49)
The representation of the Marquis rubs caricature or even grotesque, but when following the illness of her daughter begins to worry about it, takes on a dramatic scale and human. Likewise the role of Bishop Toribio de Caceres and exceeds Virtues the high representative of the official religion and faithful executor of the practices of the Inquisition:
He wore sandals and a peasant blouse with pieces of coarse canvas LUID for the abuses of soap. The sincerity of poverty was noticeable at first glance. However, the most notable was the purity of his eyes, only understandable by a privilege for the soul. (74)
Given that 'any inquiry or exorcism has authorized and conducted under the direction of a bishop' (Palencia-Roth 1997: 120), it would be impossible, even assuming that tried to don Turibio Cáceres Servant to bury Mary on the altar of the chapel the convent of Santa Clara, sacred place and, therefore, not obvious to an alleged possessed by the devil did not show even the slightest trace of repentance.
With all this, it is difficult to agree with Margaret Olsen when he says that 'no person of the elite colonial Cartagena de García Márquez [is] a full and faithful participant in their systems of exclusion and repression. On the contrary, each has built or revised to fit within the parameters of colonial power, with the exception of two characters: Abrenuncio and Servant Mary. " (Olsen 2002: 1078) can be added to Abrenuncio de Sa Pereira Cao is a dissident who is conspicuous by its presence illustrated in a world governed by outdated dogmas and prejudices scholastics. With his ideas on a sweet death for patients without another perspective that a long and terrible agony, the doctor reveals himself as a defender even avant la lettre of euthanasia. Note, however, that the doctor also embraces beliefs that do not correspond with the empirical and rational paradigm of the Enlightenment, as is his conviction that robertredfordiana 'lack of communication with horses has been delayed to humanity. " (41)
The intellectual effort and critical thinking are paralleled Jewish doctor in disbelief Cayetano Delaura scholar father, although he is distinguished to him through his intense sexual sensitivity, which is fully revealed when, dealing with the exorcism of Servant Mary falls in love with the daughter of the Marquis bitten by a rabid dog and accused of being possessed by the devil.
be concluded, therefore, that the colonial elite represented in the novel and starring garciamarquiana ambiguous characters such as the Marquis, the bishop, doctor and father love, it shows as a community no fixed course, unstable, confused, upset or even lost. The following dialogue between Delaura and Abrenuncio, the two most enlightened characters in the story, I think it illustrates this point:
"At my age, and with so many blood cross, I do not know for sure where I'm from, "said Delaura. "Not who I am."
"Nobody knows these realms," said Abrenuncio. "And I think ever need to know." (155)
The qualification 'with so many cross blood' seems key in this context. In García Márquez's novel, miscegenation is not the promise of a cosmic race that combines the best of each of its constituents but fracaso2, confusion, decay, ruin
[Bishop h] ablo's hodgepodge of blood that had been made since the conquest of English blood with the blood of Indians, those and those with blacks of every stripe, to Mandingo Muslims, and wondered whether such a conspiracy could be in the kingdom of God. (140-141)
At best, the rhetorical question at the end of this quote pulls back some of the mystery surrounding the mysterious death of Father Thomas Aquinas de Narvaez, the priest who "was fascinated by religion and African languages, and lived as another slave among slaves' (181). At the request of Bishop, who for health reasons can not continue the exorcisms of Servant Mary, Father Thomas is presented in the convent of Santa Clara and, gaining the confidence of this and also that of the abbess, confirming its identity bridge between two cultures separated by vast differences. For reasons that neither the narrator is able to clear the next day found the body of the father in the well of Gethsemane, the slave quarter where the priest lived. If it is true that this mysterious death allows many explanations or interpretations - a natural death and lonely, a murder committed by one (s) of the parishioners of the neighborhood, an allusion to the violent death of Pier Paolo Pasollini - so is that it perfectly in the context of confusion, or even curse fate suffered by the ruling class represented in Love and Other Demons.
Servant The premature death of Mary can be interpreted as a symptom of a long and stubborn tradition full of bigotry and intolerance, while troubled by an intricate and confusing cultural identity. The contrast between this culture and adapted by Mary Servant is as sharp as significant: it is manifested as a solid, strong, stable, and I would add innocent and pure. Grown and raised among blacks, the girl has incorporated the beliefs, ways of being, rituals and languages \u200b\u200bof the ethnic groups of African origin, whose religious identity and cultural rights are embodied in a feeling of happy, harmonious and authentic. At first, he even possible to fully live in exile from the convent to condemn him paradigm superstitious and fearful of Creole society, and moreover, docility and ingenuity of his father shortly after
spent two black slaves recognized Santeria collars and spoke in Yoruba language. The girl replied, excited in the same language. (...)
regained his world instantly. Helped slaughter a goat that refused to die. He took his eyes and cut off the testicles, which were the parts she liked. Pellet played with adults in the kitchen and children's playground, and won them all. He sang in Yoruba, Congo and Mandingo (...). (90-91)
should be appreciated, therefore, that the fate Handmaid Mary is certainly confusing and tragic, but that their cultural identity is far from it. And with this statement I enter fully into the question that concerns me here: black identity and culture represented in the love and other demons. In the fictionalized society by García Márquez, ethnicity and culture in Africa have several roles. A cursory examination shows that blacks are the topic of slave role, ie the community of beings regarded as sub-human parent and denied that the official story. Are equally disturbing presence or even a threat to the creole elite, due to other rituals, other languages, other codes and also to radiate vitality weed, as suggested by the 'invasion' of slaves in the house of the Marquis as a weakening of surveillance. Note, however, that the slaves of the Marquis does not hurt at any time, so are called into question the motives of the fears of the aristocrat:
For the first time alone in the gloomy mansion of his ancestors, [the Marquis] could hardly sleep in the dark, fear of noble birth Creoles of being killed by their slaves during sleep. Awoke suddenly, without knowing whether the feverish eyes peered through the skylights were of this world or the other. (55)
's mistrust of the Marquis is echoed the suspicion that his daughter has on the false Marquise, who "[w] here was more focused on their business was in the neck the breath hissing snake lurking (...).' (63)
The 'black peril' in Love and Other Demons has two faces, as well as being a subhuman threat, blacks are sometimes a threat by her beauty superhuman, that is irresistible or even unbearable for Creoles, as is the case of the captive Abyssinian worth its weight in gold and extremely stunning the new viceroy. Equally disconcerting is the physique of Judas Iscariot, the freed slave chippendalianos with traces of Bernarda Cabrera has fallen in love and whose vices marked the death of man in fatal and ruin the alleged aristocrat.
In García Márquez's novel, blacks are not individuals, as indicated by the fact that they have no name. Highlight two exceptions: Judas Iscariot and Sunday of Advent, the black maid was the only person capable of governing the house of the Marquis. It is difficult to explain the unusual position of these two characters are two black 'infiltrators' from the creole world, though in very different ways because if Judas Iscariot is, as its name implies, a traitor to their culture of origin that has been corrupted by the vices of the dominant society (greed, materialism, narcissism) 3, the old maid Marquis brings the best of both worlds: Advent
(...)
Dominga was the link between those two worlds. (...) It had become Catholic without renouncing their faith Yoruba, and practiced both at once, without rhyme or reason. His soul was at peace healthy, he said, because what I was missing in the other. It was also the only human being who had the authority to mediate between the marquis and his wife, and they both pleased. (18-19)
It is, therefore, that persons other than the father of a superhuman beauty, the black race is able to assume a hybrid identity harmoniously. If we pause in the anonymous mass of black people in the house of the Marquis in the convent of Santa Clara and the slave quarter, we see the same contrast between blacks and Creoles. No missing disconcerting practices (think of the circumcision performed by Mary Servant Sunday of Advent, certain sexual practices and some sacrificial rites and healing), but what dominates in the black world is garciamarquiano vitality, community spirit and harmony. Like for instance the following quotations, which need no comment:
Shortly afterwards spent two black slaves recognized Santeria collars and spoke [to Servant Mary] in the Yoruba language. The girl replied, excited in the same language. Since nobody knew what was there, the slaves taken to the tumultuous kitchen, where she was greeted with joy by the easement. (90)
[Servant Mary] lived with all the powers of free love in the barracks of the slaves. (174)
The slave quarter at the edge of the marsh, trembled for their misery. (...) However, the neighborhood was more cheerful, bright colors and radiant voice, and more at dusk, when they took the chairs to enjoy the cool in the middle of the street. (183) Waterfront
sick world, outdated, rigid, perverted and confused the natives, the black world is revealed as a young, vital, healthy, natural, sensual, authentic. With this representation, the author opposes the dehumanization of blacks perpetrated by the creole paradigm to celebrate, says Michael Palencia-Roth, 'the mode of being of a culture that until now has been almost invisible in his work and, with few exceptions, has not featured in the canons of literary history in Colombia: the African. " (Palencia-Roth 1997: 111) It should be noted however, that the representation of Afro-Colombians as a primitive ethnic group, healthy, natural and innocent also confirms certain topics of Western ideology or, more specifically, romantic paradigm. To this is added to the verb 'hold' is not, in my view, the most appropriate taking into account that, unlike the Creoles, blacks just have a voice in Love and Other Demons, whose discourse is dominated by a narrator who sympathize with them but not live with them. If the novel 'celebrates' culture is the culture of European origin, for that is hated by the author out of his fiction. Appreciate, for example, the development of the two characters who with his vast erudition, refined culture, critical and profound desire to represent the incipient skepticism Caribbean version of the paradigm of the Enlightenment: Abrenuncio de Sa Pereira Cao and Delaura Cayetano. Remember also that the catalysts that enable Contact Servant Mary with her father and Cayetano Delaura European cultural phenomena, 'the golden oldies' (69) sung and played by the Marquis in the Italian theorbo and the poetry of Garcilaso de la Vega. While it is true, as Arnold M. Penuel, in Love and Other Demons 'enslaving the dogmas and practices of the Church Are Placed in juxtaposition with the Liberating forces of Renaissance humanism, enlightenment rationalism and freethinking, and the eclectic religion and culture of African slaves' (Penuel 1997: 46 ), so is that the religious and cultural practices of African origin are far less developed and explored than those of European origin.
In summary, I believe pertinent to reconsider the claims of Michael Palencia-Roth, Margaret M. Valenzuela Fajardo Diogenes Olsen and African culture that takes "such a central position and explícita'4 in Love and Other Demons. Rather than celebrate, express and deepen the black culture, García Márquez's narrator refers to it and watches. From an outside perspective, idealized and, in turn, marginalizes blacks, revealing itself as a racist utopian watching 'to Western eyes. " In essence, then, the Colombian Nobel narrative strategy not unlike that of Mario Vargas Llosa, for they are the different ideologies and ideological purposes of the two authors. Saul Zarate and Mary are two characters Servant conquered by marginalized ethnic groups and cultures, and also two victims of a narrative usurpation them located in the periphery of history and history.
Notes [1] García Márquez 1994: 15. Of Love and Other Demons, 5 th edition (Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana). All quotations from the novel refer to this edition.
[2] Remember the impossible love - without going any further - Cayetano Delaura and Servant Mary, united only in sleep.
[3] It seems significant that the narrator never uses the term 'black' to describe or refer or allude Judas Iscariot.
[4] Olsen, Margaret M., 2002: 1067. See also Valenzuela Fajardo, Diogenes, 1997: 120, which states that the novel paints us a 'fresh from the presence of Africa in the Colombian culture. "
Works Cited
Valenzuela Fajardo, Diogenes, 1997. 'The African World Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel García Márquez', Black America, 14: 101-124.
García Márquez, Gabriel, 1974. The Colonel no one writes (Barcelona: Plaza y Janes). ___
1983. 'The Solitude of Latin America', Casa de las Americas, 137 (March-April 1983). ___
1984. One Hundred Years of Solitude, ed. Jacques Joset (Madrid: Cátedra). ___
1991. Journalistic work Vol 1. Texts coast, collection and introduction of Jacques Gilard (Madrid: Mondadori). ___
1994. Of Love and Other Demons, 5 th edition (Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana). ___
1999. 'What are the priorities of mankind for the coming decades? ", In For free. Journalistic work 4. 1974-1995 (Barcelona: Mondadori). ___
1999. 'For a country the reach of children', in For free. Journalistic work 4. 1974-1995 (Barcelona: Mondadori).
Hutcheon, Linda, 1988. A Poetics of Postmodernism. History, theory, fiction (New York / London: Routledge).
O'Bryan-Knight, Jean, 1995. The Story of the Storyteller: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Mayta History, and The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa (Amsterdam / Atlanta: Rodopi).
Olsen, Margaret M., 2002. 'The pathology of Africana in the love and other demons of García Márquez', Revista Iberoamericana, LXVIII, 201 (October-December 2002).
Palencia-Roth, Michael, 1997. 'Love and Other Demons: tragedy inquisitorial African beatification', in Notes on Colombian literature, comp. Carmenza Kline (Bogotá: Ceiba Publishers).
Penuel, Arnold M., 1997. 'Symbolism and the Clash of Cultural Traditions in Colonial English America in García Márquez's Of Love and Other Demons', Hispania, 80 (March 1997).
Steenmeijer, Maarten, 1998. 'Phantom pain of Gabriel García Márquez', in Proceedings of the XII Congress of the International Association of Hispanics. Birmingham 1995. Volume VII Hispanic Studies II, ed. Patricia Odber of Baubet (Birmingham: Department of English Studies, University of Birmingham), 281-286.
Vargas Llosa, Mario, 1987. The Storyteller (Barcelona: Seix Barral). ___
1990. 'Birth Peru's' Against All Odds (III) (Barcelona: Seix Barral). ___
1991. A Writer's Reality (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press).
Maarten Steenmeijer
© 2002
speculum. Journal of literary studies. Universidad Complutense de Madrid
The URL of this document is http://www.ucm.es/info/especulo/numero27/delamor.html
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