Series | Library of Rassegna iberistica
Volume 36 | Edited book | Constelaciones familiares en la narrativa iberoamericana moderna
Constelaciones familiares en la narrativa iberoamericana moderna
open access | peer reviewed-
edited by
- Ángela Calderón Villarino - Universität Leipzig, Deutschland - email
- Jobst Welge - Universität Leipzig, Deutschland - email
Abstract
The present volume collects essays on the subject of ‘family constellations’ in modern and contemporary Iberoamerican fiction, including case studies from Spain, Portugal, Hispanophone Latin America, and Brazil, with analyses of novels ranging from 1973 (Concha Alós, La madama) to 2020 (Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Volver la vista atrás). The volume proposes the idea of ‘family constellations’ as a critical concept to capture the different ways in which these literary works transcend or escape the customary generic rubric of the family novel/saga. In contrast to more organic notions of family or the conventional scheme of genealogical sequence (and decadence), the novelistic works studied here are distinguished by the partial and subjective way in which they imagine affective bonds across or within a generation. Moreover, in contrast to the time-honored allegorical equation of family (history) and nation, the novels of the past decades and of most recent publication tend to foreground transnational and multi-relational or multilateral connections, bonds, and memories, and they frequently also appeal to an international readership. Historical legacies continue to play an important role, but frequently what is focused upon is not the direct experience of ‘historical’ events, but rather the transgenerational and traumatic transmission of historical memories over time and across generations. Finally, many of the novels discussed tend to connect the representation of family relations to meta-fictional and meta-historical devices.
Through the eight individual studies presented here, the volume wants to make a case for the continued importance of ‘family’ in contemporary Iberoamerican literature, and to suggest concepts and approaches for further study, that highlight the more flexible and fragmentary modes in which familial relations undergird the content and form of recent fiction.
Keywords Costumbrista novel • Family • Historical novel • Colombia • Resistance strategies • Deconstruction • Sephardism • Diaspora • Juan Benet • Post-nationality • Imagination • Novel of the Mexican Revolution • Constellation • Metafiction • Epistemo-critical prologue • USA • Hypermodernity • José Saramago • Adoption • Walter Benjamin • Family novel • Anthropology • Trauma • History • Metahistory • Post-memory • Dulce Maria Cardoso • Private vision • José Luís Peixoto • Concha Alós • Caribbean • Gabriel Vásquez • La madama • State imposition • Mask • Broken family networks • Knots of memory • Multi-generational novel • Historical memory • Intergenerational transmission • Memory • Jewish history • Transgenerational relation • Cuba • Autofiction
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-833-0 | e-ISBN 978-88-6969-833-0 | ISBN (PRINT) 978-88-6969-834-7 | Published June 14, 2024 | Language it, pt, es
Copyright © 2024 Ángela Calderón Villarino, Jobst Welge. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
