Books Analysis
La Nueva Novela by Juan Luis Martinez
This book is considered ‘strange’ as it comprised of a collection of items such as paintings, a military jacket without shoes, a sock, and a boot. Other poems, drawings, and musical scores are incorporated. The novel was initially written in Latin and suffered rejection from the public before it was officially published in 1977. The central theme is politics, showing political instability in Chile. The book is said to be deliberately confusing by the use of nonsensical materials. This makes it hard for readers to understand the text. The book is a reflection of the author’s life, which was chaotic and rebellious.
La Bandera de Chile by Elvira Hernandez
The book was written in 1981 as a potent opposition symbol of the dictatorship of Pinochet. The poem was aimed at mobilizing patriotic movements through national rising. Those who showed allegiance to Elvira were tortured and subjected to whims of political crisis. In the book, Elvira shows the fate of political victims as being torturous and devastating. The central theme being patriotism and was enhanced through public mobilization and conquests.
CADA; Cada dia Neustadt
Cada dia in English translates to ‘every day.’ It is a romantic novel that involves a person waking up in different bodies every day. Memories of the body being occupied together with its own body are trapped in its thoughts every time. The theme of love is dominant throughout the novel since the main character is seen to be after the same girl despite being in different bodies. This novel greatly influenced by the change of daily activities of the Chilean people. During the dictatorship era, it was performed to intervene with the everyday habits of neoliberal consumerism.
Guillermo Gomez
In the collection of poems and essays, Guillermo addresses issues such as nationality, race, identity, and language. The book shows inversions in ideologies of geopolitical and ethnicity, disorientation of cultures, as well as relations between the real and imaginative world (Martínez, Juan Luis, and Juan de Dios Martínez, 76). During this time, there were cultural conflicts between the northern and southern borders. The new edge brings people from these two cultures together, through intermarriage. This creates a hybrid culture that causes confusion on which religion to adapt and which one to ignore. Thus the theme of multicultural practice is upheld.
Mi vida despues by Lola Arias
Six actors reconstruct their parent’s youth using pictures, tapes, letters, memories, and stories. Each scene was restored with the aim of understanding their past for when they were too young to comprehend. These actors put on their parents’ clothes and tried to represent their lives. Fiction and reality are the main themes in the play. The author remembers wearing her mother’s clothes while she was young. Later she narrates wearing her mother’s clothes again after she is all grown. She explains meeting her parents in the streets while they were young and went on a motorcycle ride with them. This flow of events shows a connection between the two generations, habits that are carried forward.
Mini-Essay Topics
Politics in La Nueva Novel
The book was put together in 1973 during the military dictatorship era of Pinochet. The contents of the book also portray politics as a theme; for example, the final part of the book ‘epigraph for a condemned book; politics,’ accompanied by a Chilean flag. Even with several revisions for the book, scholars still point out that this regime is highly antagonizing. The political era at that time was considered ambitious, single, and materialistic. The materialistic part was literally the incorporation of color, papers, and images. At first, the materials were not relevant contextually, but after Pinochet, the dictator came to power, the materials became referential.
Patriotism of Elvira
Elvira describes the patriotism portrayed by her people. They hung the flag of Chile from their windows when the state was under the leadership of a dictator (Martínez-Esparza, Elvira Hernández, 280). Their determination to acquire political freedom was evident and fruitful in the end. The regime of Pinochet was characterized by the suppression of political parties. The defiant groups were tortured and killed. However, Elvira advocated for political freedom through her works. Through mobilization, patriotism was supported by promoting liberation and economic reforms.
The Chilean Flag
Hernandez uses the symbol of the flag of Chile to show patriotism among her supporters, while Martinez used the flag as a sign of liberation. However, they both wrote the books during the era of a typical dictator Pinochet. Thus the flag symbolized an everyday thing.
Theory of Praxis
The ability of a human to change forms is recognized. It is a form of creativity in acting and helps in character development in plays. With the aim of fusing art and life, a lot of fliers were dropped in the streets. Another act observed was a change of broken lines on the roads and highways to several crosses. In life, it showed disruption of normality due to national and other external forces. For example, changes in the political state of Chile were due to the governing of Pinochet. These changes come to bring confusion among citizens.
Concept of Boarders by Guillermo
In his writing, Gomez creates a vast border zone where people live across and between cultures and countries. A hybrid society is created that erases the ideology of discrimination among people (Centeno, Miguel Angel, et al. 279). New accommodative borders are produced free from torture and slavery. The creation of modern political boundaries created confusion among citizens. None of them knew which culture was best to follow or adapt. However, it is seen as a second chance to create a peaceful and accommodative culture. During this time, it showed hope for the end of dictatorial rule. This motivated the citizens not to give up on the opposition fighters.
Post memory in work my life after
By revisiting their parent’s past lives, these actors can understand the situations they are currently facing in their lives. For example, Carla can reconstruct the death of her father, who served as a sergeant army. At the same time, a character named Vanina tries to understand her father’s occupation as an intelligent officer by looking at old pictures. In order to find answers, each aspect relates to their life, and this helps them get closure. The novel operates on a fictional basis intersecting two generations.
Performance
As witnessed in ‘my life after,’ the performance of these actors is remarkable. Costumes that involved old photos and clothes were used, showing creativity. In the CADA movie, intergenerational involvement is seen as the spirit occupies various bodies. The play was also considered imaginative. The concept of revealing that old habits never die was evident. For example, the author wore her mother’s clothes while young and old. The parents’ involvement showed peaceful coexistence between generations.
Works cited
Centeno, Miguel Angel, et al. “11 Internal wars and Latin American nationalism.” Nationalism and War (2013): 279.
Martínez, Juan Luis, and Juan de Dios Martínez. La nueva novela. ediciones Archivo, 1985.
Martínez-Esparza, Elvira Hernández. Evaluación de las guías de práctica clínica españolas sobre úlceras por presión en cuanto a su calidad, grado de evidencia de sus recomendaciones y su aplicación en los medios asistenciales. Diss. Universitat d’Alacant-Universidad de Alicante, 2012.