Annotated bibliography for:
Wakekfield, Steve. "Carpentier's Baroque Fiction: Returning Medusa's gaze". Great Britain: The Cromwell Press, 2004
As the title suggests, Carpentier's Baroque Fiction: Returning Medusa's gaze focuses on Alejo Carpentier's sense of baroque style in his writing, which became an influential force after visiting Europe and colonial Spain. The 'marvellous real' (or lo real maravilloso), a style which Carpentier is renowned for as a Latin American writer, is secondary, if not an afterthought, in Wakefield's appraisal of the author's works. The introduction begins with the necessity of defining Baroque: a cultural period from the 17th to early 18th century; versus baroque: "the style or movement independent of any historical period" (p. 1). Scholars continue Wakefield's review of Carpentier's fiction; with perhaps the most important conclusion coming from Carpentier himself in a lecture based on his essays discussing the difference between Lo barroco y lo real maravilloso, where "el barroco...es un espíritu y no un estilo histórico" (p. 5).
Lectures such as this are expanded in chapter two as the book explores Carpentier's use of the baroque style: from architecture to writing. Wakefield notes that Carpentier's travels have greatly influenced the 'vision' of his characters, allowing the reader to delve into a reality that Carpentier himself saw, and thus a reality which his characters 'lived'.
Chapters three to six enjoy highlighting four of Carpentier's famous novels and a collection of essays: El reino de este mundo, Los pasos perdidos, El acaso, La ciudad de las columnas (essays), and El siglo de las luces. Chapter three uses the focalization of Ti Noel's character in El reino de este mundo to describe how the 'petrified culture', or "the creativity of foregone generations frozen in time, in a form that continues to exert control over the living" (p. 48), somehow is able to 'enlighten, alienate, and entomb' characters of the fiction, depending on their relation to the dominant European traditions (p. 48). This chapter also comments on Carpentier's struggle with racial stereotyping as a European author with a Cuban identity.
The next chapter looks at Carpentier's switch from narrative fiction and non-fiction to a more contemporary standpoint. Los pasos perdidos "bears the characteristics of an attempt by Carpentier to take stock of his personal relationship with the creative process, to take a sweeping view of Latin American history, particularly the Conquest, and to come to terms with the modern Latin American intellectual's relationship to these historical roots" (p. 76). Chapter 4 also looks at the scholarly claims that Carpentier was not, in fact, a baroque writer. According to a contrast in canonical principles, first brought up by Leonardo Acosta, the Baroque attempts to 'mystify', whereas a socialist writer, such as Carpentier, would tend to 'demystify'.
Chapter five looks at Carpentier's fascination with the architecture from the Baroque period, from which he manifests descriptions of meticulous detail within his works. Effectively, most protagonists can only look at the structures as their social standing does not allow them to enter such prestigious edifices.
A comparison and contrast of El siglo de las luces and El reino de este mundo, among other works, follows in chapter six. It touches on Carpentier's visual motivation which allowed him the rich resource of historical reference to draw upon in creating a "more complex, baroque vision of history" (p. 130). He often employs his characters' opinions on cultural and historical artefacts as a reference point for the reader to understand each personality.
The final chapter logically focuses on the final decade of the Carpentier's life; during which his style of writing had become decidedly baroque and he more often than not reused old ideas and themes in new ways. Here Wakefield touches on Carpentier's unique use of the marvellous real: a depiction of "the reality of his native continent as inherently marvellous, without recourse to the supernatural: marvellous in its natural environments..., in its historical events and figures..., in its religions and myths..., in its peoples, and in its synchrony, ..." (p. 172). Thus, lo real maravilloso becomes less supernatural than lo realismo mágico.
A conclusion sums up Carpentier’s interest in the baroque as one which developed throughout his life work. He combined his European cultural background with his Latin American identity, his socialist attitude with his Spanish colonial influence, and lo real maravilloso with the baroque.
Unfortunately, Wakefield’s study did not include, to any large extent, Carpentier’s obsession with music, Afro-Cuban or Baroque, which would have enriched the analysis on a separate level of culture and intellect.