Annotated Bibliography
1) Prieto, René. "The New American Idiom of Miguel Angel Asturias." Hispanic Review 56.2 (1988): 191-208. JSTOR. Web.
In “The New American Idiom of Miguel Angel Asturias”, Prieto goes into vast amounts of detail regarding the analysis of Hombres de Maiz. He describes how Asturias has chosen to express his ideas “by ‘indirection’ to threaten literary representation of reality by displacing, distorting or creating new meanings in his fiction” (191). Asturias chooses symbols in his novels with varied meanings; anywhere from the law of nature or importance in the Popul Vuh to ancient Mesoamerican mythological significance. He uses these symbols and their layered relationships to establish three main ideas: elements, animals, and colors. Prieto also discusses how his use of alliteration, onomatopoeia and repetition make up the majority of his style, but his thematic ideas are what define his intention. During the analysis of Hombres de Maiz, Prieto also mentions how “Asturias’ overall message is the transition from chaos to stability represented by the return to the land and to the communal values of the ancient Maya” (206). Prieto goes into more detail surrounding each topic within the article, however these are the main ideas.
This article would be very useful for discussing Asturias’ style of writing, types of influences he uses and overall understanding of each major work he has written.
2) Callan, Richard J. Miguel Angel Asturias. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1970].
In Miguel Angel Asturias, Callan starts off with a brief background about the life of Asturias, including some important highlights that are relevant to his works, such as his view on Latin American literature, both past and future. Callan goes on to say “Asturias feels that the most serious threat to fiction today is its drift toward journalism, the reporting of factual events laced with a plot to give it the name of fiction” whereas Asturias believes the task of the writer is to “throw light on the problems of the continent” rather than to place blame or take sides (13-14). This can be clearly seen in all of his major works, through his delicate use of symbols, themes and subtle meanings hidden within the words on the page. Callan then describes the main differences between Asturias and other Latin American writers being his use of setting, form and language.
One of Asturias’ most prominent themes is the use of mythology to give his characters, symbols and ideas a deeper, subtle meaning. He often uses double or triple metaphors, puns, double meanings and parallelism to establish these connections of interlinked ideas. Callan evaluates each major work using these ideas and unveils multitudes of interwoven, complex patterns and relationships amongst every possible idea in each work. For example, in El Senor Presidente, Callan shows how a common situation, such as offering breakfast, can actually have a hidden agenda. When Miguel offers Camila a breakfast of fresh eggs, which she ultimately declines, Callan states that the eggs “symbolize the act of love; mention of their rawness suggests unreciprocated desire” (28). This symbol ultimately supports the main theme of fertility in the story. Callan evaluates each work with this incredible level of perception and analysis.
Callan also reveals the depth of mythological symbolism present in the work of Asturias. He discovers that Asturias not only relies on the Mayan and Mesoamerican interpretation of mythology, but also rare slips of Egyptian, Aztec, Guatemalan and Mediterranean mythology is present. He states that, “although these words can be understood literally, they allude to the psychology of artistic creation which surges from the collective unconscious, from the primordial archetypes we inherit with our human nature, common secrets and experiences hidden in the depths of our psyche that only the sensitivity of the artist can reveal to us” (153). Callan then leads us to firmly believe in the work of Asturias and what it represents when he says, “It would seem false and impertinent to inject a modern interpretation into a tale so eminently outside of time were it not that the collective treasure of the unconscious is the only authentic basis for universality that mankind commands – a universality that is beyond and independent of time and space.” (154).
This book would be very relevant for sections of our Wiki article such as Mayan and Other Influences, Author Background, each major work description and Significance or Meaning within his works. Seeing as this book goes quite in depth into character, mythological and various other topics for analysis, it would be quite useful for understanding more about Asturias himself and his intentions through his writing.