REINVENTING HISTORY AND MYTH IN CARLOS FUENTES´S TERRA NOSTRA
AND ISHMAEL REED’S MUMBO JUMBO:STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING POSTMODERN FICTION IN THE AMERICAS

La reinvención de la historia en Terra Nostra, de Carlos Fuentesy Mumbo Jumbo, de Ishmael Reed. Estrategias para la enseñanzade la ficción postmodernista en las Américas

STVDIVM. Revista de Humanidades, 19 (2013) ISSN: 1137-8417, pp. 217-230

Santiago Juan-Navarro*

Florida International University

Abstract
This essay explores the paradoxes of both Latin American Boom authors’ and U.S.American writers’ penchant for writing what came to be known as “total” novels by looking at two texts that are representative of the postmodern fiction produced in the 1970s: Carlos Fuentes’s Terra Nostra (1974) and Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo (1972). By analyzing one of the most influential late-Boom novels (Terra Nostra) in the context of contemporary historical fiction, students will be able to understand the impact of the Boom beyond its Latin American borders and in connection with other literary traditions. Although the focus of the essay will be on reading the postmodern writers from an inter-American perspective, it will address issues that will be relevant to other pedagogical approaches as well: How does the Latin American Boom relate to the current postmodernism debate? What is its relationship with other subaltern traditions? How have the Boom novels impacted our concepts of history and myth? How can they be perceived from a transnational perspective?Keywords: postmodernism, comparative literature, inter-American fiction, total novel, history, myth, pedagogy of literature.

https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/5506789.pdf

*Área de Literatura Comparada, Departamento de Lenguas Modernas. Correo electróni-co: navarros@fiu.edu. Fecha de recepción del artículo: 25 de mayo de 2012. Fecha deaceptación y version final: 26 de julio de 2012.