7 - Three Central American Writers: Alone Between Two Cultures

Summary

Conny Palacios, Rima de Vallbona, and Omar Castañeda represent three different Central American genres (poetry, novel, and short story, respectively). They also come from three different moments in the process of adaptation or the lack of adaptation to life abroad in the United States. Palacios is the most recent arrival (1981) and her poetry, written in Spanish, is still richly textured by the poetic traditions of her native Nicaragua. Her prose-poem ‘Lo que Homero no contó’ (What Homer Didn't Say) focuses on the need to migrate to the US but is clearly embedded in Nicaraguan poetic traditions. The novelist provides a different window on Central American literature in the US. Although most of her short stories and novels are in Spanish, Rima de Vallbona's novel, Mundo, demonio y mujer (The World, the Devil, and the Flesh) is constructed so that the influence of American culture, particularly North American feminism, clearly plays a role in the mental and spiritual development of the main character Renata. Unlike Palacios and Vallbona, Guatemalan writer Omar Castañeda, who died from an overdose of drugs in 1997, wrote in English. Although born in Guatemala, he was raised in the Midwest and became an American citizen at 11 years of age. His work depicts characters who seem more intimately involved in Anglo culture. His short story ‘On the Way Out’ reveals the struggle of the main character, a Guatemalan male, to define himself both as an American and a Latino, and to find some sense of dignity and meaning in his life. Despite the differences, no matter how long these writers have lived in the US, their prior cultures play essential roles in their adaptation to North American society. The interplay between what came before and what exists now is laden withambiguity and ambivalence, setting up the possibility of the emergence of truly human situations.

Two challenges immediately arise when analyzing ‘Central American‘ writers. The first is that, in contrast to Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, the countries with the oldest and largest Latino communities within the US, Central America is not a single country, much less a culturally homogeneous geographical area.