Genre Reconsidered in Louise Erdrich’s The Round House

This article discusses the significant shift in terms of genre to be observed in Louise Erdrich‘s fourteenth novel, The Round House (2012). This novel, which explores the effects of a sexual assault on an Ojibwe reservation, can be seen to use narrative styles and generic conventions that are quite different from those found in Erdrich‘s earlier works. The article considers the possible reasons that could explain Erdrich‘s decision to hybridize different genres (coming-of-age, thriller, etc.) in The Round House and how that decision may have conditioned the reception of the novel among Native and non-Indian readers alike. A number of socio-cultural and rhetorical theories of genre (Miller, Bitzer, Bakhtin) are used to discern the author‘s logic in opting for a specific blend of literary genres. The article concludes that Erdrich‘s generic choices are best understood in the light of the socio-political urgency and activism that the vulnerable situation of Native women on reservations demands.El presente artículo estudia el notable giro de género literario que se observa en The Round House (2012), la decimocuarta novela de Louise Erdrich. Esta obra, que muestra los efectos que la violación de una mujer tiene en una tribu ojibwa, utiliza estilos narrativos y convenciones de género distintas de las habituales en novelas anteriores de Erdrich. Este trabajo analiza los posibles motivos que pudieran explicar la decisión de la autora de combinar distintos géneros (novela de aprendizaje, de suspense, etc.) en la obra y cómo 14 Aitor Ibarrola-Armendáriz. Revista de Estudios Norteamericanos 20 (2016), Seville, Spain. ISSN 1133-309-X. pp. 13-37 esa decisión ha condicionado la recepción de la misma entre distintos lectores. Se recurre a varias teorías retóricas y socioculturales del género literario (Miller, Bitzer, Bakhtin) para intentar discernir las razones de Erdrich para elegir esa mezcla de géneros. El artículo concluye que para comprender la decisión de la autora con respecto al género habría que tener en cuenta la urgencia y el grado de compromiso que la situación vulnerable de las mujeres nativas en las reservas indias requiere

"The Dwindling Presence of Indian Culture and Values in Jumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth"

Unlike her earlier works of fiction (Interpreter of Maladies (1999) and The Namesake (2003", which mostly explored the identity conflicts and the problems of Indian migrants to travel across cultures, Jhumpa Lahiri's latest collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth (2008), can be seen to concentrate more closely on her characters' inner landscapes, thus widening the range of themes to include such intricate and, to a great extent, ethnic-blind topics as death and grief, isolation, family dynamics, and gender relations. Although, migration-related issues and the process of adaptation to a different environment are still integral to this collection, it is also evident that the emphasis has been shifted from the straddling of two cultures to the analysis of intergenerational and marital tensions. This article examines the kind of changes that this shift in interest causes both in terms of thematic choices and the treatment those themes receive.A diferencia de sus obras anteriores (Interpreter of Maladies (1999) y The Namesake (2003", que indagaban en los conflictos identitarios y los problemas de incorporación de inmigrantes indios a otras culturas, la última colección de relatos de Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth (2008), parece centrarse sobre todo en la representación del paisaje interior de sus personajes para abordar temas más complicados y universales como la muerte y el duelo, la soledad, las relaciones hombre-mujer o las que se producen en el entorno familiar. Si bien asuntos relativos a las migraciones y al proceso de integración aún ocupan cierto espacio en este libro, resulta claro que el énfasis se ve desplazado de los choques interculturales a otros de carácter intergeneracional o de género. Este trabajo estudia los cambios que este desplazamiento en los intereses de la autora produce tanto en su elección de los temas como en el tratamiento que estos reciben

Short-Story Form and Diversity Management in ZZ Packer’s Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

[Abstract] Historically, ethnic minority writers have only rarely shown much concern with the intra-group diversity that one frequently finds in sociological surveys and statistics which classify results according to ethnic categories. ZZ Packer’s collection of short stories Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (2003) presents us with a set of African-American characters who, despite sharing the surface difference of their skin color, display a much wider range of “otherness” as they have to struggle with the limitations that their age, appearance, religion or family background mark out for them. While it is true that most of Packer’s protagonists —generally young girls— are outsiders who develop all sorts of coping strategies to deal with the pain that expectations and prejudices inflict on them, it is also apparent that their grievances originate from variegated causes. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that Packer succeeds in producing a work of fiction that transcends most of the paradigms so-far used to analyze characters in texts by black women —i.e. suspended/ assimilated/ emergent woman or invisible/ feminist/ womanist heroine—. She manages to do so by having such a strong grip on reality that we, the readers, cannot help but sympathize with young individuals pushed by circumstances into making very difficult decisions

Crises across the board in Cormac McCarthy’s "The Road"

This article explores the types of crises that author Cormac McCarthy has, overtly or indirectly, represented in his latest work of fiction, The Road (2006). This novel, which shows the gruesome picture of a post-apocalyptic world, can be seen to dwell upon at least three different types of crises ranging from the awe-inspiring effects of global catastrophes to the more personal fears that individuals may feel in quicklydegenerating moral environments. The main body of the article is divided into four sections which try to elucidate the specificities of each of these crises and to see how those specificities are illustrated and dealt with in McCarthy’s novel. The Road can be said to combine some of the newest ingredients of the recent trend of end-of-theworld fiction with features from more classical genres such as Gothic horror or epic narratives. One of the greatest achievements of the work is that it manages to strike a balance between despair and hope by studying in great detail how human beings may react to disasters that they themselves have created.Este trabajo estudia los tipos de crisis que el autor Cormac McCarthy recoge, directa o indirectamente, en su novela más reciente, The Road (2006). Esta obra, que muestra la espantosa imagen del mundo tras una guerra nuclear, se detiene a considerar los efectos de al menos tres clases de crisis diferentes, que van desde una de carácter más físico y global hasta otras de corte más personal y espiritual. El cuerpo central del artículo queda dividido en cuatro partes que intentan elucidar las especificidades de cada una de estas crisis y ver cómo aparecen representadas y son tratadas en la novela de McCarthy. The Road mezcla elementos novedosos de la nueva narrativa del fin del mundo con otros pertenecientes a géneros más clásicos como el terror gótico o el relato épico. Uno de los logros destacables de la obra es que consigue mantener un equilibrio entre la desesperación y la esperanza al ofrecer un análisis minucioso de las reacciones humanas frente a su propia aniquilación