Talk:The Kingdom of This World

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 04:29, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

To editors from the Magical Realism Reconsidered WikiProject ...
Hello all! I'm one of the Wikipedia 'regulars' who have volunteered to assist with this WikiProject. I'm available to offer help and advice with most aspects of working in the Wikipedia environment, from the technical parts of WikiMarkup to taking an article through the Good and Featured article processes to navigating the shoals and rapids of our sometimes peculiar community. I've watchlisted this page, so if you have any questions (anything at all!), you can leave them here or on my personal talk page, which is linked in my signature.

To get you started (and I'm sure jbmurray has covered this so hope you don't mind the repetition), the first thing you need do with the article is add referenced content. At this stage it's not too important where it goes, what it is, or even what it looks like... as long as it's relevant and cited to a reliable source. The cite can simply be a parenthesised note at the end of your sentence/paragraph stating the book+author+publisher+date+page reference for now, though if you want to have a go at using our citation templates feel free! You might find the style guideline at WikiProject Novels (here) useful in getting a broad idea how to lay out the article, but much of that will come after we've bulked it up. All the best, EyeSerene talk 20:39, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks, EyeSerene. We appreciate your help! jbmurray has set the deadline for Wednesday the 20th for our initial round of sources to be posted.  So, the aim is to start editing and going through our sources in the next week.  Cheers. --Mstmaurice (talk) 18:56, 15 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Sounds good :) I'll keep checking back from time to time, but you know where my talk page is if you need anything. EyeSerene talk 08:31, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Final Source List
I've taken a look at a few articles to make sure they are relevant, and they are, so if we need 6 articles per person, here are my 6, chosen randomly (the first 6 listed).

Patterns of Repetition in "The Kingdom of This World"

The Haitian Revolution in Interstices and Shadows: A Re-Reading of Alejo Carpentier's "The Kingdom of This World"

"The Human Comedy" in el Reino de Este Mundo

The Discourse of Contradiction: Metaphor, Metonymy and "El reino de este mundo"

El cuerpo político: Carnaval, corporeidad y revolución en El reino de este mundo de Alejo Carpentier

Metamorphosis as Revolt: Cervantes' Persiles y Segismunda and Carpentier's El reino de este mundo

Unless one of you REALLY wants one of mine.

--Chris Weber (talk) 02:41, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Articles
Hey Chris,

thanks so much for all the articles you've posted!!

Here are a few questions/suggestions

- would you like me to look for more articles or do you think that so far we should concentrate on sorting through these ones?

- 6 articles per person sounds great, I can even offer to read more if that helps, however instead of each person reading random articles it may be a lot easier if we split articles up according to themes and maybe think of sections right now, so that each person becomes a sort of "expert" in one area and can read articles more easily since they will all be on a common topic (thus become familiar with technical terms pertaining to that area, if any, etc). Just a logistical thought that may save us time in the future, let me know what you think.

Thanks again!

--Svetlana 365 (talk) 05:30, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Photos
Do you guys know how to add a photo to our Wikipedia page? I thought it would be nice to start with at least a photo of the book cover or the author... --Svetlana 365 (talk) 05:43, 20 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi Svetlana, hope you don't mind me jumping in :) I think that's a really good idea. The actual technical process of uploading photos is fairly easy... but what happens around that process is hugely important. Wikipedia has very strict copyright rules involving images, so before you upload anything you need to know where the image has come from and what it's copyright status is.
 * The best case is where an image has no copyright, or is under a copyright license that allows its unlimited reproduction for any purpose (such as Wikipedia's own CC-BY-SA and GFDL). Images like that can be difficult to find though, so I think we'll probably have to go with the second-best alternative, which is Fair Use.
 * Because the article is about the book "The Kingdom of this World", I think we can justify a fair-use image of the book cover under the "image is used in the context of critical commentary of that item" clause (see WP:NFCI). However, the image will need to be low-resolution (ie smallish), and preferably of a notable version of the book (perhaps the first edition?) We might also get away with a second image for the first edition of the English-language translation (assuming there is one, you know better then I do!).
 * For the author's image, you can check Wikipedia to see if we already have an article about him and if there's a picture we can reuse, or maybe search through online Public Domain image archives. There are some suggestions at Public domain image resources.
 * Once you've found some suitable images, if you want to post a link(s) here I'll be happy to double-check them and help out with the actual upload if you like. Hope this helps, EyeSerene talk 11:49, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Books
Hello everyone! Chris, I must commend you on the work you've done so far. I've been battling some tonsillitis for the past few days - it hasn't been pretty. Anyway, I got a chance to look over the list you compiled so far, it looks great. I ran a search on metalib for articles and it seems like you've pretty much collected all the useful articles that are readily available to us. In terms of books, here's a list of some that I think might be worth taking a look at (all are available at Koerner):

Carpentier: Una revisión lineal - Dinko Cvitanovic

Alejo Carpentier : a comprehensive study - Bobs M. Tusa

Alejo Carpentier : estudios sobre su narrativa - Esther P. Mocega-González

Carpentier, El Reino de este mundo - Richard A. Young PhD

Cómo leer a Alejo Carpentier - Patrick Collard

Alchemy of a Hero : a comparative study of the works of Alejo Carpentier and Mario Vargas Llosa - Bobs M. Tusa

There's also quite a few (lenghty) books about the Haitian revolution if we wanted to provide some background information for our project. If we plan on using any of these books we'll have to act fast and put in a request to get them at the library because it seems we're not the only ones interested in Carpentier at the moment. Anyway, see you all in class.

Cheers,--Patrussell (talk) 17:17, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Article Structure
Hey groupies! I think our little chat today in class was pretty good, I'm looking forward to working with all of you throughout the term. As a follow up, I checked out the Carpentier group's page and they are most definitely responsible for sniping some of the books that we're interested in - I'll send them some messages to see if they'll share with us. Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_in_His_Labyrinth is a page by UBC students that reached featured article status. It is also based on a book, and I think the general scheme of it is a good structure for us to work from.

Let me know what you all think. --Patrussell (talk) 18:48, 20 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Yup. Both The General in His Labyrinth and El Señor Presidente are articles on books written by UBC students that achieved featured status.  They both therefore offer good models for you guys. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:04, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Ok guys,

great job finding articles, I pretty much found all the same ones as Chris, plus two that don't seem to be in his list. As we discussed in class I can read these two and as many as are needed from Chris' list.

The Theater of the Haitian Revolution / The Haitian Revolution as Theater by Michael Dash, 2005

A New Novel By Alejo Carpentier, TJ Peavler, 1931

I think the articles we have are going to be our list due today. Good work!

--Svetlana 365 (talk) 06:11, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Annotated Bibliography
The annotated bibliography is due on Monday, Feb. 8th (that's 2 Mondays from now). How about we set the deadline to read everything as next Monday. This way we'll finish all our articles/books by the end of the weekend, which gives us time to discuss anything that needs discussing and get work started on the bibliographies.

Thoughts? Decided your final readings lists yet?

--Chris Weber (talk) 23:32, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

I know Chris and I have been communicating, but I don't think anyone decided to claim any specific articles. Chris is going to prepare the first 6 articles from the list and I decided to do the last 6 from the list. Avneet and Svetlana, if you guys can tackle the remainder (6 articles) it would be great. Cheers. --Patrussell (talk) 23:54, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Articles for tomorrow
Hi guys!! thanks for all the great work so far first of all. As for the articles, I am working on the next 4 after Chris's (articles 7, 8, 9, 10) as well as the two other ones that I have posted under one of my previous posts. Please let me know if I can help someone else, I can read a few more articles if need be.

Also: Question - we dont need to hand in the annotated bibliography in class right? we just have to post it here by the end of tomorrow (monday 8)?

Happy reading --Svetlana 365 (talk) 01:39, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

I'll have 11 and 12 done for tomorrow. If anyone wants to pass any over let me know. (Maybe facebook because I check that more frequently.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Avneet86 (talk • contribs) 03:56, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Consolidated Sources
Sup dudes. So I tackled the last six articles from our list and ran into some interesting stuff, and some not so interesting stuff. Sadly, I had to axe two of the articles from the list as they really didn't have any information that was specifically applicable to our topic. I definitely think we stumbled upon a gem with the Paul B. Miller article. It definitely offers the most innovative and interesting analysis of El reino. I'm starting to get a good flavor of the important themes in the book, and some of the rhetorical strategies that Carpentier used to enrich his prose. My portion of the bibliography is accessible on my user page (just click my name and it should take you there). In the event that you guys want to consolidate everything on one page, we can just devote this section of the talk page to that - just edit this section then copy/paste your contribution below mine. I'll begin by spamming my stuff:

The Dialects of Heresy and Authority in Borges and Carpentier

Eleni Kefala

This brief article discusses the idea of cultural translation and its related effects, citing the works of Borges and Carpentier as examples. Cultural translation is a theory originally propsed by Homi K. Bhabha. In the simplest sense, cultural translation refers to the process of morphing, or "translation" information from a foreign source so that it becomes relevant and significant for a new specific culture. According to Bhabha, the process of cultural translation is also intimately linked to the idea of hybridization. In the article, Kefala argues that Carpentier's El reino de este mundo is rich with examples of hybridization. Specifically, Kefala develops the idea that the interaction between what is distinctly colonial and what is distinctly "negro" results in the creation of a third "hybrid" entity in the novel, that is neither colonial, nor negro, but simply the "other." Kefala further argues that the third hybrid entity is best described as an example of cultural heresy; in the sense that the hybrid entity is in fact a departure from its cultural origins.

Two Paths to the Boom: Carpentier, Asturias, and the Performative Split 

Stephen Henighan

While this article is rather lengthy, there is not much information that was specifically related to El reino de este mundo. Instead the author discusses the origins, styles and motivational differences between Asturias and Carpentier. While both authors spent time in Paris during the height of the French surrealist era, they were both had vastly different experiences. Unlike Asturias, Carpentier was born of a rather privileged descent and was well known within French literary circles. This fact, presumably, helped shaped Carpentier as a writer. Asturias was regarded as more of an outsider in the European literary circles, and derived his sense of identity from the fact he identified himself with his Guatemalan heritage. Carpentier, on the other hand, seemed to be rather confused about where his literary allegiances were. Due to his upbringing, Carpentier spoke perfect French and was also a gifted writer in his tongue. While writing in the French surrealist tradition would have been entirely feasible, Carpentier chose to cast aspects of his French roots aside in favor of becoming a Spanish-American writer. As Henighan points out in this article, the influence of Carpentier's French heritage, can be seen the Spanish prose of his novels. As mentioned in the summary of The Dialects of Heresy and Authority in Borges and Carpentier the idea of hybridization is also extremely common across Carpentier's works. The most notable insight that this article provided is that Carpentier's uses hybridization to provide himself with a sense of identity that lies somewhere between his French colonial heritage and his Spanish-America heritage.

Analisis objetivo (O material) del primer Carpentier 

Rafael Bosch

Bosch's article gives quite a detailed account and analysis of the thematic and stylistic commonalities in Carpentier's collective works. Most interestingly is the rather lengthy discussion in the beginning of the article of the distinction between what distinguishes revolutionary from reactionary. Bosch argues that the fundamental difference between these two concepts is inevitably the notion of progress. Bosch stipulates that, the concept of progress and revolution are tightly linked, and that revolution does not occur without progress. While many latin-american authors explore the theme of revolution and its associated costs and benefits, very few choose to make an ideological distinction between revolution and reaction. Bosch points out that Carpentier's works reflect his ideological evolution as a writer, and that this evolution can be seen most clearly in Carpentier's perspective on revolution. For the purposes of our upcoming work, the most poignant aspect of this article is the discussion of Carpentier's perspective in El reino de este mundo. Bosch argues that this work, in particular, is a clear example of Carpentier providing literary commentary on the reactionary nature of the Haitian revolution. Carpentier's account of the "revolution" definitely does not constitute progress in any sense of the word; rather, it was a series of violent events, which were in many cases "reactions" to prevailing circumstances in society. The end result of which never truly produced progress, but instead produced cyclical violence that resulted in societal retrograde. Furthermore, this article offers a very lengthy analysis of the salient feature's of Carpentier's prose which would be a suitable source for a general subsection within our main article.

Blancas Y Negras: Carpentier and the Temporalities of Mutual Exclusion 

Paul B. Miller

Paul B. Miller's article offers an extremely interesting interpretation of Carpentier's writing. Miller explains that the temporally opposing forces of prospective Afro-Carribean culture and retrospective European culture play a significant role in Carpentier's writing. More specifically, Miller explores the role of music in Carpentier's works, with explicit focus on El reino de este mundo. He illustrates that Carpentier often uses metonymy in his works and music is the vessel through which this idea is conveyed. To the slaves and Afro-Caribbean population music is not only a tribute to their African roots, but also something that is to be passed forward to subsequent generations. It is in this sense that the author considers Afro-Caribbean music as prospective. Meanwhile, in the European tradition, music is something that is historical, that is meant to be created and marked in history for others to discover - retrospective. Miller takes an innovative approach to explaining they way in which music amplifies the apparent rift and friction between Afro-Caribbean and European cultures, and the significance of this subtle detail in El reino de este mundo.

--Patrussell (talk) 08:59, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

The Performing Spectator in Alejo Carpentier's Fictional World Vicky Unruh

The author of this article discussses Carpentier's strive to inquire into subjectivity and identity throughout his works. According to Unruh, Carpentier analyzes the way people imagine themselves and others within a "culture specific contingent world". The larger part of the article focuses on Carpentier's thearical work, however it does bring up a point that relates to our article. The author mentions that performances are an "enduring motif" in Carpentier's work and further relates this to The Kingdom of This World: the conflict between Europeans and Afro-Haitians is presented through an opposition between spectators and performers. He states that the relationship shifts that occur between spectators and the events they witness are key to exploring the viewpoint of the different cultures. He continues with the argument that individual and group identity is forged on "such dramatic dialogues of perception", meaning that theater can represent the cultural conflict in a nutshell. Overall, the author views the novel as an ethnographic work, and lastly briefly mentions TiNoel's transformation from a passive observer to an actor in the performance as he becomes a self-conscious individual.

"Corrientes Vanguardistas y Surrealismo En la Obra de Alejo Carpentier"

Klaus Muller-Bergh

This 117 page articles serves as a very lengthy and incredibly detailed description of the Carpentier's life and possible influences. It presents lists of authors, poets, ballets, painters, various artists and musicians and places by which he may have been influenced, however most of these refer to French and German sites and historical events. The author also delves into Carpentier's education and readings. Although it is a very precise account of Carpentier's life, year by year, it is most likely a suitable article to draw information from regarding the author's life, but not regarding the book directly. In terms of Surrealismo, the author delves into a description of the use of magical realism in the twentieth century and its use by a repertoire of other authors. He does however describe surrealism quite well as being impervious to time, and as something that cannot be described as poetry, religion, or a political party. He states that surrealism is the most antique, constant, powerful, and secret attitude of the human spirit. (pg 323) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Svetlana 365 (talk • contribs) 07:58, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Alejo Carpentier, Cuban Novelist

Frederick S. Stimson

This article contains a very brief yet interesting (and helpful) discussion of the themes that appear in Carpentier's work. These are very broad and apply to his work in general, however they relate quite well to the themes we have seen in El Reino de Este Mundo. The author separates the themes into five categories and subsequently exposes his interpretation of how the themes are inter-related. The five themes are as follows: transplantation, music, architecture, dictatorship, and sex. The first theme, translpantation, refers to the transplantation of an individual or group of individuals from one world to another, as we have seen with the Afro-Haitian slaves in the novel. These translpantations often give rise to confusion in his work, as we have also seen within the cultural conflicts that are created in the novel. Next, the author believes that the theme of music is incorporated to some extent in all of Carpentier's work because he obtained an education in music, and it is therefore an integral part of his world-view. Architecture is definitely omnipresent in El reino de este mundo, and the author of the article describes it as personified, almost as it it played a role in the drama of Carpentier's novels. Lastly, the themes of dictatorship and sex are interrelated because the author believes the charaters often find solace in sex for the dictatorship that they experience. Although this is a broad discussion of themes as apply to all Carpentier's work, I believe this article provides a good base of a discussion on themes and that the ideas he presents, although general, do apply quite well to El reino de este mundo.

The Theater of the Haitian Revolution / The Haitian Revolution as Theater

Michael Dash

This article provides a concise historical perspective of the Haitian revolution. The author's main point while describing Haiti's revolutionary state of affairs is that Haiti was the second nation to rebel, and was therefore aware of the total transformation of social and economic order that the revolution would entail. The author analyzes the impact of the Haitian revolution as well as its purpose: he describes it as "the first and most dramatic emergence of the ideal of human rights int he modern world". By this previous statement, the author means that the Haitian revolution was very much unlike the French revolution, which focused on social justice and the American revolution, which focused on ending colonial rule since neither of these revolutions were predominantly focused on ending slavery. The author does not delve into the revolution's portrayal by Carpentier deepely at all, since he examines the revolution as seen by most authors of the time, however he states that Carpentier chose to omit some important official and political figures of the revolution and focus on " the nightmare of history" that the Haitian revolution presented.

A New Novel By Alejo Carpentier

TJ Peavler

This article will have to be removed from our list as although El reino de este mundo is mentioned in the introduction, this article focuses on other work by Carpentier.

Los Productivos Anos Setenta de Alejo Carpentier

Angel Rama

This article provides us with a broad view of a certain period of Carpentier's life, analyzing al of his work during the time frame, none of which in great detail. However, the author's analysis pertaining to El reino de este mundo is nonetheless very interesting and useful. First, the author relates the Carpentier's maturity, re-encounter with himself and Latin America to the aesthetics and political themes that appear in the novels published during this time of his life. Second, he characterises the novel "El reino de este mundo" as simple and obsessive, although without giving much description as to why this is. His next point however is on interest for this project. The author mentions that Carpentier uses very many characters, which is a stylistic processus based on baroque writing norms. In fact, Carpentier's characters (as well as places) continuously substitute eachother, and this creates the effect of the reader's expectations continuously being blocked. This relates perfectly to the cyclical conclusion (by TiNoel) discussed in class: man will continue to strive for one thing or another, with the cyclical result that man is never happy with what is achieved (hence pushing mankind forward). For example, one dictatorial leader replaces another, as one period of domination replaces another and one revolution replaces another. The author refers to this style as Carpentier's "barroco-real-marvilloso-latino-americano".

--Svetlana 365 (talk) 07:32, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Metamorphosis as Revolt: Cervantes’ Persiles y Sigismunda and Carpentier’s El reino de este mundo

Frederick A. de Armas

The article begins by highlighting Carpentier’s admiration for Cervantes, and his specific mention of the character of Rutilo in the prologue to the novel. De Armas continues by describing lo real maravilloso and how it stems from the very belief in it. The marvellous, according to de Armas, “appears to be associated with a shift in point of view from the omniscient narrator to a character who believes in such occurrences”.

Both Cervantes and Carpentier situate marvellous occurrences in exotic lands, whose culture is alien to Western Europeans. It is further argued that “the marvellous environment is of demonic origin in both works”, with their execution being impacted by the authors’ differing ideologies: while Cervantes has his characters flee to Christian lands, Carpentier praises the Haitian struggle against the Europeans. Finally, it is stated that “metamorphosis and transvection are simply the weapons used to fight”, which is what Ti Noel discovers at the end: metamorphosis is a tool to battle injustice, not flee it.

Patterns of Repetition in “The Kingdom of this World”

Florinda F. Goldberg

The article argues that Carpentier’s conception of history based on repetition follows a pattern of intratextual repetition. This pattern is analyzed in six different motifs: order and disorder, power and powerlessness; voyage and exile; nature versus establishment; constructions and ruins; the sculpture; the drum and the thunder. Furthermore, three culminating episodes are named, in which the motifs above cluster: the death of Henri Christophe, the death of Soliman, and the death of Ti Noel.

Goldberg states that there is a cycle of order and disorder; order contains many internal disruptive components, such as injustice, as well as external disruptive components, or disorder. Disorder may succeed long enough to produce a new order, however, the exact same pattern is repeated but with different actors: “Power changes hands, but its rules are the same”. Another cycle is proposed: one of voyage, where all characters long to return to their original land. These voyages are representative of different kinds of passages: from freedom to slavery, from death to survival, etc. The third motif states that nature becomes an ally of the slaves, and has just as much power as human violence to defeat the Europeans. Goldberg notes that buildings represent European enterprise, while their ruins symbolize their failure: however, a building can be its own ruin, while a ruin can become a home. The motif of the statue is “in a wider sense, the relation between the living body and its artificial/artistic representation”. The final motif places the drum as “the central material component of the African Voodoo culture”, which becomes all the more powerful due to the whites’ ignorance of it.

The Haitian Revolution in Interstices and Shadows: A Re-reading of Alejo Carpentier’s “The Kingdom of This World”

Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert

Paravisini-Gebert begins by stating that when Carpentier wrote the The Kingdom of this World he had “joined a widespread movement whose purpose was ‘a search for origins, the recovery of history and tradition, the foundation of an autonomous American consciousness serving as the basis for a literature faithful to the New World’.” She further observes that the connection between history and magical faith was of great interest to Carpentier, since it represented the very opposite of Western beliefs.

The article highlights the relation between the novel and other texts, which Carpentier alludes to in his prologue. A number of works which influenced him are listed, such as “Le torrent” by Dominique Hypollyte and “The Magic Island” by William Seabrook. Further, the author claims that historical fact in the novel is manipulated in order to achieve the connection between history and the marvellous. Finally, Carpentier’s treatment of certain historical figures is analyzed, including Toussaint, Dessalines, and Pauline.

“The Human Comedy” in “El Reino de Este Mundo”

Giovanni Pontiero

The author defines three main strands of narrative in the novel. The first includes the history of Haiti: the abolition of slavery, the uprising, Henri Christophe’s reign, etc. The second strand deals with “the spirit and culture of eighteenth-century France transplanted to a prosperous Haiti”. The final narrative thread concerns the role of voodoo in the colony.

The article tackles each of these strands in turn, analyzing them in terms of their contribution to the human comedy in the book. Pontiero highlights Carpentier’s “juxtaposition of historical and fictional material works”, and analyzes his choice of what to focus on. Furthermore, he notes how “Carpentier never fails to stress the irony of human destinies”, by portraying history as nothing more than an endless cycle with different protagonists at different points in time. Pontiero posits that Carpentier was highly influenced by satirical writing of the eighteenth-century, as evidenced by the irony in his grotesque and malicious descriptions of the French. In regards to voodoo, the article stresses “a firm belief in the unalterable laws of Man’s condition”.

The Discourse of Contradiction: Metaphor, Metonymy and “El reino de este mundo”

Naomi B. Sokoloff

Sokoloff identifies a series of patterns in the novel: the unconventional retelling of history, with gaps in time and changing perspectives; the perception of history as cyclic; the juxtaposition of fact and fiction. His “experiment with nonlinear organization … corresponds to a major, contrary shift in his prose, away for metaphor and toward metonymy”. It is argued that metonymy helps to preserve links of cause and effect and allows the author to restrict his field of reference to that which can be understood by his audience.

Metaphor, however, is still used and is an important source of irony and humour. Metaphor and metonymy complement each other in the novel, since the former synthesizes new meaning, creating some inconsistencies, while the latter assumes previous knowledge and reduces incompatibilities. Metonymy serves some the purposes of defamiliarizing situations through its elliptical qualities. It is also used to dehumanize characters and emphasize the larger group to which they belong.

The use of such tropes increases the irony in the work, as they help to characterize people as immutable and constantly repeating history. Furthermore, they serve to juxtapose contradicting beliefs, such as voodoo and Christianity, which help to explain the irony in the very title of the novel.

El cuerpo político: Carnaval, corporeidad y revolución en El reino de este mundo de Alejo Carpentier

Julio Vélez-Sainz

Vélez-Sainz argues that Carpentier uses the political body metaphor along with carnival to compose the cycles of changing power in his novel. The metaphor of the political body works by synecdoche, in which members of the social body are identified by the body part which characterizes them: the head of state directs the body, the mouth represents public speakers, and workers are symbolized by the hands, due to their work, or the feet, since they keep the body up. The political body, which stands for the governing power, deteriorates as power is lost. Revolution is characterized by mutilation, poisoning and disembodiment.

Carnival, however, serves as another form of revolution. Carnival is the time where opposites reign, which becomes quite literally the case in Carpentier’s book: the blacks take over, and then in another twist, the blacks begin mistreating each other. Elements of carnival are also represented: costumes are substituted by metamorphoses. Further, the carnivalesque tradition of mocking the king is present when Ti Noel becomes a sort of king in his own pseudo-kingdom.

--Chris Weber (talk) 07:36, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Alejo Carpentier: Dos visiones del negro, dos conceptos de la novela

Pedro M. Barreda-Tomás

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

This article attempts to trace and analyze the development and evolution of Carpentier’s inclusion of black characters and themes in his work and their literary purpose. The author tells of early influences and hints at an almost excessive enthusiasm for black Cubans being the result of widespread discrimination. Barreda-Tomás goes on to compare Carpentier’s first novel, ‘¡Ecue-Yamba-O!’ (1933), and what he describes as Carpentier’s first mature novel, ‘El reino de este mundo’ (1949), with a focus on the treatment and inclusion of the black man.

‘¡Ecue-Yamba-O!’ is a semi-documentary piece about the magical and primitive world of a sector of the black Cuban population. It includes a complete and pure representation that is unregulated by official white culture and a focal point of the novel is the theme of cycles. According to Barreda-Tomás there is a three-part division of the text (childhood, adolescence, and adulthood) and Carpentier employs a literary technique of progressive intensification that suggests an image of concentric rings gradually expanding.

In contrast to the intense single character focus of his first novel, Carpentier offers a diversified understanding of black society and their beliefs in ‘El reino de este mundo’. There exists remarkable respect for accuracy on all sides including historical facts, character names, place names, and even street names. This adds to the key blend of marvellous fantasy and historical accuracy. Going beyond concrete spatial and temporal limits there are, according to Barreda-Tomás, two fundamental questions in the novel: what is man and what is his purpose? The most important aspect of the novel is that the main character is of interest not because of his skin colour, but rather for his human attributes that allow universal reflection beyond the realm of race. In this sense, magical realism is a necessary tool of expression and the technique serves to confront the novel’s hero, better develop his purpose as a man, and advance a simultaneously profound and straightforward understanding of the human experience. The characters in the novel are integral to its understanding. Not only do they highlight the temporal and political context of voodoo and other forces, but they also allow Carpentier to surpass temporal and spatial limitations to reach the ultimate reality of life: the universal essence that lies in every human being.

Barreda-Tomás often expands upon Carpentier’s own commentary surrounding his works and thus lends credence to his analysis. It is otherwise a very well constructed piece that offers excellent insight into both Carpentier novels from the perspective of the inclusion of black characters and themes and their literary significance.

Framing Carpentier

Eduardo Gonzáles

The Johns Hopkins University Press

The primary focus of this article is the interpretation of Carpentier’s ‘Los pasos perdidos’ (1953) and the manner in which Carpentier leaves behind the tacit comedian and master of allegory so strongly felt in earlier fictions such as ‘El reino de este mundo’ (1949). A key factor for Gonzáles is analysis of the narrating self and implied author; he feels that there is a hidden agenda of confession behind layers of fiction. Later there is a contrast between the popularity, the artistic achievement, and the confessional reading of ‘Los pasos perdidos’.

This article is useful when considering ‘El reino de este mundo’ because it offers avenues to explore further all works of Carpentier. Gonzáles suggests that future studies would benefit from the consideration of underlying historical and biographical elements. There may be themes yet to be formulated or fully explored in regards to other, less directly biographical, works by Carpentier such as ‘El reino de este mundo’.

Gonzáles concludes his work with a relatively lengthy criticism of an essay by Victor Volek and discussion of the temporal scheme in ‘Los pasos perdidos’. Although this article is not primarily concerned with ‘El reino de este mundo’ the idea of exploring Carpentier’s work from entirely new perspectives is an important thought.

-- Avneet86 (talk) 09:17, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Pre-GA review
Hi all :) Svetlana's asked me to have a look at the article with the Good article criteria in mind. I'll do this shortly (if not over the weekend, then early next week), and post a sort of pre-review review below. Please bear in mind that because Good articles are reviewed by individual reviewers with differing approaches, my thoughts might not be 100% in line with what you'll get when you submit the article at WP:GAN, but hopefully I can give some useful guidance and an indication as to how close you are and what (if anything) needs to be addressed before going for the actual review. EyeSerene talk 17:00, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Preliminary assessment
The following is based on the six GA criteria, and would be what I'd mention if I was reviewing the article. I may add to this as I re-read the article, but I think it'll do for an initial assessment.

Hope this helps. You're doing a really superb job with this and I look forward to seeing how it develops. If you need more detailed explanations or anything else, just ask :) EyeSerene talk 09:42, 19 April 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) Prose etc: there are various long compound sentences that could be split and instances of jargon. In keeping with writing for our target audience, the Manual of Style states "Writing should be clear and concise. Articles are supposed to introduce readers to topics, or remind them of what they had half-forgotten: it is not their purpose to dazzle readers with editors' learning or vocabulary. Plain English works best: avoid jargon, vague phrases, and unnecessary complexity." One school of thought is that we should where possible write as though for an intelligent 12-year old.
 * 2) *Example of a sentence that could be split: "This work was overall well-received and much attention has been paid to Carpentier's inclusion of magical realism in the novel, however some aspects of his style have been ignored by the academic community." ('however' is also the most overused word on Wikipedia!)
 * 3) *Example of over-complex writing: "In this spectacle situation, Carpentier is able to juxtapose the Europeans' experience of Mackandal's body falling into the flames with the autocthonous (Afro-Haitian) experience of Mackandal's body flying off the stake." Without additional explanation we can't really tell what the significance of this event is, and 'spectacle situation' and 'autocthonous' could be expanded upon.
 * 4) *Wikilinking: internally linking words is only necessary on their first occurrence, and then only when they add value to the article. Examples: Haitian Revolution is linked multiple times whereas terms like "hybridization", "voodoo" etc that a reader may wish to look up in more detail aren't.
 * 5) Referencing: the GA criteria call for "in-line citations from reliable sources for direct quotations, statistics, published opinion, counter-intuitive or controversial statements that are challenged or likely to be challenged". There are a number of assertions in the article that could do with explicit citations and perhaps even attribution; it can be helpful to our readers to indicate whose opinion we are reproducing. This is a general point - many of the article's statements are quite forthright, so we really ought to know whose thoughts they are. See I, the Supreme for a decent model.
 * 6) *Example: "This adds to the key blend of marvellous fantasy and historical accuracy." needs a cite, and might benefit from being written something like "According to X, this adds to the key blend of marvellous fantasy and historical accuracy."
 * 7) *Plagiarism/copyright violations: I sincerely hope this comment doesn't offend anyone - that's not my intention at all - but the article needs to be thoroughly checked that it doesn't either directly reproduce another writer's words or paraphrase them too closely. I'm not implying this has happened, but because it's so easily done even with the best intentions I hope you understand it's something we have to mention.
 * 8) Coverage:
 * 9) *Example: the 'marvellous' is recurring theme is mentioned many times but not explored until near the end of the article. I wonder if there's a way to either give a brief explanation earlier in the article and/or to indicate that the word is being used in a particular sense (note that I placed it in quote marks in the article section heading, but italicising it might be another alternative?)
 * 10) Neutrality: this seems to be fine
 * 11) Stability: also fine
 * 12) Images: these are appropriately licensed and captioned, though for images that are non-free (eg File:Henri Christophe.jpg) there are restrictions on where and when they can be used. It's not worth going into that in detail now - personally I'd probably just wait and see what the GA reviewer thinks.