Fiction and Reality

Chapter 6 demonstrates how fiction that highlights its own constructed nature is not only a reaction against the delegitimisation of the author as an individual talent in Bolivarian cultural policy, but also a challenge to the grand narratives of nationalism and socialism propagated by the government. These metafictional texts encourage readers to recognise the blurring of the boundary between truth and fiction at the heart of the increasingly violent and destructive polarization of Venezuelan society. The metafictional aspects of Bajo las hojas (Centeno, 2010), Rating (Barrera Tyzka, 2011) and El niño malo… (Chirinos, 2004) are a message to readers to detect fiction outside of the novel: in official histories, ‘reality’ television, news reports and political rhetoric.

Form and Popular Culture

Chapter 5 proposes that, while the incorporation of aspects of popular culture in literary texts is not new, it takes on new significance in the context of the distinction between the popular as ‘ours’ and the elite as ‘unpatriotic’ in Bolivarian rhetoric. In addition, the ‘popular’ as celebrated by the Bolivarian Revolution is defined by the national and often the indigenous. Popular culture in terms of globalised media are condemned as neo-imperialist. Bajo las hojas (Centeno, 2010), Chulapos Mambo (Méndez Guédez, 2011), Transilvania unplugged (Sánchez Rugeles, 2011) and El niño malo cuenta hasta cien y se retira (Chirinos, 2004) are all novels that blur the boundaries between elite and popular culture. Popular is understood here as genres such as the gothic, comedy and detective fiction with mass appeal and as global media and the internet. El niño malo… also incorporates aspects of indigenous story-telling to assert that this cultural legacy is not the preserve of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Making Literary Connections

Chapter 4 suggests that, by linking their own writing to that of an author they admire through quotation, allusion or reference, Méndez Guédez, Chirinos and Zupcic both counter Venezuela’s literary isolation and explore issues of particular importance to them. Through playful references to other writers, Chulapos Mambo (Méndez Guédez, 2011) draws attention to the limited access to international literary developments in Venezuela. In addition, real Latin American writers appear throughout the story, most notably Mario Vargas Llosa and Alfredo Bryce Echinique, two writers who, like Méndez Guédez, have been judged negatively for their political beliefs. In El niño malo… (Chirinos, 2004), as well as integrating fragments of Eugenio Montejo’s poems into the narrative, Chirinos makes the poet one of the main characters of his story. This allows Chirinos to both pay homage to Montejo and to contemplate his own experience of being Venezuelan abroad. In Círculo croata (2006), Zupcic honours Salvador Prasel, a Croatian emigrant who became a writer in Venezuela, while also linking Prasel to William Faulkner, allowing Zupcic to allude to Faulkner’s appreciation for Venezuelan literature.

Challenging the National Narrative

With the resurgence of nationalism in Venezuela instigated by Hugo Chávez, cultural policy posits reading and writing as tools for building a national community. Chapter 3 examines how (auto)fictional writers counter this national narrative by asserting the place of the individual or the family (El niño malo cuenta hasta cien y se retira [Chirinos, 2004], Todas las lunas [Kozak Rovero, 2011] and Rating [Barrera Tyszka, 2011]), or exploring the complexities of national identity (Círculo croata [Zupcic, 2006] and Transilvania unplugged [Sánchez Rugeles, 2011]). This trend mirrors the ‘subjective turn’ which characterised the texts written in opposition to the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez (1948-1958). The chapter concludes that some characters define themselves as ‘writers’ to circumvent issues of national identity.

Writing and Distinction

Chapter 2 considers both the protagonists and the authors of the novels in this study as ‘writer-critics’ who share their ideas about literary quality through discussion of both their own writing and other people’s. As institutions set up during the Punto Fijo period (1958-1998) to endow writers with literary capital and raise the reputation of Venezuela in international literary circles have been subsumed into the Bolivarian ‘Platform for the Book’, some writers and critics are concerned that a focus on ideology will undermine literary quality. In Transilvania unplugged (Sánchez Rugeles, 2011), Todas las lunas (Kozak Rovero, 2011) and Rating (Barrera Tyszka, 2011), characters both attest to the significance of well-written literature for them and display their literary knowledge and tastes as a sign of distinction. As professional writers move away from the state, they are faced with new challenges, in the form of the demands of international literary markets. Throughout La fama, o es venérea, o no es fama (Castañeda, 2012), the author-narrator is caught between an aspiration to write challenging and experimental fiction and a desire for commercial success.

Introduction

The introduction posits the enduring importance of the national in Venezuelan literature, in contrast to recent theories of ‘global’ Latin American literature. It argues that factors including the absence of Venezuela from the ‘Boom’ and low levels of migration from Venezuela until the 21st century have limited the opportunities for the global circulation of Venezuelan literature, thereby making national markets and the cultural policy of the Bolivarian Revolution more significant. This cultural policy is then outlined, as well as recent developments in national publishing outside the state system. The introduction also includes an overview of the eight novels and authors to be studied, as well as a summary of relevant theories of metafiction, autofiction and intertextuality in relation to these texts.

Conclusion

The conclusion summarizes the findings of the study and reiterates how this research is in dialogue with previous studies of the Bolivarian Revolution. It stresses the enduring importance of the national – both Bolivarian cultural policy and Venezuela’s absence from international literary circuits – on the form and content of contemporary fiction. This book concludes that self-reflexivity gives these novels agency, allowing their authors to explore and challenge the ideas about literary value found in Bolivarian cultural policy. This research therefore contributes to scholarly discussion about the uses of metafiction and intertextuality in contemporary literature. The conclusion also reiterates that these novels deserve international scholarly attention, a first step towards rectifying the lack of contemporary Venezuelan narrative in Latin American Studies.

Writing for the State

Chapter 1 examines how Chulapos Mambo (Méndez Guédez, 2011) and Bajo las hojas (Centeno, 2010) condemn the connections between a successful or unsuccessful writing career and Bolivarian politics. Chulapos Mambo explicitly criticizes the populist measures put in place by the Bolivarian government to make Venezuela a nation of writers, as well as suggesting that Bolivarian cultural policy rewards those who are loyal to the Revolution. The novel also demonstrates the polarization of literary field, which reflects the polarization of all aspects of society under the Bolivarian Revolution. Bajo las hojas, meanwhile, reflects criticism among certain writers and critics that Bolivarian cultural policy views writing more as a hobby than a profession, and does not offer writers the cultural capital required to make a successful career of writing, particularly in a globalised literary market. Protagonist Julio’s complaints echo claims among writers that Bolivarian cultural policy has instrumentalised reading and delegitimised literary experimentation.