Masquerade and Social Justice in Contemporary Latin American Fiction by Helene Carol Weldt-Basson

Abstract

Reviewed by: Masquerade and Social Justice in Contemporary Latin American Fiction by Helene Carol Weldt-Basson Mária Fernández-Lamarque Weldt-Basson, Helene Carol. Masquerade and Social Justice in Contemporary Latin American Fiction. U of New Mexico P, 2017. Pp. 226 ISBN 978-0-82635-815-8. Masquerade and Social Justice in Contemporary Latin American Fiction analyzes and poses critical theoretical stances on various topics related to moral rightness in the individual and collective realm. The book studies fourteen novels from authors representing various Latin American countries including Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay, Chile, Puerto Rico and Cuba. This is a fine selection of Latin American Spanish speaking writers. Structurally, Masquerade is divided into five chapters with an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction offers an overview of the general theme of masquerade/carnival in critical theory mentioning canonical ideologists on the topic such as Bakthin’s Rabelais and [End Page 149] His World (1965) and more recent ones such as Deborah Bells’ Masquerade: Essays on Tradition and Innovation Worldwide (2015). The author also includes the works of Latin American critics, which adds the regional theoretical component to strengthen her arguments. Often times, scholars in the field of Latin American literary criticism tend to omit or ignore the names of the very best thinkers in Latin American letters. Ben Sifuentes, Vek Lewis and José Ismael Gutiérrez, who work on transvestism in Latin America, are some of the scholars mentioned and quoted in the volume. Each chapter discusses a specific idea on how masquerade operates as a vehicle of justice. Chapter 1 introduces the notion of distributive justice in the social arena. In order to contextualize the concept, three contemporary novels are studied in the chapter: La comparsa (2009) by Sergio Galindo, El paraíso en la otra esquina (2003) and Travesuras de una niña mala (2006) by Mario Vargas Llosa. All three works, according to the author, give voice to and unveil the unheard or disenfranchised economic disadvantaged societal groups. In chapter 2, equality is rooted in the concept of ethical feminism. To exemplify this idea, the autor analyzes Allende’s Hija de la fortuna (1999), Antonio Benítez-Rojo’s Mujer en traje de batalla (2001), Marcela Serrano’s Nuestra señora de la soledad (1999) and Sara Sefchovich’s La señora de los sueños (1994). Drawing upon postmodern ideas of the decentering of settled and internalized constructed “truths,” an ethic of care is presented in the novels as a human trait and not an exclusive “feminine” one. The idea of love is also introduced and discussed in the works as the universal thread to unite individuals regardless of the gender of choice. Echoing Third Wave Feminism ideas, ethical feminism is set in the novels as a continuum and a human and rightful value more than a gender-linked trait. Chapter 3 consists of Isabel Allende’s Zorro (2005) and Carmen Boullosa’s Duerme (1994) analyses on what the author calls postcolonial structural justice. In general, the chapter triggers the discussion on the voiceless colonized subjects and its ways of disrupting the status quo as represented in these novels. Chapter 4 founds its examination in the political arena and how transitional justice is depicted in two Argentinian novels: Novela negra con argentinos (2004) by Luisa Valenzuela and Ariel Dorfmann’s Máscara (1988). Through the lenses of Angus Fletcher’s theory of allegory, the author observes that both works use the thematic feature of masquerade to articulate and bring about a reflection of transitional justice. In chapter 5 factual events as themes in three novels are the pretext for a “historical justice” analysis. Social moments such as: slavery, the French invasion of Mexico, and Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorship in Paraguay, are situated as fictional spaces in the novels. The protagonists, physically traumatized from an abuse of power, attempt to use masquerade as a form of reaching justice. The volume tackles a critical study focused on equality, and its various representations, in Latin American contemporary literature. It takes the stance of literature as a political and social weapon as well as its ethical and moral responsibility. Reading and writing as a political act is imperative in...