Latin American Short Stories

11 responses so far ↓

•   applegsa // Nov 16th 2014 at 8:18 pm

  For my final paper, I am going to write about the ecological aspect of Luis Sepúlveda’s “The Old Man Who Read Love Stories”. In his novel, Sepúlveda uses the destruction of the Amazon to deliver a larger message about sustainability in the environment in general. Using quotes from two sources, “The Trope of Nature in Latin American Literature: Some Examples” and Voices in the Wilderness: Environment, Colonialism, and Coloniality in Latin American Literature”, I will prove that Sepúlveda’s novel is not just a simple story about a man in the Amazon, but also a meaningful cautionary tale about the state of our planet.

•   Hannah // Nov 16th 2014 at 8:43 pm

  Research Question:

  Does Luis Sepúlveda accurately present the modern perception of the Shuar people from the Amazon River Basin?

  Sources:

  Bennett, Bradley C.. “Hallucinogenic Plants of the Shuar and Related Indigenous Groups in Amazonian Ecuador and Peru.” Britain 44.4 (1992): 483-493. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

  Hammer, Craig, Juan Carlos Jintiach, and Ricardo Tsakimp. “Practical developments in law science and policy: efforts to protect the traditional group knowledges and practices of the Shuar, and indigenous people of the Ecuadorian Amazon.” Policy Sciences 46.2 (2013). 125-141. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

•   chicasi // Nov 16th 2014 at 9:21 pm

  The Final Paper Proposal:
  Analyzing the endings from both the book and film versions of Luis Sepulveda’s “The Old Man Who Read Love Stories” and comparing the old man’s difference in character development.

  Annotated Bibliography:
  Gomides, Camilo, and Joseph Henry Vogel. “An Ecocritical Analysis Of The Old Man Who Read Love Stories By Luis Sepulveda.” Ometeca (2006): n. pag. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

  Simmons, Gary. “Reveries And Reverence: In ‘The Old Man Who Read Love Stories’.” Screen Education 62 (2011): 123-128. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

•   medinaeg // Nov 17th 2014 at 3:48 am

  Final Proposal:
  My proposal is about how both the film and the novel criticize the idea of civilization and barbarism. The film and novel both portray the encroachment of civilization and how it is hurts nature due to human greed.

  Sources:
  Boling, Becky. “The Trope of Nature in Latin American Literature: Some Examples.” Studies In 20Th & 21St Century Literature 30.2 (2006): 245. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

  Garramuno, Aguilera, and Tulio Marco. “Luis Sepúlveda: Un viejo que leta novelas de amor.” La Palabra y el Hombre 91 (1994): 190. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

•   Cailin // Nov 17th 2014 at 4:27 am

  For my final paper, I hope to analyze the effects deforestation and/or settlers encroaching on and destroying the Shuar’s land affected their religion, paralleling with the novel.

  Possible sources:
  Belzner, William, et al. Jivaro [Electronic Resource]: SD09. N.p.: New Haven, Conn.: Human Relations Area Files, 2008-,2008. Dickinson College Library Catalog. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Boling, Becky. “The Trope Of Nature In Latin American Literature: Some Examples.” Studies In Twentieth And Twenty-First Century Literature 2 (2006): 245. Literature Resource Center. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
  DeVries, Scott. “Swallowed: Political Ecology and Environmentalism in the Spanish American ‘Novela de la Selva.’ Hispania 2010: 535. JSTOR Journals. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Gomides, Camilo, and Vogel, Joseph Henry. “An Ecocritical Analysis Of The Old Man Who Read Love Stories By Luis Sepulveda.” Ometeca (2006): 182. Literature Resource Center. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
  Hammer Craig, Jintiach, Juan, and Tsakimp, Ricardo. “Practical Developments In Law Science And Policy: Efforts To Protect The Traditional Group Knowledge And Practices Of The Shuar, An Indigenous People Of The Ecuadorian Amazon.” Policy Sciences 46.2 (2013): 125-141. Business Source Complete. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Harner, Michael James. “Jívaro Souls.” Middleton, John, Ed. Gods And Rituals (1967): 177-195. Anthropology Plus. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Harner, Michael J. The Jívaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls. N.p.: New York: Doubleday, 1972. Book Review Digest Retrospective: 1903-1982 (H.W. Wilson). Print.
  Karsten, Rafael (1935) “The Head-Hunters of Western Amazonas: The Life and Culture of the Jibaro Indians of Eastern Ecuador and Peru.” Societas Scientiarum Fennica, Commentationes Humanarum, Litteraru. (Helsinki): 8(1). Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Meiser, Anna. “Jesus Is The Same Arutam: Logics Of Appropriation Among Missionized Indians And Indigenized Missionaries.” Anthropos 106.2 (2011): 493-510. ATLA Religion Database. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Murdock, George Peter. (1957) “World Ethnographic Sample.” American Anthropologist, Vol. 59, no. 4. Menasha, Wisconsin: American Anthropological Association. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Service, Elman R. (1958) “The Jivaro of South America”, In: A profile of primitive culture. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers. Print.
  Stirling, M.W. “Jivaro Shamanism.” Psychoanalytic Review 20 (1993): 412-420. PsycINFO. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

•   danona // Nov 17th 2014 at 4:30 am

  Proposal:
  By having two vastly different cultures collide and interact in different ways throughout the novel, Sepúlveda brings into question the debate of what it really means to be “civilized” and what it means to be “barbaric.”

  Works Cited:

  Boling, Becky. “The Trope of Nature in Latin American Literature: Some Examples.” Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature 30.2 (2006): n. pag. Web.

  Jennifer L. French. “Voices in the Wilderness: Environment, Colonialism, and Coloniality in Latin American Literature.” Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas, 45:2, 157-166

•   jacobsoh // Nov 17th 2014 at 5:46 am

  proposal:
  I will compare what it means to be civilized versus barbaric, and how someones knowledge and background can change their perceptions of this.

  Sources:
  Boling, Becky. “The Trope of Nature in Latin American Literature: Some Examples.” Studies In 20Th & 21St Century Literature 30.2 (2006): 245. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

  DeVries, Scott M. A History of Ecology and Environmentalism in Spanish American Literature. N.p.: Bucknell University Print, n.d. Press.

•   Aden // Nov 17th 2014 at 5:47 am

  My research focuses on the actions of nature in Sepulveda’s The Old Man Who Read Love Stories. An example is how the mayor got his foot stuck in the mud. It can be read as active resistance by the jungle to his intrusion. The killings of the ocelot are similar. I will link the actions of the Shuar and the mother ocelot as protectors of the Pachamama, or mother earth. The Pachamama is central to the Shaur culture and I will demonstrate how the Shuar use the Pachamama lens to look at life. For the Shuar, problems arise when people take too much from nature because they are taking too much from Pachamama. While the Shuar protect their land for self-preservation, they also see protecting the land as faithful worshipping their god. Letting gringos destroy the land is considered a sign of disregard for this god. The Pachamama lens colors how the Shuar look at the intersection between their use of the Amazon and their responsibility to care for it.
  Cuelenaere, Laurence, and José Rabasa. “Pachamamismo, O Las Ficciones De (La Ausencia De) Voz. (Spanish).” Cuadernos De Literatura 16.32 (2012): 184-205. Fuente Académica. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Simmons Gary. “Reveries And Reverence: IN THE OLD MAN WHO READ LOVE STORIES.” Screen Education 62 (2011): 123-128.Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Boling, Becky. “The Trope Of Nature In Latin American Literature: Some Examples.” Studies In 20Th & 21St Century Literature 30.2 (2006): 245-262. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

•   Kienan // Nov 17th 2014 at 6:10 am

  How does hurting the earth affect the way it provides for (or nourishes) humanity?

  1. Noval, Martin. “Turning Bears Into Chipmunks: The Wild, The Violent, And The Destruction Of The Earth.” Southern Humanities Review 46.3 (2012): 220-239. Humanities International Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

  2. Baker, Jan. “What Have We Done To Mother Earth? Psychodynamic Thinking Applied To Our Current World Crisis.” Psychodynamic Practice 19.1 (2013): 55-67. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

•   Estiven // Nov 17th 2014 at 6:55 am

  Who gets to decide what a civilized society is, The Shuar have their own definition of what a civilized society is but to the foreigners of the amazon they are known as wildlings, savages, uncivilized?
  What makes it so that the Shuar indians value the environment and protect it, what values traditions or cultural beliefs do the shuar have that emphasize environmental protection and spirituality?
  What values and beliefs do the foreigners of the amazon have that let them completely disregard the well being of the environment and the disregard for utilizing the environment in the best way possible.

  Thomas K. Rudel, Diane Bates and Rafael Machinguiashi. Latin American Research Review, Vol. 37, No. 1 (2002), pp. 144-159

  Hammer, Craig, Juan Jintiach, and Ricardo Tsakimp. “Practical Developments in Law Science
  and Policy: Efforts to Protect The Traditional Group Knowledge And Practices Of The Shuar, An Indigenous People Of The Ecuadorian Amazon.” Policy Sciences 46.2 (2013): 125-141. Business Source Complete. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.

•   grandam // Nov 17th 2014 at 10:39 am

  Proposal:
  In his book The Old Man Who Read Love Stories, Sepúlveda steps away from the common use of rain as a symbol of life and healing and instead calls upon its negative properties as he uses rain to convey nature’s powers of destruction and isolation.
  Sources:
  Boling, Becky. “The Trope of Nature in Latin American Literature: Some Examples.” Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature Summer 30.2 (2006): 245. Literature Resource Center. Kansas State University, Department of Modern Languages. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Cirlot, J. E. A Dictionary of Symbols. Trans. Jack Sage. Second ed. New York City: Philosophical Library, 1972. Print.
  Ferber, Michael. “Rain.” A Dictionary of Literary Symbols. N.p.: Cambridge UP, 2007. CREDO.
  Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
  Sepúlveda, Luis. The Old Man Who Read Love Stories. Trans. Peter R. Bush. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1994. Print.

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