La utopía banal: La urbanización, la globalización y lo antibucólico en Últimas noticias del paraíso

Authors

  • Mac John Wilson Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2012.3.1.454

Keywords:

anti-bucólico, bildungsroman, globalization, suburbs (urbanizaciones), post-transition Spain (postransición española)

Abstract

 

One of the consequences of globalization in Spain has been the import of the so-called Anglo suburban culture coming from the western world. The development of this culture comes from pastoral roots, in that humans seek to live peacefully with each other as well as with non-humans. Nevertheless, as it has come into contact with capitalism, this pastoral culture has failed because it is commodified like any other consumer product. The Spanish residential communities that have inherited this cultural history in part are known as urbanizaciones. In Clara Sanchez's novel, Últimas noticias del paraíso, these communities reveal themselves as places built to bring together humanity and nature but that, from the perspective of a coming-of-age adolescent, in actuality are centers of artificiality condemned to banality. What this current work proposes is that Últimas noticias del paraíso presents itself as an anti-pastoral and in this way underlines the problems that the globalization of capitalistic culture brings with it by spreading alienation and ambivalence on the part of humanity when confronted with the natural world, even while maintaining a pastoral mask.

 

Resumen

Una de las consecuencias de la globalización en España ha sido la importación de la cultura particularmente angla de los suburbs, procedente del mundo occidental. El desarrollo de esta cultura tiene sus raíces en un deseo por lo bucólico, en el que los humanos buscan vivir en paz entre sí y con lo no humano. Sin embargo, al mezclarse con el capitalismo, esta cultura se ha mercantilizado como cualquier otro producto para el consumo. Las comunidades residenciales en España que en parte reflejan la herencia de esta historia cultural se conocen como urbanizaciones. En la novela de Clara Sánchez, Últimas noticias del paraíso, las urbanizaciones se revelan como lugares hechos para unir lo humano a la naturaleza, pero que, desde la perspectiva de un adolescente en aprendizaje vital, en realidad son centros de artificialidad condenados a lo banal. Lo que este trabajo propone es que Últimas noticias del paraíso se presenta como  anti-bucólica y así subraya los problemas que trae la globalización de la cultura consumista al propagar alienación y ambivalencia a la humanidad frente el mundo natural, a pesar de que lleva el antifaz de lo bucólico.

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Author Biography

Mac John Wilson, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

Mac J. Wilson is an Excellence Fellow and Ph.D. Candidate at Rutgers University. He is currently writing his dissertation on ecopoetry, visual culture, and the environmental turn in Spanish America. After receiving a BA in Latin American Studies with a double major in Horticulture from Brigham Young University, Mac pursued work as a professional arborist before returning to BYU to complete a MA in Spanish in 2008. His research interests include twentieth-century literature and culture of Spanish America (more specifically, the Southern Cone), ecocriticism, poetry, visual culture, and regional literature.

Published

2012-03-12