Alejo Carpentier, del negrismo a lo real maravilloso

Abstract

El presente artículo analiza las raíces de la conocida fórmula de lo 'real maravilloso americano', publicada inicialmente por Alejo Carpentier en 1948. El análisis propone que los orígenes de este programa deben rastrearse en su primera novela, íEcue-Yamba-O! (1927-1933), cuyo negrismo será revisado y posteriormente corregido en la segunda novela de Carpentier, inicio de lo que llamará su 'ciclo americano'. Los cambios entre ambos textos son significativos y revelan de qué modo Carpentier buscó en su segundo texto constituir no solo una representación del pasado colonial y sus complejas formas de sometimiento, sino una representación de la verdadera 'realidad' americana. Este cambio, que aquí analizaremos a través del contexto intelectual de los años treinta, y en particular a la luz de la crítica realizada por Juan Marinello a íEcue-Yamba-O!, será crucial en la elaboración del programa americanista iniciado con El reino de este mundo (1949).

The present article analyzes the roots of the famous formula, 'the American Marvelous Real', first published by Alejo Carpentier in 1948. The analysis suggests that the origins of this proposal can be traced to his first novel, íEcue-Yamba-O! (1927-1933). Its 'Negrism' would later be revised and corrected in Carpentier's second novel, which marked the beginning of what he called his 'American Cycle'. The differences between the two texts are significant, and reveal the way in which Carpentier, in his second text, sought to construct not only a portrayal of the colonial past and its complex forms of subjugation, but also a representation of true Latin American 'reality'. This evolution, which we are here analyzing in the intellectual context of the 1930s, and from the perspective of the critique of íEcue-Yamba-O! by Juan Marinello in particular, would be crucial in the elaboration of the Americanist proposal, which has been initiated with El reino de este mundo (1949).