EL AMOR A TRAVÉS DE LA COCINA: EXPLORING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN FOOD AND LOVE IN 20TH CENTURY LATIN-AMERICAN LITERATURE
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Date
2024
Authors
Gutierrez-Garner, Ella
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Themes of food and love are strongly intertwined throughout Spanish language literature. The connection is especially apparent during and in the wake of the Latin American Boom of the mid-to-late 20th century. This thesis offers a study of this phenomenon using five diverse texts that display such a theme in rich decorum. Organized in chapters centering on each piece of literature, numerous examples of the bond between food and love are closely examined. In some instances, food serves as an aphrodisiac, in others, cooking is an act of love and food a symbol of it. At times, foods are used as metaphors for genitalia, sex is symbolized using language around eating, and sensuality is best described in the intricacies of nature’s finest edible creations. The bond between food and love is shown in a harmonious variety throughout the region's poetry, song, and literature.
Using close-reading and textual analysis, five texts have been selected which effectively include or are based upon this idea of a food-love connection. To keep the source and form of the literary works diverse, they consist of two novels, one ode, one free verse poem, and one sonnet. The authors are also intentionally chosen for their distinct backgrounds in writing, nationality, cultural experience, and gender which include Laura Esquivel of Mexico, Gabriel García Márquez of Colombia, Pablo Neruda of Chile, and Gioconda Belli of Nicaragua. The first two texts in this investigation are “Amor de frutas” (1991) by Gioconda Belli and “Oda a la ciruela” (1954) by Pablo Neruda, selected for the unique way that the authors admire the physical shape and qualities of fruits and liken them to the natural properties of human sex. Next is Neruda’s “Soneto XI” (1959), where the author's desire for his lover is metaphorized to an inconsolable animalistic hunger. In this poem, he wishes to go beyond touch and kiss her; he needs to taste her, swallow her, and consume her. Following the poetry is, Cien años de soledad (1967) by Gabriel García Márquez, which demonstrates complex romances involving obsessive love or mania expressed through binge eating. This eating disorder is first introduced through Rebeca and her inexplicable hunger for earth and is later reiterated during the eating contest between Aureliano Segundo and La Elefante where her sheer skill for consumption attracts his gluttony and desire. The final text, Como agua para chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989), is the raison d'être of this thesis. Here, Esquivel creates a narrative wherein food is a symbol and mechanism of love. Tita’s recipes prove potent transmitters of emotion, through which she ultimately creates iconic aphrodisiacs.
Description
93 pages
Keywords
food, love, Latin-America, literature, Twentieth Century