Article 12

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Gabriel Garda Marquez

The Short Stories

where she came from or to care about her. In fact. there is
reception theory. According to !ser. all texts have certain gaps. which the reader must fill to derive his or her own understanding of the text. The text itself. however. demands that the reader react on the basis of what the text contains. Reception theory critics generally group the readers into two catego· ries: the renl reader and the hypothetical reader. The real reader is defined by a specific reading public such as the one in literature classes or those whose responses are recorded by critics in relation to a given literary work; this reader 1S also identified as the implied reader. Thus, the real reader and the Implied reader are the same. The hypothetical reader is a category often identified as the so-called ideal reader (lser 27). The hypothetical reader can be constructed or reconstructed from a social and historical knowledge of the times. The hypothetical reader (also identified by theoreticians as the ideal reader), of all possible readers is the one. Iser notes, born from the brain of the philologist (someone who studies languages from linguistic and historical backgrounds), the critic, or the author him- or herself (lser 28). The hypothetical reader is the one capable of understanding exactly what the author meant when writing the text; as this is an impossibility, this reader is purely fictional and has no baSIS in reality (Iser 29). Reception theory is seemingly prescriptive. nus literary theory assumes that the real reader may be able to activate, or interpret, the gaps that the author intentionally leaves for the reader to filL Reception theory allows for different possible ways of reading the same text. The real reader is capable of. and willing to, understand the text indiVidually bl.1t sees the role of the text to be stronger. It is through the text that the implied reader makes inferences~ elaborates illusions. and arnves at conclusions. in accordance with his or her historical. cultural, and mdividual circumstances. The five short stones selected for this chapter are all challenging. Being able to interpret them successfully puts great demands on the reader. By examining "Tuesday Siesta" in detail in terms of a reception theory model, readers should better understand how the theory works m practice. How does the reader react to the use of language in the opening sentence of "Tuesday Siesta"? What are the reader's inferences when the following IS read: "the train emerged from the quivering tunnei orsandy rocks. began to cross the symmetrical. interminable banana plantations. and the air became humid and they couldn't feel the sea breeze any more" (991. The reader may ask: who are thelJ? Are there two people or more? Are

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ALTERNATIVE READING: RECEPTION THEORY

I Reception theory focuses on the reader's role in literature, as opposed to analytical criticism, a literary theory that pays particular attention to the text as a self·contained work (see Chapter 3). As such, reception theory is lllterested m the act of reading-that is. the mechaniCS and use of language. as interpreted by the reader. It focuses on how the reader responds to the facts found in the narrative, the inferences a reader makes when reading a gIVen text, and methods that help to bring the reader mto a form of consciousness that allows for tile criticism of his or her own identity and beliefs. Thus, the reader is an active entity in the creation of meaning. The text has meanings that are activated only when the reader reads them. Thus, it is up to the reader to activate the potential VIewpoints present in the text through which Garcia Marquez interprets the world. In the latter half of the 1970s. literary critic Wolfgang Iser was among the theoreticians who paid special attention to

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fhel) all of the same gender and age group? Are they a couple! "'and

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The Short Stories

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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ace they marrIed or wunarried? Are they a father and son or daughter? Are thel} lust frjends? The possibilities for interpreting the facts of the opening sentence are nwnerous and may vary from reader to reader. A reader may also ask: where is this story taking place? Any attentive reader may imagine a tropical place where banana trees grow near the sea, but the question remams as to exactly where. The fact that so many speculations and inquines may be drawn from the opening sentence proves. on the one hand, that most readers bring to the text their own active participation, whether knowingly or not. On the other hand, as the reader continues. the text answers many of the inquiries. According to British literary critic Terry Eagleton, the reader makes lmplicit connections. fills in gaps. draws inferences, and tests out hunches. The reader. in the tennlnology of reception theory, as Eagleton notes, concretizes the literary work: without his or her continuous active participation there would be no literary work at all (Eagleton 66). "Tuesday Siesta." as well as the other short stories revIewed in this chapter. Is filled with tndelenniuncies (elements within a narrative -text that depend [or their effect or result on the reader's interpretation). However, due to ambiguity in the use of language. the interpretations may vary in a nwnber of different ways_ The reader's response to the indeterminacies (questions) of fhetj and where in "Tuesday Siesta" might be influenced by his or her own interests and viewpoints. The reader eventually knows that the indeterminate they means an old woman and her young daughter. both dressed in black and traveling by train. However. the more the reader learns in response to his or her inquiries. the more complex the text becomes. At the end of the short story the reader may not necessarily have answers to all the indeterminacies (questions) that the narrative may have provoked. Was the old woman once a citizen living in this town? Is the town so typical that we need not know its name? Why is there 50 much pride and dignity in the old woman's behaVlOr? The reader has to end the story on his or her own terms. for the ending is an indeterminacy. In reception theory, the ad of reading is always a dynamic one. mov~ ing both m time and space. The reader. whether successful or not. strives to make sense from what he or she reads. The reader orgaruzes the maw tenal as it is being read, selecting what he or she considers relevant and concretizing certam information. In concretizing, the reader attempts to see in the text not what he or she is already prepared to see and understand. but what "Tuesday Siesta" suggests. This in tum allows the reader

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to elaborate one or more perspectives that culminate in an 11ltegrated illusion. An integrated illusion may be temporary in the sense that wh"t" the reader holds to be a fact on one page may prove to be altogether different after he or she turns the page. Illusion may also operate in the sense that what the reader. comes to understand might be what he or she wanted to read into the story. The reader brings into the story hiS or her own education and upbringing, lnduding religious beliefs, race, gender. and age. As the title of "Tuesday Siesta" implies: "at that hour [when the two women got off the train), weighted down by drowsiness, the town was taking a siesta" {101}. The reader concretizes the information and elaborates an image. which, in reception theory, is referred to as an illusion of the townsfolk. TIlls illUSIon is almost immediately contradicted by the text. What comes next in the story contradicts both the short story's title and the illUSIon that the reader was concretizing: the townsfolk, at that hour, are not asleep and instead carefully observe the two female characters in their progress through the town. The reader's efforts-of trying to reconcile the indeterminaCies (gaps or questions) of the text with his or her own illusions-continue throughout the text, for Garda Marquez's short stories do not necessarily move through time in a linear fashion. He employs backgrounds and foregrounds (the use of devices and teclmiques such as the flashback or the interior monologue 50 that language calls attention to itself). He also creates different layers of meaning, wluch the reader continually attempts to un~ derstand, either consCiously or not. Garcia M~rquez deliberately leaves elements of his short stories in a rather vague and often ambiguous fasluon. This is, mdeed. lus writing style. To be able to read Garda Marquez's short stories according to reception theory, the reader must be willing to read the text with a crit-. ' leal awareness that allows for a viewpoint different from his or her customary expectations. This is not necessarily because of Garda Marquez's use of magic realism, the absurd, the supernatural, or the elements of the underworld, but because the main premise of reception theory is a belief that the act of reading should open the reader to new viewpoints.' wough the act of reading the reader must be willing to question his or· her values and allow them to be transformed.

Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers Second Series Julia Alvarez by SilvIo Sirias

Rudolfo A. Anaya by Margarife Fernandez Olmos Maya Angelou by Man) lalle Lupton

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GABRIEL GARCIA ,

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Ray Bradbury by Robill Aune l}eid LouIse Erdrich by Lorella L. Stookel) Ernest J. Gaines by Knrell Cannell/l

A Critical Companion

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CRITICAL COMPANIONS TO POPULAR CONTEMPORARY WRITERS

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Greenwood Press Westport, Connecticut· London

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publlcation Data Pelayo. Rub~n. 1954Gabriel Garda Marquez : a critical companion I Rub!!n Pelayo. p. an.-(Crllical companions to popular C1Jntemporary wrHers. ISSN 1082-4979} Includes bibliographical references and Index. ISBN 0-313-31260-5 (alk. paper, 1. Garda M6rquez, Gabriel. 1928- -Criticism and Interpretation. T. Title. II. Series PQ8180.l7.A73Z665 2001 B63'.64-dc:21 2001023337 British Ubrary Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright It! 2001 by Rub!!n Pelayo All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced. by any process or technJque, without the express written consent of the publisher.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001023337 ISBN: 0-313-31260-5 ISSN: 1082-4979 Hr:;t published In 2001 Greenwood Press, sa Post Road West, Westport. CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group. Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed In the United States of America

The paper used in this book complies wIth the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Infonnation Standards Organ1zation (Z39A8-1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4. 3 2 1

I dedicate this book both to Gerald A. Lamb. my adoptive father. and to the memoxy of my mother.