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© 1999, Jeana E. Paul-Ureiia
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ACKNOWTEDGMENTS
I wo uld like to express my sincere than ks an d ap pre cia tion to
the many people who have put their t ime and effort into this project:
Carmen Naranjo and Anacristina Rossi for taking time to discuss their
works and ideas with me, Professors Eduardo Estevanovich and Jorge
Blanco for introducing me to Costa Rican literature and to Horn
Professor Harley D. Ob erhelm an for having a major influence on m y
gra du ate as well as un derg rad uate work.
I would also like to thank my parents for their support and
encou ragem ent , my son Bryan for his pat ience an d un ders tand ing,
an d m y hu sb an d Jua n Carlos Urefia for his incredible su pp ort a nd for
his cons tant faith in m e.
I express profound thanks to my comm ittee m em bers .
Professors Norwood H. /Andrews Jr., Ted McVay and Wendell Aycock
for their guidance and encouragement, as well as for the t ime they
spent helping me with this project.
Finally, and mo st impo rtantly, I would like to than k m y
dissertation director, Horn Professor Janet Perez, without whose help
this project could not have been realized. Tha nk you for you r t ime ,
patie nce , faith an d wonderful fr iendship.
u
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii
ABSTRACT v
CHAPTER
L INTRODUCTION 1
n. CARIVIENLYRA 15
Early PubUcations (1907-1920) 17
Later Publications (1920-1949) 46
Conclusions 64
m. YOLANDA OREAMUNO 67
Laruta de su evasion 69
W .
CARMEN NARANJO 83
Los perros no ladraron
85
El
responso por el nino Juan M anuel 117
Diario de una multitud 135
Sobrepunto
147
E casonumero 117.720
161
Conclusion 186
V. /\NACRISTINA ROSSI 189
Maria la noche 190
La loca de Gandoca 210
m
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VI. CONCLUSIONS 2 1 6
BIBUOGRAPHY 227
V
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ABSTRACT
One of the most interesting features of Costa Rican literature is
a certa in deg ree of gen der equity: since its begiiming, a significant
number of major contributors have been women. Women have been
included in literary movements as well as in political leadership roles
thro ug ho ut the Twentieth Century in Costa Rica. This stud y exam ines
wom en's w riting in Costa Rica, specifically using four au thor s:
Carmen Lyra, Yolanda Oreamuno, Carmen Naranjo, and Anacristina
Rossi.
Each writer has made significant contributions to the
development of the novel during the time in which she was writing
by employing innovative techniques such as the polyphonic
na rra tive voice, non-linear time and unm arked dialogue . In add ition
to developing new writing techniques, these writers also integ rate d
new them es in to Costa Rican literature .
All four writers ad dres s social issues which ha ve h ad a
trem endo us infiuence on Costa Rican society. Carm en Lyra an d
Yolanda O ream uno wrote before the Costa Rican Civil War of 1948
and because of the controversial nature of their works, both were
exiled from Costa Rica. Carmen N aranjo, whose work spans four
decades, is Costa Rica's most prolific author, addressing problems
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caused by the creation of the Costa Rican bureaucracy after the war.
/Anacristina Rossi, known for her controversial themes, has also led a
strong fight against the d estruction of Costa Rica's natu ra l reso urce s
and national parks.
Very littie has been written about these wom en writers. W hat
has been published about them has, in large part, been limited to
Costa Rican period icals. The purpose of this study is to exam ine the
ways in which women have played a major, important role in the
literary p rodu ction in Costa Rica, as well as how they hav e influenced
Costa Rican political and social institutions during the 1900s through
this medium.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Costa Rica stand s out in man y ways from oth er cou ntries of
Latin Am erica. In terms of its economic an d social histo ry, Costa Rica
did no t live up to its nam e, as early Spanish colonies found the land
to be any thing bu t rich. In fact, the territo ry was quite inh osp itable,
covere d with den se rain forests and mo untains . Colonists who
settied there were disappointed with their failure to find the gold
used in the indigenous artifacts earlier assumed to be from that area.
Those w ho chose to make Costa Rica their hom e becam e small
farmers, creating a tradition of isolated families which still exists in
mod ified form at the end of the Twentieth Century.
When Spain realized that this part of Central /America lacked
gold and other valuable resources, the area which would become
Costa Rica was practically abandoned by the conquistadores,
rem aining marginalized an d half-forgotten during its colonial perio d.
It was accorded littie importance during its participation in the
Capitania General de Guatemala (1574-1821), as well as its one-year
inco rpo ration in the M exican Empire of Agustin de Iturbide , a nd
declared its indepen dence in 1823.
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Unlike other countries in Latin America, Costa Rica remained
relatively free from internal conflict due to its population of small
farm ers. The m od e elsewhere of big land ho lders batti ing am on g
themselves for power over the poor masses did not develop.
Instead, Costa Rica sustained a slowly developing middle-class.
Europe's aba nd on m en t an d forgetting of Costa Rica pro du ced
reciproc al estran gem ent, with few Costa Ricans edu cate d in Europe
before the Twentieth Century. Thus few developing European
philosophies and trends reached Costa Rica, and those which did
come, arr ived late:
Son variados factores que contribuyen a la falta de una
cu ltu ra colonial. El pais vivia en aislam iento casi tota l
desatendido tanto por Espafia como por las otras colonias
am ericanas , pues po r la falta de m inas no atrajo n un ca a
m uch os espaiioles. Esto, unid o a la poca fecun dida d de la
tierra y a la deficiente pob lacion, hizo qu e Costa Rica
fuera una de las mas pobres provincias de ultramar,
segtin la denominacion espafiola. (Martinez 20)
Intellectual prod uctio n also bloom ed late, with works tha t
comprise Costa Rican literature not beginning to appear until the late
180 0s. Between 1860 an d 1 900, Costa Rican Ute rature de ve lop ed
primarily via newspapers and periodicals. Thanks largely to national
period icals, new writings in the l i terary ge nres of short stories,
poetry, essays, biographies, fables, legends and novellas were made
available to readers (Rojas, Ovares 16). The
foUetin,
which became
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common in Europe in the early 1800s, reached Costa Rica late in the
1800s, and retained popularity until the 1920s. According to Rojas
and Ovares, this genre grew out of the necessity for writers of fiction
to earn their living as journalists (17).
The foUetin
represented both
fields,
combining creative fiction with journalistic forms such as
travelogue s, auid sho rt narrative s. Them es usually involved highly
predictable acts of violence, crimes or love triangles. The characters
were traditional stereotypes who brought about foreseeable
anticipated endings. The foUetin pro vide d a forma t for these
l i terary works published in the national newspapers a nd mag azines.
The most notable work in this tradition is
Misterio
(1888), by
M anuel Argiiello Mora, one of the most frequentiy pu blis hed writers
in Costa Rican periodicals between 1860-1900.
Outside of the newspapers, the first literary publications in
Costa Rica emerged in the 1890s.
Lira costarricense
(1890) was the
first anthology of poetry to app ear in that country, an d Hojarasca
(1894) was the first collection of short stories by Costa Rican
na rra to rs . The first Costa Rican novel.
El Moto,
published in 1900, by
Joaquin Garcia Monge, exemplifies the adaptation of Nineteenth-
Century Regionalistic tendencies, influenced by Costumhrismo, that
early Costa Rican authors incorporated in their novels.
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Early Twentieth-Century novels which followed El
moto
d rew
heavily up on the school of Romanticism: Costa Ricans descr ibed the ir
homeland as truly a lugar ameno amidst the turmoil of oth er C entral
Am erican coun tries. While surrou nding countries struggled to grow
and change under constant political upheaval, putting their painful
history on pap er, Costa Rica rem ained relatively calm an d
pred ictable. Costa Rican literature did no t prod uce impressive
results until well into the Tw entieth Century.
The end of Costa Rican isolation stimulated social, political and
intellectual cha nge . In 1917, Costa Rica began to attr ac t the a tten tion
of capitalist investors interested in exploiting their coffee and banana
expo rts. In respon se to a sudden business boom for foreign
investo rs. President /Alfredo Gonzalez Flores imp lem ente d social
reform s w hich included imposing a tax on coffee. At the time, coffee
figured am ong the coun try's most impor tant expo rts. As a resu lt of
the coffee tax, and other con straints, interna tional investors from the
United States and Germany began to pressure the coffee oligarchy,
motivating the overthrow of the Gonzalez govern ment. For two
yea rs, the country was ruled by the Tinoco dictators hip. These
radical upheavals in a society which had previously been relatively
stable produced reflections of tremendous change in Costa Rican
literature.
A
national literature which had been based in
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Regionalism, developing as a form of traditional Realism, suddenly
became literature of social protest, encouraged by imstable political
cond itions in Costa Rica. Newly combative attitude s inte rru pte d the
tradition of publishing literary works in the national periodicals,
separating intellectual production from the government-controlled
pre ss for the first time in Costa Rican history. During th e early pa rt
of the Twentieth Century, Costa Ricans began to study in and travel
m ore frequentiy to Europe, bringing hom e new philosophies an d
ideas for chan ge. Literature prod uced d uring this time was largely
respon sible n ot only for docum enting social change, but as Beverly
an d Zunm erman p oint out, literature was often itself a n a gen t of
change:
. . . wh at we think of as "society" as such is not som e
essence that is prior to representation bu t rath er the
product of struggles over meaning and representation.
Such a perspective allows us to consider the ways in
which literature , rath er than being simply a reflection or
epiph enom enon of the social as in the traditional base
superstructure model, is constitutive~in historically and
socially specific ways~in some measure of it. (ix)
In the early 1900s, literature in Costa Rica was not simply a form of
ente rtain m ent, bu t an effective tool for change, largely respo nsible
for shapin g Costa Rican society. Critics are quick to poin t out tha t "La
litera tura costarricense, al igual que otras formas de lo im aginario
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colectivo, no refleja un a idea preexistente de lo natio nal sino qu e
contrib uye a constituir tal nocion" (Rojas et al. 3).
Costa Rican literature grew quickly in the Tw entieth Ce ntury,
and later critics would consider Costa Rica, in some respects, the hub
of cu ltur al an d intellectual life in Central Am erica. In spite of its late
start, it was accepted that "... cultural and intellectual life in Central
America (with the exception of Costa Rica) was impoverished,
unstable, 'underdeveloped' ~ that, after all, is part of what the
Banana Republic caricature is about" (Beverly 36). Although Beverly
and Zunmerman present an accurate description of the Central
Am erican situation, it is relevant tha t most critical analyses of
Central American works have focused on works from countries other
than Costa Rica. Beverly and Zimmerman's analysis concentrates on
the Cen tral Am erican Revolutions, obviously eliminating Costa Rica
for its relatively peaceful history. In a parallel ph eno m en on , w hen
literary movements are critiqued in Central America, in general,
Costa Rican literatu re is only briefly m entioned . Most studies which
look into the po etry, novels, songs and essays produ ced in C entral
America, typically depict the counterculture which provoked and
int erprete d th e intern al struggle faced by these cou ntries. Ironically,
althou gh Costa Rica has not experienced these revo lutionary
activities, with the brief exception of the 1948 conflict, Costa Rica has
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long been ho st to radica l s tudent groups and coun tercul ture
product ion:
In these terms perhaps the s ingle most important
institution in the development of this counterculture
am on g the intell igentsia was the Editorial Un iversitaria
Centroamericana (EDUCA) created in San Jose by the
Confederation of Central American Universities under the
auspices of the regional common market and the
edu catio nal mo dern ization program s. EDUCA bec am e the
main publisher of the new generation of left-oriented
writers and li terary crit ics represented by f igures l ike
Claribel Alegria, Roque Dalton, and Manlio Argueta in El
Salvad or; Otto Rene Castillo in Guatem ala; an d Sergio
Ramirez in Nicaragua. (Beverly 47)
Despite Costa Rican literature's having littie of the international
attention given to the surrounding Central American countries, i t has
nevertheless produced notable works. One of the most interesting
features of Costa Rican literature is a certain degree of gender equity:
since its beginning, a significant number of major contributors have
be en wom en. Costa Rican wom en have by no mea ns had a n equ al
part in establishing what is contemporary Costa Rican society, and
today they still must fight for equal pay and recognition in the
bus iness world. Nevertheless, wom en have been includ ed in l i terary
m ov em en ts as well as in polit ical leadersh ip roles th ro ug ho ut th e
Tw entieth Century in Costa Rica. Wom en have also been im po rtan t
par t ic ipan ts in the countercul ture m ovem ents .
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In the first quarter of the Twentieth Century, the most
influential woman in Costa Rica was Maria Isabel Carvajal, known to
the literary world by her pseudonym. Carmen Lyra, and known
affectionately as "Chabela" by he r compatriots and friends. She was
one of the major influences in the evolution of the national literary
an d political social conscience in Costa Rica from the early 1900s
until he r dea th in 1949. Other notable women author s include
Yolanda O ream uno, who wrote in the 1950s; Julieta P into, wh o began
writing in the 1960s; Carmen Naranjo, also beginning in the 1960s;
and a multitude of younger novelists and poets during the 1980s and
1990s, such as Ana Cristina Rossi an d Tatiana Lobo.
Very littie has been written about these women writers. W hat
has been published about them has, in large part, been limited to the
Costa Rican periodicals. Alfonso Chase has written sev eral essays on
the works of Carmen Lyra, which he has published as introductions
to collections of her works. His contribution has been mostiy in
term s of biograp hical resea rch. Other Costa Rican critics who ha ve
written abo ut these auth ors include M argarita Rojas, Flora Ovares,
Carlos Santander, and Maria Elena Carballo. These authors have
contributed to two very important works in Costa Rican literature:
La casapatema.
Escritura
y nacion en
Costa Rica (1993), and
100
anos de la literatura costarricense (1995). Both of these works
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mention the women writers in this study.
100 anos de la literatura
costarricense, by Rojas an d Ovares, is a Ust with a brief descr iptio n
of all important works written in between 1890 and 1990 in Costa
Rica.
La
casa
patema,
by Rojas, Ovares, Sa ntan der and Carballo, is a
thematic overview of Costa Rican literature, divided into six topics:
Un pequeiio relato familiar; La arcadia tropical; La sociedad de
lectores; Nostalgia, recuperacion y ruptura; El lugar ameno; and
Um brales y frontera s. W ithin these categories they discuss the mo st
influential Costa Rican literature from the Twentieth Century.
Although the majority of the works discussed were written by men,
they do explore some of the literature written by women, including
En una silla de ruedas, by Carmen Lyra, an d
La
ruta de su evasion,
by Yo landa Oream uno . Both articles are brief, addressing the
stru ctu re of the novels. The review of En
una silla de ruedas
discusses Lyra's use of positive and negative space to m arginalize the
cha racte rs. The most extensive work addressing wom en writers is a
dissertation by Luz Ivette Martinez,
Carm en Naranjo y la narrativa
femenina en
Costa Rica (1985), which focuses primarily on Carmen
Naranjo, bu t mentions other au thors as well. While Martinez's
analysis briefly examines works by Carmen Lyra and Yolanda
Oream uno, an d m entions other women writers from Costa Rica, her
purpose is "demostrar que Carmen Naranjo representa la culminacion
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de la l i te ra tura femenina costarr icense y que es una representante
aute ntic a de la l i teratura femenina de Hispan oam erica" (17).
M artinez claims that two works by Carmen Naranjo, "Sobrepunto y
Diario de una multitud
consti tuyen su mo men to cum bre como
escritora . Con la prim era se inscribe en la vertie nte de ob ras
hispanoamericanas que recogen la problematica de la mujer en el
ambito de una vision critica de la sociedad" (17). While many critics
wall argue that
Los perros no ladraron
was Naranjo ' s mo st im po rtan t
work to date, very few comment on Sobrepunto, and o the r than
M artin ez's analy sis, it ha s received littie atte nti on . It is th e on ly
novel of Carmen Naranjo to date which treats the life of a woman.
However, the woman is dead, and the main character who
remembers her, and who teUs her story (or the fragments of a story)
is a ma n. Not only do es he limit the read er's vision of Olga, the
woman, but he also presents her activities and intentions from the
male perspective. What Olga may have suffered or endured as a
wo m an is no t know n by the read er. Her examp le of ch arac ter is no t
one which would be either acknowledged or disliked by feminists.
Martinez insists that
Sobrepunto
be conside red a work wh ich
presents the problems faced by Costa Rican women in the Twentieth
Ce ntu ry. Con sidering the fact tha t the female ch ara cte r is no t well
developed and that she does not face common problems, Martinez 's
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works different an d wo rthy of exam ination in term s of bein g
different,
Costa Rican li terature provides a unique opportunity for a
stu dy of this sort . As wom en hav e bee n active pa rticip an ts in th e
development of l i terary movements within Costa Rican li terature,
their works are already important contributions, in addition to being
wo rks w ritten b y wo men . While the two m ost rec en t analyse s of
Costa Rican literature, La casa paterna (1993), an d 100 anos de
literatura costarricense (1995) have been auth ored or co-authored
by wo me n, the re has yet to be a study of the con tributio ns to Costa
Rican li terature m ad e by wom en. The pu rpo se of this stud y is to
exam ine th e ways in which women have played a major , im po rtan t
role in the literary production in Costa Rica, as well as how they have
influenc ed Costa Rican political an d social institution s du ring the
1900s through this medium.
The following study specifically concentrates on four
Twentieth-Century women writers. Carmen Lyra, Yolanda Oreamuno,
Ca rm en N aranjo an d Anacristina Rossi. It reviews th em in
chronological order, examining their works in terms of importance
an d in nov ation , as the Twentieth Century unfolds, as well as in term s
of influence on Costa Rican society an d its intellectual pro du cti on . All
four of these women are recognized not only as major contributors to
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Costa Rican Uterature, but the y have also bee n very influential
polit ical activists. Carmen Lyra formed the Communist Party in the
early 1930s in Costa Rica, and re m aine d an active lead er un til h er
exile from the country in 1949. Yolanda Oreamuno also faced
self-
exile during the 1940s for her political activities and her opinions on
women's rights. Carmen Naranjo was Costa Rica's first woman to be
appointed to high bureaucratic and polit ical positions within the
co un try . In add ition to being Costa Rica's mo st prolific au th or (male
or female), she has also been a mem ber of Presidential ca binets,
served as Vice-President of the Costa Rican Social Security system
and worked as an ambassador represent ing her country in Israe l and
Ve nezu ela. An acristina Rossi has likewise be en invo lved in p olitical
activities an d pro tests . Her role in the 1980s and 90 s ha s be en to
ad vo cate th e prote ction of the Atiantic coast in Costa Rica from the
uncontrolled advances of tourism.
This stud y will examine th e major pros e works of these four
women writers from a developmental perspective of their
contributions to the Twentieth-Century novel in Costa Rican
lite rat ure . All four wom en writers have received int ern atio na l
recognition and earned a place for Costa Rica in Hispanic literature.
They have written about their country, using traditional language,
including the voseo, which takes the place of the pronoun "tti," and
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uses a special ve rb form. Their works stand ou t as im po rtan t focal
po ints in the de velopm ent of Costa Rican literature . Not only d id
their works greatiy influence other Costa Rican authors in terms of
style, tech niqu e a nd them e, but they also directiy influenced Costa
Rican society.
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CHAPTER II
CARMEN LYRA
M aria Isabel Carvajal was b o m in 1888 , in San Jose, Costa Rica,
to a single m ot he r. As was inev itable, he r illegitimate birt h affected
her social status and reception, and many of her l i terary works focus
on outcast members of society, children from broken homes, and
oppressed individuals and groups generally. These works are
them atically rem inisce nt of the works of Rosalia de Castro, a G alician,
writing in the mid to late 1800s, who likewise suffered because of
her illegitimate birth. According to Alfonso Chase, another factor
which greatiy influenced Lyra 's thematic choices was her internship
with the hospital San Juan de Dios. After finishing school, Lyra
w an ted to become a nu n. Her oppo rtunities for ma rriage w ere
cer tain ly limited bec ause of he r illegitimacy. As pa rt of h er
novitiate, she worked in the hospital . This experience provided her
with vivid examples of misery and sadness which proliferate in her
early works. Just as he r options for marriage ha d be en limited
because of her illegitimacy, neither was she allowed to profess and
become a nun in the Catholic Church (Chase 505). One year after her
graduation from high school, she published her first short story in a
nat ional magazine ,
Paginas llustradas.
In 1907 , she be ga n h er first
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novel , En una silla de ruedas, which was pub lished e leven yea rs
later in 1918. With this publication she became known as Carmen
Lyra, a name suggested to her by her close friend Joaquin Garcia
M ong e. According to Garcia Monge, Carmen-Lira was a bu s rou te in
Santiago, Chile (Chase 505).
As the author of Costa Rica's first novel, Garcia Monge with his
fr iendship constituted a very important influence during the initial
ph as es of Ca rm en Lyra's writing career. Garcia Monge was also
known for writing the first Costa Rican novel of social protest,
Hijas
del campo. While early
literary works in Costa Rica insis ted on
presenting idyllic settings and portraying strengths of the family,
Garcia Monge and a small group of writers, including Carmen Lyra,
be ga n to expo se the flaws in such idealized repre sen tati on s. Critics
including Rojas and Ovares have pointed out that Monge showed
characteristics of disillusionment even within his first novel El Moto:
La Costa Rica de la prim era imag en idilica era u n m u n do
donde las cosas tenian un nombre, donde las relaciones
sociales se vivian segtin la armonia que cubria los lazos
fam iliares. Poco a poco, las preferencias discursiv as se
vuelcan hacia el anonimato, posible en nuevos paradigmas
literarios. El m un do a non imo y su nuevo tiempo se
revelan como un dato inevitable y el idilio familiar
emp ieza a desplazarse , a l menos en la l i te ra tu ra . . . A la
pa r de a lgunos t rabajos que destacan funda men ta lmen te
los aspectos costumbristas del texto, los estudios mas
recientes subray an su potencial crit ico . . . y de nu nci an un
inicial resquebrajamiento del idilio familiar. (Rojas et al.
75-6)
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This te nd en cy is highly visible in the later w orks of Garcia Monge,
an d was most influential in th e works of Carm en Lyra:
Las figuras del labriego senciUo, el conch o estere otipo y
pintoresco ceden el protagonismo ante una galeria de
personajes que hacen ingresar a la escena literaria
sectores antes ausentes o puntos de vista ineditos.
Igualm ente, el hum orismo y la idealizacion de tradiciones
y costumbres nacionales, dan paso bien a una vision
sentimental (Dobles Segreda), bien a una perspectiva mas
critica (Garcia Monge, Lyra, Dengo). (Rojas et al. 146)
Earlv Publications (1907-1920)
One of Carmen Lyra's early publications, the brief na rra tive
"C am e d e miseria" (1911), exemplifies the type of lite ratu re
comprising what scholars consider her first period (1907-1912)
(Martinez 30). Strongly marked by her own experiences working
with the sick in the hospital of San Juan de Dios, "Came de miseria" is
a depressing story with a naturalistic treatment of characters and
eve nts. The influence of French authors such as Gustave Flaubert is
highly nota ble in the vivid descriptions used in "C ame d e m iseria":
Primero a Graciela, la descamisadilla encantadora, con su
faldita tan seria y su pequena camisa que le dejaba los
brazos y el cuello desnu dos . Pobrecita [sic] Ese dia su
ros tro picaresco, estaba triste. Sus ojos parlan chine s,
mu d o s . . .
Mas alia, como un gironcillo de noche, la cabeza de
Emily, la
chumequita,
como por carifio le dicen algunas
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veces sus compafieras, con la cara tan grave y los ojos
hum edo s, llenos de melancolia. Rosa, aquella m ore na
liberiana , tan simpatica, la mas inteligente d e tod as, n o
enseiiaba como de costumbre la mazorca brillante de sus
dien tes blancos. No se oia la charla de pajarillo d e C lara
ni las risitas sofocadas d e Ana Maria. T oda s. . [sic] todas
ha bian erm iudecido. jEl lugar
vacio
jLa compafiera ida
(Chase 47)
"Came de miseria" is written from the perspective of a teacher
who sees the poverty and misery surrounding an d enveloping he r
stu de nt s. One of these studen ts is very ill, suffering from a
com bination of serious disease and p aren ts insufficientiy edu cated to
kno w how to care for he r. The narra tive voice criticizes the lack of
consciousness some parents have, as well as the gene ralized inability
to stop the vicious circle from continuing: "Yo senti deseo d e g ritar a
aquellos padres:
icon
q ue dere cho haceis hijos asl? ^No veis que es
ca m e con qu e se alimenta la miseria?" (Chase 48).
In 1915, Carmen Lyra, along with Joaquin G arcia Monge,
Roberto Brenes Mesen, Omar Dengo, and Ruben Goto, crea ted an
intellectual group called Centro Germinal, from which grew many
ideas for social change, with several of the associates espousing
anarchic political philosophies. Their production of literary works,
including essays, short stories and novels, refiected these idea s, an d
expre ssed a strong hatr ed for the Tinoco dictatorsh ip as well. In
addition to the political essays, during this second writing phase,
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Lyra deve lop ed a style of pros e util izing the tec hniq ues of
M odernism . This tenden cy is evidenced in both Las fantasias de
Juan Silvestre (191S), and En una silla de ruedas
(1918). Alfonso
Chase notes:
En estos dos l ibros asimila lecturas anterio res, m aestro s
franceses, principalmente, pero esas influencias son
apenas perceptibles, interesandonos mas las realizaciones
de la auto ra, como prosista y observ adora no table. Son
obras que incorporan a nuestra l i teratura la belleza de los
rezagos del mod em ismo , con la clara concepcion d e un
realismo rom antico, impreg nado de nostalgia, de
descripciones del alma de los personajes, antes que el
dec ora do exterior que los aprisiona tambien . Son
detallistas, morosos, delicadamente evocativos,
presentados con simpatia y sensibilidad, con admirable
equilibio e n las proporcio nes psicologicas de los
carac teres. (13)
Las fantasias de Juan Silvestre initiated Lyra's dista ncin g of
he r work from the tradition of Realism and N aturalism, and lean ed
more toward Modernism, with its descriptions of things foreign to
the native Costa Rican. Often Lyra achieved such effects through
reference s to othe r l i terary works, or foreign aut ho rs:
A menudo saco en estos dias de mi bolsillo el pequeiio
volumen en que Carlyle cuenta "La vida y opiniones del
seiior de Teufelsdrockh" y leo fervorosamente. . . Y esto,
sin parecerme a aquellos de Ega de Queiroz, quienes
dec ian qu e "n i la fortuna de los Rostchilds
[sic],
ni la
co ro na de Carlos V los tent aria p ara salir de su pas ito
lento,
pru de nte, correcto" y tal cosa la hab laba n corrien do
desalados tras el farol de un coche. (Chase 204)
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En una silla de ruedas (1918) prov ides the best exam ple of Lyra 's
use of styUstic and structural elements adapted from Modernismo.
The novel combines Lyra 's treatment of society's miserable and
m arg ina lize d with a no tabl e dissatisfaction with Costa Rican society
of the early 1900s. Through these characters, Lyra provides visions
of lovely gardens reminiscent of Dario's "jardin de sueno," such as
that of the family home; dream-like descriptions of faraway lands,
such as Miguel's home land, a nd the powerful sea which divides them .
Her desc ription s weigh heavily with sensorial description s: the color
of flowers, th e smell of food, and th e soun d of mu sic. Also pr es en t is
a mysterious land of play created by Sergio and Ana Maria which
th ey inv en t to offset a life of des pair. Th ere live ch ara cte rs un kn ow n
to the ir rea l wo rld. The y set ou t daily into this exotic land . Ana
Maria guiding Sergio in his wheelchair, both dressed in borrowed
cloth es to escap e the ir dep ressing reality. Later in the no vel, w hen
Sergio is living in an asylum, he experiences flashbacks to his
ch ild ho od , also full of vivid imag ery. In this drea m -like sta te h e
relives a different reality l imited to selected and manipulated
images.
In the vein of Ruben Dario's later works,
En una silla de
ruedas also con tains elem ents critical of its co nte m po rary society.
Through its marginalized characters, the novel subtiy indicates the
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injustice fou nd with in Costa Rican society of th e early 190 0s. Th e
novel's protagonist, Sergio Esquivel, is paralyzed and fives his life in
a whee lcha ir . Much like oth er characters from Lyra 's early wo rks,
Sergio fails to see his con dition as unjust. In fact, h e con sid ers h is
wo rld to be quite no rm al. The na rrat or refers to his con dition as a
stroke of bad luck and sorrow:
Cu and o llego esta desgracia, Sergio aiin no h ab ia cum plido
dos a n o s . . . El pequei io se acosto a le g re . . . Al
ab an do na rse al sueiio, parecia un a vida que iba al
encuentro del sol; al despertar , era una vida que la suerte
ha bi a dejad o en el pais brum oso de la tristeza. Era com o
si una hada malefica se hubiera deslizado entre el silencio
de la noch e hasta la cama de Sergio y hu bie ra vaciad o su
ren co r en esta existencia que com enzaba a abrirs e. (237)
This differing perspective continues throug ho ut the novel, with
Sergio, aware of his differences, yet above feeling sorry for
himself;
while the n arr ato r, as well as the other ch aracters , wou ld truly suffer
for his cond ition . Although Sergio does not feel sorry for
himself,
h e
does constantiy yearn for a different, better world. When his
yo un ge r sister f irst considers why Sergio does not walk as she do es,
she supposes that he will be normal one day:
-Mama Canducha, ya se por que Sergio no puede
caminar . Tiene las piem as de un m o d o . . . Despues se le
haran como las mias, mamita Candelaria?
La anciana le contesto llorando:
-N o m i hiji ta, posiblimente Sergio no po dr a
caminar nunca.
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~Yo quisiera darle mis piem as, mam a Cand ucha.
Yo no las nece sito. A mi me gusta estar s entad a
hac iend ole vestidos a Luna. ^Puedo corta rm elas y
darselas?
-N o m i hijita, si esto se pud iera, ya hac e tiempo
qu e yo le ha bria d ad o las mias. (243)
The conversation between Gracia and Candelaria reveals not only
the ir sorro w for Sergio's condition, but also their nob le cha racte rs, as
both would be willing to give him their own legs if it were possible.
Not only Gracia is disturb ed by the revelation tha t Sergio will ne ver
be able to walk as they; Mercedes also is d eva stated:
M erceditas se fue entonces a un rincon a llorar. A partir
de ese dia no volvio a correr, ni hizo sino aquello que
podia hacer Sergio. Sus pequenas manos tuvieron para
estas piem as, tem uras por nadie sospechadas: las
apretaba a menudo contra su corazon, y cuando de noche
llevaban a Sergio a la cama, ella le buscaba los pies y
tra tab a de ca lentarlos con sus besos. (243)
Sergio begins his life with a moderately secure family.
Although his mother and father are separated due to his illness, he is
una w are of his father's disapp ointment. Sergio's early yea rs are n ot
spe nt with his father. The father has farm lan d in an oth er p ar t of
the c ou ntry n ea r the coast, and claims to live there to prov ide for
the ir economic stability. His fathe r's disgust at Sergio's disab ility is
not apparent to the boy for many years. Yet with his birth the
family slowly begins to unwind and disintegrate.
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Sergio's m oth er, Jacinta, is tiie cen ter of tiie child's world . "Para
el nino no ha bia en este m undo nad a m as bello ni mejor" (241).
Although he was a well-behaved child, whenever Cinta would leave
the h ou se, Sergio would become quiet and sad, refusing to smile un til
she ret u m e d with he r laugh ter. Sergio's adm iration for Cinta is no t
fully sha red by the narrator, who describes the m othe r as "ima
personita encantadora, con el cerebro a pajaros" (241). The narrator
ap pa re nt iy views Cinta as distracted an d imm atur e. Likewise, the
m istakes she m akes in life are judged in terms of he r being unfit for
the tasks dem and ed of her as m other and wife, rath er than due to a
selfish n atu re : "Los treinta aiios no lograron llevar la grave dad a esta
cria tura que jamas en terro la ligereza de su infancia" (241).
Although Sergio focuses his attention and his love on Cinta, the
functional role of m other is played by the old servant C andelaria, or
Mama Cand ucha, as the children call her . As the mo ther figure of
Cinta is slowly replaced by Candelaria, it becomes ap pa re nt that
within Carmen Lyra's novel there are two families rep res en ted . One
is the family that Sergio was b om into, an d th e second is the family
tha t is chose n. Candelaria, the first mem ber to become a par t of
Sergio's chosen family, worked as a young girl for the family of
Jacin ta. As an adult, she m arried an d had a family of he r own. Like
Sergio's, her family is destroyed when her husband and children die.
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Retuming to work for Cinta, she assumes the role of motiier and
housekeeper, both of tiiese being functions which fall beyond the
capa city of Sergio's moth er. Her character typifies Carm en L yra's
tre atm en t of the poo r an d unfortuna te. She is abov e ill will an d
presented as being morally a much better person than the wealthy
family she serves , with the exception of the children, as child ren are
innocent:
Can delaria servia con fidelidad y desintere s. Era de esas
criaturas que sirven sin rebajar su dignidad; su
obed iencia e ra inteligente, de la que enn oblece a qu ien la
prac tica. En do nd e ella estaba, se hacia luego
indispen sable; se imponia enseguida, sin hacerse sentir, y
m uy p ron to se convertia en el ama de la casa. Casi
siempre su corazon estuvo en un nivel superior al de sus
patro nes. (253)
Sergio's father is characterized as a rough, un m an ne red an d
un ca ring pers on . "La figura de Juan Pablo Esquivel era vulga rota y
poco a gra dab le, pero iba bien vestido y esto y las como didades que el
le ofrecia fueron suficientes para aquel cerebro de pajarillo que
jama s se detenia du rante dos segundos en el mismo asunto " (275).
Soon after the children are born, he acquires a small banana farm
ne ar the coast and sp ends most of his time there. Cinta discovers
tha t he has an othe r woman with whom he has children on th e
pla nta tion . As the time and c ulture dictate, she silentiy accepts the
situation without complaining and bears the hu rt. Jua n Pablo treats
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Sergio and his two sisters with the same indifference as he treats
Cinta. The auth or presen ts him as completely without ten de m ess .
His tre atm en t of Sergio is implicitiy emo tionally abu sive:
En su presencia, el animo de Sergio se encogia como las
hojas de la adormidera al sentirse rozadas por algiin
objeto extrafio. Siempre hab laba al chiquillo con u na
proteccion llena de lastima m altratadora . . . Algo asi
como esa sonrisa de condescendencia en los labios de un
pod eros o cu and o mete la mano en su bolsiQo en busca d e
la m on ed a de d arle golpecitos en la cabeza acom panad os
de un "pobre hijo mio " Y estas palabras caian en el
corazon del nino cual si fueran una limosna no imp lorada.
(277)
Much as Jacinta was replaced by Candelaria, Juan Pablo is also
replaced by a chosen father figure from the working class.
Sergio saw Miguel for the very first time when the latter was
rep airin g the roa d nea r Sergio's house. Miguel is a foreigner in Costa
Rica, "de apellido tan extraiio que nunca lo pudieron pro nu ncia r
correctamente estos amigos suyos para quienes tan querido fuera"
(257). Miguel sha res aspects of the same kind of lonely, tragic
dev elopm ent as Candelaria, in that he had once had a family from
which destiny separated him:
A veces se quedaba suspenso, silencioso y con los ojos
pue stos en los lefios que ard ian . Cuando volvia de su
ensimismamiento les decia que entre las llamas habia
vue lto a ver escenas muy lejanas: el era un n ino y en
torno de la gran chimenea de la cocina alia en su casa
paterna, estaban reunidas muchas gentes; su madre y sus
herm ana s m ayores, bordaba n; el y su herm anita a la que
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llama ban Sava, estaban sentados cerca de un pastor de su
padre, un muchacho hermoso y robusto que cantaba aires
del Tirol, acom panand ose con la citara. Sus herm ano s
lab rab an en m ade ra de pino los celebres juguetes de su
pais.
^Que ha br ia sido de su herm anita Sava tan linda y
tan alegre? . . . Mas adelante habia una epoca de su vida
que se perdia como una noche de muy larga duracion.
Pe regr ine m uch o. Un dia se encontro en Costa Rica y alii
estaba todavla.
iQue
ha br ia sido de los suyos? Si su
hermana Sava no habia muerto tenia que ser ya una
anc iana com o el. ^Que hab ria sido de la risa que an idab a
en su boca? Seguramente que habia volado huye ndo del
frio de la vejez. (268)
In
Strangers to Ourselves,
Kristeva explores the complex
archetype of the foreigner in literature, defining the foreigner as one
"who survives with a tearful face turned toward the lost homeland.
Melancholy lover of a vanished space, he cannot, in fact, get over his
having a ba nd on ed a period of time" (9). The reason for M iguel's
presence in Costa Rica is unknown, and his homeland Tirol is
pres en ted as m ysterious. Kristeva's arche type also comes from da rk
origins:
He has fled from that origin-family, blood, soil~and,
even though it keeps pestering, enriching, hinde ring,
exciting him, or giving him pain, and often all of it at
once, the foreigner is its courageous and melancholy
be tray er. His origin certainly haun ts him, for bette r a nd
for w orse, but it is indee d
elsewhere
tha t he has set his
hopes, that his struggles take place, that his life holds
together today. (29)
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Since Miguel is an immigrant, Kristeva's archetype insists that he be
a ha rd worke r. Not only must he be a labore r, but he also will work
at an y job which might be considered vulgar to the aristocracy . Even
more interesting is the fact that the foreigner will be able to invent
jobs that were not thought of, or perhaps necessary before:
But as far as the imm igrant is concerned , he has no t com e
he re jus t to waste his time away. Possessed with d riving
am bition, a pus her, o r merely crafty, h e takes on all jobs
an d tries to be tops in those that are scarcest. In those
that n obo dy w ants but also in those that nobod y has
thou ght o f . . . Since he has nothing, he can sacrifice
everything. (19)
The character of Miguel accords with Kristeva's portrait
throu gh h is interactions with others: "the foreigner's friends, aside
from bleeding hearts who feel obliged to do good, could only be those
wh o feel foreign to themselves" (23). Miguel is inde ed su rro un de d
by oth er "foreigners." Sergio is certainly foreign, separa ted from
society by his paralysis. Unlike others aroun d him, his wo rld is small
an d cloistered, marginalized, confined to a wheelchair. Candelaria is
also a foreigner as she is an Indian from Gu anacaste. She too has has
be en seve red from he r past. Like Miguel, Sergio an d his family will
face exile in their future.
Miguel is slowly enveloped by the family, first called and
befriended by Sergio, then accepted by the others. There he begins
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to fulfill th e role of fatiier, fixing tilings a ro un d the h ou se, ma king
useful utensils for Candelaria and inventing toys for the children
from scrap s an d un w ante d materials he finds durin g the day . Once
Sergio discovers th at Miguel has no ho m e, he a nd his sisters conv ince
the ir m o th er to allow Miguel to l ive with them .
Miguel enters the family almost as a bride enters marriage.
Permission is gra nte d him by Jacinta, and Cand elaria brings formality
to the ceremony as Miguel is led to his new bed:
Ya ve, yo e ra asi com o uste, un ser solo, pe ro u n d ia en tre
en esta casa y si ahora me sacaran me matarian, porque
aqui sembre el corazon que ha echado raices hasta entre
la tinaja d e la cocina. Vea, do n Miguel, yo me im ag ino
que el alma tiene como el cuerpo su sangre, que es el
modo de sent ir .
Y
pa que lo sepa, uno tiene su familia no
en los que cargan entre su cuerpo la mism a sangre, sino
en los que carg an en tre el alma los mismos sentim ientos.
(264)
Miguel's rep ly is simple: "Bueno, me que do . Y que Dios os pagu e"
(264). Ca nde laria reitera tes the idea of chosen family, as con ne cted
th ro ug h feelings an d soul, rat he r tha n established by bloo d. Miguel's
presence brings union to the family and peace to the household, and
together with Candelaria and the children, creates a temporary
family for Sergio, M erceditas an d Gracia. The who le ho us e res po nd s
to their union:
Entre las m an os d e Miguel y las de Can delaria, tod o
pro sp era ba y relum brab a de limpio. El jardin no volvio a
ten er m alas hierba s y los arboles frutales y las planta s de
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adomo producian maravillosamente desde que Miguel
pu sie ra e n ellos sus ded os sabios. Los conejos y las
palomas tuvieron casas mas comodas e higienicas. (264)
Sergio sees Miguel as wise. He adm ires him a nd loves him as
he has wa nted to adm ire an d love his own father. However, Miguel
is no t perfect. He is categorized as good an d nob le both for his status
within the hard-working poor, as well as for his tme love for Sergio
and his sisters. Yet Miguel disappears from time to time. His
absences remain without explanation, although it becomes known
that he has a serious drinking problem, as occasionally Miguel will
van ish on a drinking binge. Interestingly, as a foreigner, his
ch ara cter is judg ed o n a different scale from the other s. He is
forgiven for an y action o r flaw because he is no t from Costa Rica. His
wounds and scars may not be any more painful than those of
Candelaria, or other characters with whom he interacts, yet he is not
bound by the same strict code as they are.
While Candelaria and Miguel serve to bring stability to the
ho m e, they also provide Cinta with freedom from not on ly the tasks,
bu t also the emo tional responsibilities of m othe rhoo d. Sud denly
finding herself with time an d freedoms, C inta is seduced by a yo ung
engineer from Chile, named Rafael Valencia, and becomes pregnant.
During this time, Juan Pablo, her husband decides to sell his
plantation and return to San Jose. Unable to resolve her problem,
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Cinta m n s away from it, leaving with the C hilean for Peru,
abandoning her home and her children. Juan Pablo returns and
places Sergio's sisters, Gracia and Merceditas, in a boarding school,
and sends Sergio to live with his Uncle Jose and Aunt Concha.
All thr ee child ren feel totally miserable in the ir new lives.
Sergio finds Jose an d Concha cold and indifferent toward his
situation, accepting him in their home only for the extra money his
father will pay them . The sisters are equally unh ap py in th e
board ing school. Their only communication with Sergio is thro ug h
letters . Although they do not complain, their lonely situation, as
explained by Gracia, is very depressing:
Sergio, herm anito querido, ya estamos en vacaciones y
todas las compafieras se han marchado, pero como
nosotras no tenemos adonde ir, papa ha conseguido que
nos quedemos en el Colegio.. .Cada mafiana vamos a subir
a la azotea a verlas: no lo olvides y vos tamb ien p ara que
alii se jun ten nuestras m iradas. Y adivina lo que vimos?
La palm era alta del jardin de nues tra casa. La mo via el
viento e inclinaba hacia nosotros su cabeza como
llam ando no s. ^duien vivira ahora alii? (328)
Worse yet, Mercedes does not recover from the depression brought
on by the aba nd on m ent of their m other. Her letters to Sergio are
tragically brief and despairing. Her references to being c o ld -
"Hermanito de mi alma: Yo no te escribo tanto como Gracia, porque
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tengo mucho frio" (328)~foreshadow her sudden death from a high
fever.
Sergio's only comfort in the home of his aunt a nd uncle is the
presen ce of Ana Maria, an orp han adopted by his aunt in orde r to
ap pe ar ch aritable to represen tatives of the Catholic Church. Ana
M aria is treat ed w ith mu ch the same indifference as Sergio, yet she
ha s ne ve r known anything different. Sergio an d Ana Maria become
very close as they share so mu ch in common. Both have bee n
abandoned by their parents and both are merely tolerated as
outsiders in the house of Concha and Jose. Ana Maria takes Sergio
everywhere, dressing him in disguises, and they imagine themselves
as different. They often pass through the barrio becoming friends
with the poor workers.
Lyra does n ot allow her cha racters to develop far from a
limited nucleus of stereotypes: children are irmocent, manipulated
and mistreated; the poor are humble, loving and good; the wealthy
ar e powerful. Among the wea lthy, the re are two classifications: the
intelligent and cruel, such as Sergio's father and aunt; and the
unintelligent, such as Sergio's mother an d uncle. The u nintelligent
wealthy do inflict pain (such as the abandonment by Cinta), but the
narrator forgives them for their actions as being due to stupidity
rather than intended cruelty.
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Sergio ma intain s his relationship w itii Can delaria a nd Miguel
wh ile living with Concha. Can delaria finds work with an o th er family,
b u t com es to see Sergio on Sun days, he r day off. Miguel com es from
time to time to give Sergio a violin lesson, and often he passes
through the neighborhood with the pre tense of sharpening knives,
jus t to sit and visit with Sergio. On his visits he b rings cook ies a n d
sweets m ad e by Can delaria. He fully un de rst an ds Sergio's longing for
ho m e an d th e family he has lost. Sergio imagin es Miguel's feelings as
m uc h like his own: "Y yo vi en los ojos del viejo un a gr an tristeza.
Pense que Miguel queria ver el mar por donde podria volver a su
casa, alia do nd e vivia su herm anita Sava, la que cu an do p artiera , se
quedo diciendole adios desde una colina, con un panuelito bianco"
(317).
Sergio's imaginary, invented world with Ana Maria is not a
stable one, and soon Ana Maria is need ed to accom pany an d care for
Aunt Concha on an extended stay in Europe. Sergio's father, Juan
Pablo, remarries and agrees to take Sergio as well as Gracia into his
new home, but Sergio refuses and is sent to a boarding school in the
city of Cartago, where he is separated from Candelaria and Miguel by
th e dista nc e. In the few letters he receives from A na M aria, she
confesses that she has told others that she has a brother named
Sergio in Costa Rica.
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W hile at th e bo arding school Sergio is visited by his pa re nts .
The first visit is by his father. He does not bring Gracia, but ra the r,
his thr ee new son s, all of whom lack physical pro blem s. The olde st is
na m ed for his father, Juan Pablo, who brings the th ree boys to offer
pres en ts to Sergio. However, the real mo tive is m ore likely to show
Sergio his o ther "tru e" sons, illustrating how a real son should be.
The im plicit com parison is cruel. Yet Sergio is seemingly un hu rt by
the visit. They leave and Sergio resum es playing the violin,
indifferent to their departure.
The se cond visit, however, almost destroy s Sergio. Symbolic of
tre m en do us chan ges to occur, it is New Year's Day. Before the arrival
of Cinta, a strange happ iness foreshadows the even t: "Dia de an o
nu ev o. ~ Mis compafieros juegan en el patio y sus gritos se
confunden con el murmullo del viento. Cae una ganjia finisima
irisada por los rayos del sol. Estoy alegre sin saber por que" (357).
Cinta's visit comes without warning. Unlike the cold indifference
Sergio feels when his father comes to visit, the arrival of his mother
pulls him back into the reality of home and family: "Por un m om ento
pierdo la nocion d e las cosas . . . Se borra la luz en las ventan as . . . Al
volver en mi tengo apoyada la cabeza en el pecho de mama" (358).
Cinta arrives with two children from her new marriage to the
Peru vian e ngin eer. Like Sergio's father, she also has had thr ee new
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ch ild ren , replacin g Sergio, Gracia an d M ercedes. Sergio is
immediately drawn to these three, unlike the children of his father.
He cries w he n h e sees that th e l i tt ie girl looks ve ry m uc h like
M erced es. However, his conv ersation with his m oth er reveals an
ugly reality to Sergio. Although she affirms, "He vuelto a Costa Rica
porque no podia mas [sic] Ay Sergio, vivo con el pe ns am ie nt o
pa rtid o e n do s, un a m itad con ustedes, la otra con ellos" (359-360 ),
Sergio sees her for the first time with eyes of an adult:
jAy jotros hijos y otro s intereses A rato s ha bl ab a con
seriedad y tristeza; por sus ojos y su boca pasaba un
soplo,
y yo creia que la pena iba a apagarlos, pero
enseguida la l lama se reanimaba; entonces me parecia ver
su alma, una alma en la cual no habia el recuerdo de su
hijita m ue rta , ni el de G racia, ni el de Sergio qu e iba p or la
vida en una s i l la de ruedas. . . . mama agi ta su mano
enguantada en serial de despedida.
Un nudo me aprieta la garganta y siento que va a
estallar mi llanto.
-Mama, levanta e l ve lo para ver te ~le pido.
Lo hace, y que to nto soy, me m altrata m irar su
rostro i luminado como siempre y no ensombrecido por la
p en a. ^No h ab ra en su interio r un dolor parec ido al mio?
(361)
Cinta informs him that she no longer lives in Peni, but rather,
in Colom bia. For m an y years Sergio has tho ug ht of Pen i as some
place magical, pe rha ps safe, such as their former h om e. His mo the r
ha s bee n living there. In school he learned of the great d istance
betw een Costa Rica an d Peni an d tr ied to imagine this cou ntry an d
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con side r it a safe have n for his m othe r. However, just as he realizes
that his mother has not longed for him as he thought, he realizes that
she has no t bee n living in Peru, either. Everything abou t his m oth er
ha s bee n false. Mem ory of the past has deceived him. His re ah ty is
now different, an d h e protects himself from this ugly pas t by
replacing his m othe r with Candelaria, summ oning up the mem ories
of his "Mama Canducha" alongside Miguel. He relives his childhood
within th e confines of the boarding school and completely re places
Cinta with Candelaria . Although Cinta has informed him tha t she will
be in Cartago for fifteen days and will return every day, luckily,
Sergio never sees her again.
Soon after the visit from Cinta, Ana Maria re tu rn s to Costa Rica
with Concha an d Jose. As Sergio has grown into an ad ult, so has Ana
Maria. He re tu rn s to live in the house of Concha and Jose, feeling
disillusioned by the appe arance of Ana Maria. He ha d expected to
find the littie girl tha t he missed so much, bu t instead has
encountered a young lady, well traveled in Europe and fluent in
French.
. Ana Maria ha s always considered Sergio as he r bro the r. In a
lette r from Europe, she defines their relationsh ip as such . Sergio
ne ve r comm ents on this definition. However, when she re tur ns , she
is in love with a Costa Rican who had been studying in Europe as
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well. Sergio feels very distant from Ana Maria. Although she treats
him as she did before, he suddenly realizes that he has nev er
cons idered he r as a sister:
iQue ton to era Como no podia confiar a nad ie este
sen tim iento extrafio e inefable, lo confio a su violin y fue
entonces cuand o escribiera por prim era vez las arm onias
escuchadas en su interior, su primera
"romanza sin
palabras'\
un trozo de mtisica de esos que solo
coimiueven a la gente joven y romantica y que hacen
estirar los labios despectivamente a los mtisicos viejos de
gusto depurado. (366)
Sergio does not have to confront his emotions at this time, however.
W ithin a few m onth s, Ana Maria gives birth to a child an d the father
disa ppe ars. Concha considers forcing the man to m arry Ana Maria,
un til she discovers th at he is from a distinguished family. Ana Maria
would not be allowed to marry simply because, as an orphan, she
cannot be sure who her parents were, or from what social level they
cam e. Much like Carmen Lyra's own m other. Ana Maria must raise
her child alone.
Ana M aria leaves the house of Concha and Jose, an d Sergio is
sent to an asylum for the incurably ill, where M ama Ca nducha
accom panies him . In the asylum, Sergio finds himself su rro un de d by
ver y sad situations . His own infirmity seems slight wh en com pare d
to the other s. His accomm odations are pleasant, and C andelaria is
th er e with him, but he still is incred ibly lonely for Ana Maria. He
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retreats into his violin, spending hours each day working on music.
His co rres po nd en ce with Ana Maria continues as before, thr ou gh
le tte rs. Th is tim e, how ever, it is Sergio wh o affirms the ir
relationship by referring to her as "hermana mla" and to her son, also
named Sergio, as "mi sobrino."
Sergio's music becomes known throughout the asylum, and one
da y is ov erh ea rd by a well-known visiting comp oser from England,
n am ed Clovis Shirley, a foreigner, who is dra w n to Sergio as was
M iguel. Unlike Miguel how ever, Shirley is a ve ry wealth y v isitor,
an d well-known mus ician, merely passing thro ug h Costa Rica. He ha s
never heard anyone play the violin with as much passion as Sergio,
as music had become Sergio's principal interaction with the world:
Por sobre la musica el corazon de Sergio podia corretear
con la alegria de un niiio sano sobre un campo en
pr imavera . Y no solamen te correte ar, sino volar. De ntro
de su cuerpo, condenado al recogimiento, su corazon
estuvo en cerr ado como entre un capullo, hasta el dia e n
que la armonia de los sonidos vino a ponerle alas. Las
nota s negras sem bradas en los pentagram as, fueron pa ra
su espiritu como unos guijarros q ue indicaban la sen da
qu e cond ucia hacia un palacio enc anta do . (275)
Shirley arra ng es for Sergio to play in the National Th eater . Once his
music is he ar d b y others, suddenly the forgotten outcast of society
becom es truly appre ciated . Shirley also gives Sergio eno ug h m on ey
to continue his study in his own home, surrounded by Candelaria,
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M iguel, Gracia an d Ana M aria. Finding them selves in a stable
situation . Ana Maria an d G racia open a dressma ker 's sh op, and Sergio
gives violin lessons. Good fortune continues and they are able to
pu rch ase their family ho m e where they lived as chi ldren.
Not long after they are all reunited, they receive a letter from
Cinta, along with a ph oto grap h of her with her thre e children. Her
letter , tender and kind, informs them that she now lives in
Arg entina. She ap pe ars to be very wealthy. Sergio, thril led to
receive w ord from her , kisses the pho togra ph, while Gracia, who has
never seen her mother since she abandoned them as children, is
ov erw he lm ed . She cries silentiy an d asks Sergio if pe rh ap s th eir
mother loves the other children more than them.
After six years of great unhappiness, Gracia slowly returns to
normal, marries one of Sergio's friends, and continues living in the
sam e hom e. Ana Maria also retu rns to he r former self. Being very
attractive she has suitors, something not permitted earlier in her l ife
because of her social status. However, she rejects her suitors when
th ey sp eak of m arria ge . Explaining to Sergio she says:
-N u n c a te ab an do na re, Sergio, nu nca . Con tu carifio y el
de mi hijo se llena mi corazon. Y ya ves, todavia me
q u ed an los de Miguel y Can delaria. Si Dios no s d eja,
l legaremo s a viejos, yo pastorea nd ote y vos d ejan do te
pa stor ear, ^No te parec e un porv enir ag radable?
Despues mi hijo se casara y nos dara n ie to s . . . iQue
viejillos mas buenos seremos?
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Yo repUco: -N o , Ana Maria, sos muy joven y el
am or puede volver a buscarte y . . .
Me m ira intensam ente y veo en sus ojos ima
revelacion que me deslumbra. No me deja term inar.
-S i , el am or ha vuelto, Sergio . . . me parece el
primero . . . pero no hablemos de eso . . . (425)
Sergio and Ana Maria have been raised as brother and sister.
Although not brother and sister by blood, they also have
acknowledged the relationship as such, referring to one another as
br ot he r an d sister. The suggestion that they now assume the roles of
father an d m othe r, m an a nd wife hints of incest, and is left as only a
suggestion by C armen Lyra.
Sergio sleeps after this revela tion. The nove l en ds with his
dre am , in which Ana Maria is old, and her son is an a dult. Together
the y lift a child into the air. Next to them, Sergio is a tree w ith a
ve ry s trong trunk , an d legs which have become thick, strong, black
roots in the grou nd. In his dream , Sergio has become the s upp ort
and the strength of the family he has chosen, a sharp contrast to the
fragile childhood Sergio.
W ithin the nove l, four separa te time periods exist. Th e first
encom passes Sergio's early childhood. Sergio's mem ories differ from
the narrator's analysis of the situation, and in them he lives in a
perfect w orld, sur rou nd ed by a caring family. He does not pity
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himself as tiie narr ato r does, no r does he interpre t his father's
abse nce as aba ndo nm ent. In his world things are simple an d
inn oc en t. As this time of innocence begins to disintegrate, Sergio
unkn ow ingly begins to establish his second family.
During the second time period, Sergio lives with his aun t an d
imcle, and loses his sisters, one to distance and one to d eath .
However, he g ains anoth er sister. Ana Maria, together with som e
unp leas ant pa ren t figures: Concha and Jose. The second time period
also ends ab m pti y as Concha, Jose and Ana Maria aban do n Sergio for
three years while they travel through Europe. Although they try to
reestablish their former situation upon retuming, it does not function
as pla nn ed an d Sergio is sent away to an asylum.
The third time period is set in Cartago, with Sergio in the
asylum, atte nd ed by Candelaria, experiencing a type of limbo,
isola ted from the family un it, yet still m anip ulate d by it. Both visits
by his father and mother constitute reenactments of the original
abandonment, perhaps more painful still due to the fact that they
both bring new children who have replaced Sergio, Mercedes and
Gracia.
In the fourth time period, Sergio, now a young m an in his
twenties, and his chosen family are miraculously reunited thanks to
the ch ance visit of Clovis Shirley and Sergio's violin. Their re tu rn to
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the family home is symbolic as the return to a happier time, a more
inn oc ent tim e. In this final period, Sergio has once again moth er and
father figures in Miguel and Candelaria, his sister in Gracia, and an
undefined relationship with Ana Maria, changing from that of sister
to that of companion.
As time periods oscillate between positive and negative
cond itions, both c haracters a nd space are also defined in black an d
white terms within
En
una silla de ruedas. Positive cha rac ters are
not necessarily perfect, but rather, characters whose flaws, if notable,
are redeemed through suffering or overlooked because of their good
inte ntio ns. Negative charac ters are no t necessarily criminals, yet
the y tend to be selfish, egotistical an d neglectful. Children a re all
characterized as good, as are foreigners, excepting Rafael, the
eng ineer, w ho is neith er good or bad. He takes Cinta away, yet she is
responsible for her decision to leave.
Lyra presents within her novel obvious social dualism; wealthy
Costa Ricans are prese nted as bad, as evidenced by Juan Pablo,
Concha an d Jose, while the poor are uniformly ha rd workers,
innoce nt an d honest. There are no gray characters, with the
exception of Cinta, who may b e marginally or un intentionally bad,
but is loved unconditionally as the biological, original and
irreplaceable "mother" by her children.
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Space is also defined as good or bad within the nove l. Rojas
and Ovares consider space as directiy related to the condition of the
family: "La positividad/negatividad de los distintos espacios y la
oposicion
aqui/alia
esta ma rcada fundamentalmente por la
reunion/separacion
de la familia" (Rojas et al. 170). How ever, space
seems at times to acquire its own characteristics, regardless of the
family situ ation . The family hom e is positive space, full of gardens
with fruit trees , doves and r abb its. Inside, it is full of w arm th an d
love. W hen Sergio leaves his hom e to go live with his uncle an d
aunt, he envisions the house reacting to his departure:
Ya en la calle vuelvo los ojos pa ra m irar mi casa. AUi
qu ed a con sus grandes corred ores, que las flores rojas,
rosa das y blancas de los jardines ponen tan alegre. Tiene
las ventanas cerradas, como para no vemos salir, y sobre
el tejado las palomas alineadas esponjan al sol su plumaje.
. . . De la chimenea sale un jironcillo de hum o que ondu la
bajo el azul del cielo; yo imagino que es el pafiuelo con
que mama Canducha nos dice adios. (292)
The h om e of Concha and Jose possesses a very different perso nality
an d exu des an air which is completely opposite. Su rrou nde d by a
disagree able n eighbo rhoo d and isolated from the city, it stands close
to a noisy road which run s between San Jose an d G uadalupe. The
house itself is cold and uninviting:
El caseron es antiguo, de gmesas paredes, con ventanas
volad as [sic] y provistas de rejas de h ierro . A la en trada
ha y dos naranjos y sobre el tejado crecen hierb as. Las
hab itaciones son vastas y frias, con el pavimen to de
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ladrillos que mi tia hace encerar a men udo, y que a
pr im era vista se creer ian mojados. Los muebles son
pes ado s y gran dote s. La sala tiene un aspecto liigubre
con sus sillones y sofa forrados en tela oscura, en las
par ede s retra tos de abuelos de cara de pocos amigos y
dentro de un fenal una dolorosa enlutada y triste con el
coraz on atravesad o por pufiales. (294)
By con trast, althou gh the asylum is described as a positive
place, w ith its beautiful garde ns an d com fortable ro om s, within it
live a sad collection of misfits and social outcas ts, as well as e lderly
peo ple who have bee n discarded by their families. In accord with
Lyra's strict adherence to stereotypes, the people consigned to the
asylum are kind and good, undeserving of their abandonment.
Description within Lyra's novel differs from narrator to
na rra tor . The narra tion develops through several different narra tive
voices . The flrst, a third person, om niscient voice, tells of Sergio's
past, supporting the story with quoted speech:
El ancian o medico q ue lo vio nacer exclamo alegrem ente
cua ndo Sergio llego a este mundo , al mirarlo tan bien
confo rmado: -jBienvenido, mu chacho Se ve que
Nuestro Sefior estaba de buen hum or cu ando te hizo.
Aqui tenemos a uno a quien nos m andan bien arm ado
pa ra ir po r este valle de lagrimas. (238)
This reaction prove s cruelly ironic when the boy's illness conflnes
him for life to a wheelchair. The narra tor continues, interjecting
pres ent-ten se qu oted speech in the past-tense description. In
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addition to dialogue, the narrative also incorporates monologues in
the form of folk stories told by Cand elaria. About fifty pages into the
narrative, suddenly this established format ends and the narrator
turns the story over to Sergio:
Ha pasa do en tiempo . . . [sic]
-jCuantos afios han transcurrido desde aquellos dias -se
dice Sergio a si m ism o-a brien do su mem oria frente a un a
ve nta na llena de luz o en la oscuridad de la noche cuan do
esta solo y todos duermen:
Nada de lo pasado se ha perd ido. Recorro estos
recuerdos, como si recorriera una galeria de cuadros
pintad os po r si [sic] m is m o ... Me detengo como si yo no
fuera Sergio, ante cada uno de los Sergios sentados en su
silla de rued as . Es un a larga fila. Comienza una mafiana
en qu e el techo que cubria mi vida se de rru m bo , y la fila
se pierde en lo desconocido. (280-281)
Sergio's na rra tion continues shifting from one time perio d to ano ther,
blending and confusing various time planes. The majority of the
time he des cribe s th e past. Yet, occasionally he will switch to a
present tense narrative, suggesting the voice of the juvenile diarist:
"Mis herm anitas vienen a verme dos veces al m e s . . . Ahora voy a la
escuela. Antes no iba porque en casa mam a y Gracia me ensefiaban
letras y niim ero s" (325 ). Before Sergio can establish a firm time
plane, his narrative falls back into the past to foresee something that
will ha pp en in the future of his story: "Durante los afios que de nifio
pa sar a y o en la casona de San Francisco, en los primeros dias de cada
vera no, Ana Maria no dejaba quieta mi silla de ru e d a s .. ." (332).
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Once Ana M aria and Sergio are sep arated, Sergio's na rra tive
introdu ces letters from Ana Maria, whose voice is there by ad de d to
th at of the prota gon ist-nar rator. The text also contains da ted
sub tities ind icating that what follows comes from Sergio's dia ry . The
dia ry e ntries , being in pres ent tense, differ from Sergio's
retrospective narrative (outside of the diary) being more descriptive
of Sergio's feelings, ra th er than events. After his first diary en try,
the na rrativ e voice of the initial, third-person na rra tor retu rns .
From this point onward in the novel, several narrative voices
(omniscient third-person narrator, Sergio, Sergio's diary entries,
letters from Ana Maria and Sergio's sisters, letters from Jacinta)
alternate from one paragraph to the next, often separated by
supp orting dialogue. The novel ends with dialogue between Sergio
an d Ana M aria, enveloped by the omniscient voice.
Luz Ivette Martinez notes these sudden shifts in narrative
voice in her analysis of En una silla de ruedas. In add ition, she
comments on Lyra's interesting use of different verbal forms to
m anip ulate time w ithin the novel:
Esas formas v erbales tradicionales, junto al em pleo
del presente de indicativo, adquieren mayor significacion
cu and o Carmen Lyra las maneja en otra dimen sion. Es
evidente que en la novela no importa el tiempo
mensurable objetivamente, sino el tiempo vital, el tiempo
vivido por los personajes de la narra cion. Asi, adq uiere
rasgos de modemidad, pues se da ese reencuentro
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subjetivo con el tiempo pasad o que se intenta recu per ar
en un sentido proustiano. (44)
En una silla de ruedas
certainly typifies early Twentieth-C entury
litera ture in Costa Rica; however, it also contains man y m o de m traits,
especially Lyra's use of multi-voiced, or polypho nic na rra tive .
Most critics consider the novel to be Carmen Lyra's best work,
although it was never as popular as Cuen tos de mi tia Panchita, and
was not as widely read as were her political essays until much later
in the Twentieth Century.
Later Publications (1920-1949)
In 1919, together with other writers and teachers, Lyra helped
lead a large demonstration through downtown San Jose. The protest
resulted in burning the offices of the official newspaper. La
Informacion, and Alfonso Chase notes that:
Carmen Lyra tuvo una destacada p articipacion, como
oradora y conspiradora. AUi afirmo sus convicciones
politicas y tambien sus primeras intervenciones como
oradora de plaza ptibUca, como luchadora contra la
injusticia, la dictadura, el sistema imperante. (14)
One year later the Tinoco dictatorship feU and Julio Acosta was
app oin ted p resid ent. Wanting to restru cture the Costa Rican school
system, Acosta sent Carmen Lyra to Europe to study pedagogy in
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1920.
Th at same yea r she pubUshed her most famous work,
Cuentos de mi Tia Panch ita, a series of tales drawn from the oral
traditions found throughout the Americas. UtiUzing storylines and
ch ara cter s resembUng Uncle Remus from North America, and tio
Conejo from South America, Lyra rew rites well-known folk tales
with a distinctiy Costa Rican fiavor, adding new twists and turns to
old stories from oral trad itions, using idioms com mon to Costa Rica as
weU as a rich vocabulary of costarricanismos, and of course, the
voseo form of address:
Habia una vez un hombre muy torcido, muy torcido.
Parecia que el tuerce lo habia cogido de mingo. Como era
mas torcido que un cacho de venado, le pusieron el apodo
de Cacho de Venado y asi todo el m und o le Uamaba Juan,
Cacho e' Venao [sic] . . . Creyendo hacer u na gracia, se
caso, pe ro la paloma le salio un sapo, porq ue la mujer
tenia u n h um or q ue solo el santo Job la podia agu antar.
(37)
Lyra's stories abo un d in hum or an d wit. Through h er use of
costarricanismos and common idioms she takes universal folk tales
an d m akes them become local stories as well. In one story, Lyra
employs a version of the African literary form of the dUemma tale,
or judg m en t tale, hi he r story "Como tio Conejo les jugo sucio a tia
Ballena y a tio Elefante." Unlike its traditional African co un terp art
which uses a Tortoise for a trickster, Lyra uses Uncle Rabbit (tio
Conejo), a chara cter found in the mdigenous traditions of the
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Am erican contine nt. When tio Conejo hears th at tia Ballena an d tio
Elefante have decide to join forces and rule the earth, he rejects their
pla n a nd dec ides to mak e it backfire. Finding tia BaUena, tio Conejo
tricks he r in to helping him o ut of a difficult situation:
-T ia Ballena de Dios. jQue tiempo me la encu entro
jViera qu e cab allada me ha pasado ^Pues no se me
metio la unica vaquita que tengo entre un barrial como a
m edia legua de a q u i? .. . El caso es que aUi me la tiene en
ese atoUadero y como es tan poquita, esta Uora y Uora con
el bar ro h as ta el pescuezo . Por vida suyita Tia BaUena,
saquem e d e este apuro, uste que es el mas fuerte de
todos los animales y ademas tan nob le. (148)
A simUar s tory is told to tio Elefante. Each wishes to claim the titie of
the strongest animal on the earth, so they agree to help tio Conejo.
During their tug-of-war they discover each other on o ppos ite ends of
the ro pe . UrUike the dilemma tale in which the character s recognize
their trickster as a strong adversary and anticipate a decision
concerning who is the smartest or the best from the audience, they
do not recognize tio Conejo as the trickster. WhUe in the traditio nal
story Tortoise, Hippopotamus and Elephant must agree that all are
equ al, in Lyra's tale the trickster is definitely the sm arter of the
th re e. Not only do tia Ballena and tio Elefante fail to figure out who
is be hind the trick, the y con tinue their senseless tug-of-war, still
trying to prove who is the strongest.
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Ten tales in Cuentos de mi tia Panchita con cern or featu re tio
Con ejo. AU ten revolve aro un d tio Conejo's attem pts to ou tsm art
ot he rs. Often he himself becomes the victim of the pra nk . The
th ir te en rem ainin g stories in the collection presen t different
ch ara cter s. Often grotesque and fr ightening, bu t always funny, they
provide Costa Rican versions of widely known fables and fairy tales.
Ca rm en Lyra's coUection of folk tales was strong ly influen ced
by two factors. As a kin derg arten teacher, she used folk stories a nd
children's stories very much as part of her routine in the classroom.
How ever, she was also greatiy influenced by socialist conc epts of
folklore belonging to the working class. Evident in her stories are the
idioms, vocabulary and language usage common to the uneducated
Costa Rican worker that Lyra celebrates, whether it be in her
dialogue within folk tales, her archetype of the noble worker (En
una silla de ruedas), or figures dep icte d w ithin h er poUtical essa ys.
Upon rettorning to Costa Rica after European pedagogical
studies, Lyra founded the country's f irst kindergarten, in the
M ontesso ri trad ition . She also con tinue d writing, greatiy influenced
by new Russian authors emerging from the Bolshevik Revolution
(Chase 146 ). Her poUtical phUosophies provid ed th e focus of works
such as "El ba rrio Cothnejo-Fishy" (1923), an d "Bananos y ho m br es "
(1931).
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"El ba rri o C othnejo-Fishy" is a political satire describ ing a
ba rrio of we althy Costa Ricans, who ar e praised an d glorified for
the ir ma nipu lation and exploitation of others. OriginaUy "Conejo," the
famUy of Jose Manuel Conejo change their n am e to "C othnejo" to
cre ate a Euro pean m ystique. At the beginning of this essay,
originally pubUshed in the national periodical. La Careta, Lyra
explains that Jose Manuel Uved by ruthless greed, yet was admired
and considered an upstanding citizen:
A
mu chas pe rsonas arruino , mutilo y mato su ansia d e
acumular dinero bajo sus manos. Pero cosa extrafia:
cuan do m as estrujaba y maltrataba al projimo, may or era
su prestigio entre las gentes que ponen y quitan
gobiem os y m ayor el ntimero de consideraciones d e que
lo rod eab a lo que Uaman la buen a sociedad. (259)
Lyra's critical attitude toward the Costa Rican society of the
early 1900s becomes less tolerant th an before, as seen in E n una
silla de ruedas.
Now, instead of alluding to the wealthy elite as
mean, cruel and spiteful by placing them in an environment which
suggests "cold, dark, dam p an d uncomfortable," h er analysis is more
stark, scientific and unfeeUng:
Como el entomologo armado de lentes, pinzas,
frascos con cianuro y yeso o con alcohol, etc., se va a cazar
insectos y a o bservarlos, asi nosotros vam os al B arrio
Cothnejo-Fishy a examinar la forma y los hechos de las
gentes distinguidas de un centro aristocratico ubicado en
Costa Rica, un paisecito de Centro America de medio
miUon de habitantes que tiene mucho de Tarascin. Y los
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8/18/2019 Investigación sobre autoras c