Del otro lado de las cosas: Back to the Past and to Colonial Quito
Keywords:
memory, Francisco Proaño Arandi, Ecuadorian novel, Del otro lado de las cosas, Quito, identityAbstract
The author analyzes the two-level displacement of the main character of this novel by Francisco Proaño Arandi. The first, a journey in the physical space, is one back to colonial Quito; the second, a figurative journey, has to do with the search –and recovery– of his identity through the reconstruction of memory in its collective features as well as those pertaining to the character. For this recovery exercise to be fulfilled, Quito presents itself in the eyes of the reader as a city torn between the modern part and the colonial quarter; the real city shows itself as completely detached from the ideal city, that is, as living proof of its failure and, consequently, the failure of the modernizing project. The struggle of each person for a space to which belong, turns into a crucial matter in the urban sphere: to be in one place means to be protected from hell. That is the
drive that encourages the efforts of the main character created by Proaño Arandi. Loss of memory always turns into loss of the space –real and symbolic– humans need to build up their identity.
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