Word: erendira
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...miraculous is what the reader remembers from the title story in Garcia Marquez's new short story collection, "Innocent Erendira and Other Stories. With the simplicity and innocence of a fairy tale, Garcia Marquez weaves dreams, superstitions and magic into a serious and disturbing story of a cruel matriarch's domination over her lovely and obedient granddaughter. Garcia Marquez's imagination gives the story charm and life which enhances its relevance and meaning...
...central figure in Erendira is the corpulent grandmother who exerts ironfisted control--Marquez calls it a spell--over her granddaughter. When a "wind of misfortune" knocks over Erendira's candle igniting a fire that destroys the grandmother's opulent estate, the grandmother "with sincere pity" sells Erendira into a life of prostitution...
...grandmother leads Erendira on a bizarre odyssey across the desert to search for customers for Erendira's favors. As revenue begins to roll in, the grandmother restores the gaudy splendor of her old estate although her new empire is more of a traveling carnival which slowly expands to include Indian bearers, a photographer on a bicycle, a brass band, and numerous ox-carts packed with trinkets. At first the grandmother reminds Erendira cheerily that she only has eight years, seven months and eleven days more of slavery, if receipts continue at the same rate...
...Erendira is physically incapable of revolt although her thoughts turn to it often. On one level Marquez is pointing out the stifling effects that can result from deeply ingrained traditions of family loyalty, particularly strong in Latin cultures. Also, he is protesting any form of authoritarian rule when it passes the bounds of reason and dignity...
FICTION: Final Payments, Mary Gordon -Innocent Erendira and Other Stories, Gabriel Garcia Márquez -Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer -The Execution of Mayor Yin, Chen Jo-hsi -The Left-Handed Woman, Peter Handke -The World According to Garp, John Irving