The Story of Je: An Evidence of Ethnofiction in Los abuelos de cara blanca (1991), by Manuel Mejía Vallejo
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.elc.349625Keywords:
Manuel Mejía Vallejo, Los abuelos de cara blanca, Embera mythology, anthropology and literature, ethnofictionAbstract
It is common for writers who venture into Native American topics, such as mythology, to be regarded as anthropologists. However, this approach may also be translated into literary artifices that manipulate the ethnographic data. This paper ponders the project of compilation and rewriting of myths carried out by Manuel Mejía Vallejo (1923-1998) in Los abuelos de cara blanca (1991). The analysis focuses on an Embera myth, the story of Je, the snake, included in the novel, to conclude that, more than a ‘natural’ exercise of anthropological mimesis, what is being witnessed is a commitment to ethnofiction.
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