Colonial Tropes and Postcolonial Tricks: Rewriting the Tropics in the "Novela de la selva"

Abstract

The "novela de la selva" has often been interpreted as a belated imitation of European travel writing. This article, however, argues that novels such as W. H. Hudson's "Green Mansions", José Eustasio Rivera's "La vorágine", Romúlo Gallegos's "Canaima", and Alejo Carpentier's "Los pasos perdidos" played an indispensable role in the imaginative reconfiguration of postcolonial Latin America. Drawing upon Homi K. Bhabha's theory of 'colonial mimicry', I discuss how the "novela de la selva" parodies colonial travel writing, particularly the tropes of the sublime and tropical degeneration.