37 125 ............................................................................... CROSSROADS.A JOURNALOFENGLISHSTUDIES39 (2022) (CCBY-NC-SA4.0) ANNA MARIA KARCZEWSKA1 DOI: 10.15290/CR.2022.39.4.09 University of Białystok, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7487-7807 Latin American Documentary Narratives. The Intersections of Storytelling and Journalism in Contemporary Literature by Liliana Chávez Díaz, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021, 312 pp. ISBN: 9781501366031. £ 64.80. TheMexican journalist JuanVilloroclaimsthat theLatinAmericanchronicle (crónica) is the platypus of prose. Similarly to the platypus that brings to mind various species (aduck, anotter, abeaver) andremainsoutsideonerigidcategory, thechronicle,which resembles different genres, is in fact a genre of its own. Like the novel, it narrativizes the world of characters, creates an illusion of life, and transports the reader to the centre of events; like the short story, it compresses adramatic sense into a short space, 1 Address for correspondence: University of Białystok, Faculty of Philology, Centre for Literary Studies, Pl.NZS1, 15-420Białystok,Poland.E-mail: a.karczewska@uwb.edu.pl BOOK REVIEW https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7487-7807 126 ............................................................................... CROSSROADS.A JOURNALOFENGLISHSTUDIES39 (2022) (CCBY-NC-SA4.0) thus implying that reality ismeaningful andspeaksa languageof its own; like the inter- view, it contains dialogues; like the modern theatre-play, it reorders spatial and tempo- ral elementsof theplot-line; like theGreco-Latin theatre-play, it featuresapolyphonyof witnesses (acting like a kind of chorus); like the essay, it puts forward strong opinions; and like the autobiography, it is informed by memorial tonality and a first-person perspective. The catalogue of influences can be extended almost ad infinitum (Villoro 2016:n.p.).TheVenezuelan journalistBorisMuñozmaintains that if thechronicle is like aplatypus, reportersaremore likebats, becausedespitebeingmammals likemost land animals, they fly. To fly, in this figurative sense, means to use the language to give writing a certain verbal aestheticismandauseof the imagination thatmakes it literary (Muñoz2012: 630). In the 19th century, Latin American writers began experimenting with hybrid forms of narrative. It was a quest for new ways of storytelling, for a hybrid form, in which, according to Anibal Gonzales and Alejo Carpentier, the journalist and the novelist became the same person. In Latin American culture there is no clear definition of the chronicle.AlbertoFuguet, aChileanwriter, admits thathedoesnotknowwhatachron- icle is, and that he fails to distinguishbetween journalismand fictionwhen it comes to writing, because they represent the same “gaze” (Aguilar 2010: 159).What is more, the chronicle isnot theonlygenrepracticedbyLatinAmerican journalists.AsMarkKramer says, “the genre of telling true stories goes by many names” (Kramer & Call 2007: xv). Chronicle (crónica), reportage (reportaje), interview (entrevista), testimonio, creative nonfiction, to name but a few, all these occupy an in-between space stretching from journalism to fiction, andall of themcanbecalled theplatypusesofprose, orbetter, as LilianaChávezDíazproposes, “LatinAmericandocumentarynarratives”. Liliana Chávez Díaz, who specializes in contemporary Latin American narrative, and who has been a cultural and investigative journalist, in her recently published book Latin American Documentary Narratives. The Intersections of Storytelling and Journalism in Contemporary Literature ventures into complex terrain to contribute to our understand- ing of various hybrid journalistic genres (such as testimonio, crónica, new journalism, literary reportage, non-fiction). She decides to give them one common name: “Latin American documentary narratives” in the face of their hybridity and fluid boundaries, andexplores themasaLatinAmericanculturalphenomenon. Chapter 1 constitutes a historical overview of testimonio, crónica and literary journal- ism, and discusses their stylistical differences. The question that arises is why the author presents only three of the hybrid journalistic genres practiced in Latin America and does not take part in the discussion on the differences between reportaje, crónica, entrevista, and noticia, and does not present their history as was the case with testimo- nio, crónica and literary journalism. The author briefly mentions reportaje and crónica (79), and interviewandnews(112), andreturns to themlater, inChapter6.However, it is 127 ............................................................................... CROSSROADS.A JOURNALOFENGLISHSTUDIES39 (2022) (CCBY-NC-SA4.0) unclearwhyshedoesnotgive themmoreattention inChapter1,whichwassupposed to constitute “a historical overview of diverse genres” (8). Such prominent journalists as GermánCastroCaycedo, JuanJoséHoyosandDanielSamperPizano2,whodiscussed the complexities of history and the nomenclature of the aforementioned genres, are not even mentioned in Chávezs̓ book. However, once Chávez moves to the analysis of the primary texts, Latin American Documentary Narratives shines. In Chapter 1 the author also proposes a new reading of “documentary narratives”, which concentrates on the processofproduction, style ofwriting, ethical approach, and theencounterof the jour- nalistswith their informants. InChapter2Chávezconcentrateson twoworks: GabrielGarcíaMárquezs̓The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor3 (1955) and Rodolfo Walshs̓ Operation Massacre4 (1957), which are credited as the first major non-fiction novels of investigative journalism and antecedents of contemporary documentary narratives. Chávez undertakes their detailedanalysis. Chapter 3 focuses on the life stories and works of Elena Poniatowska and Carlos Monsiváis,who isoneof the founding fathersofLatinAmericannarrative journalismin the twenty-first century. Chávez analyses the works of these two chroniclers of Mexico City. The chapter describes their different worldviews, styles, methodology, their emotional commitment to theirwork, and therepresentationof ʻothers.̓ In Chapter 4 Chávez examines the narratives of Argentinian writer Tomás Eloy Martínez and the history behind them, and proposes a palimpsestic reading of Martínezs̓ variousworks and visions of JuanPerón (Peronist cycle). At a timewhen the Argentine press was in crisis, journalists disappeared, and Perón maintained state censorship, Martínez believed that to write about Argentinian reality one had to resort to fiction, which, followingWilliam Faulkners̓ idea, was far “more true” than any kind of journalism(qtd inThompson1979:106).However, journalistshavegiven testimony to life in Latin America, perhaps more vivid and more complex than the novel. And 4 FirstEnglish languageedition: 2013, translatedbyDaniellaGitlin. 2 For furtherdiscussion, see, forexample: JuanJoséHoyos.2009.Lapasiónde contar: el periodismonarrat- ivo en Colombia, 1638-2000,Medellín:EdicionesHombreNuevo;Daniel SamperPizano. 2004.Antología de grandes reportajes colombianos. Bogotá:Aguilar. 3 Theauthorof Latin American Documentary Narratives used theoriginal titles of theseworks inSpanish. The full title is The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor: Who Drifted on a Liferaft for Ten Days Without Food or Water,WasProclaimedaNationalHero,KissedbyBeautyQueens,MadeRichThroughPublicity,andwasThen Spurned by the Government and Forgotten for All Time. First English languageedition: 1986, translatedby RandolphHogan. 128 ............................................................................... CROSSROADS.A JOURNALOFENGLISHSTUDIES39 (2022) (CCBY-NC-SA4.0) although their texts often read like good novels, they are about facts. Their language springs fromurgency, fromnecessity, andachievesa total representationof life. Chapter 5 concentrates on social and environmental issues in the works of the Mexican JuanVilloro and the Argentinian Martín Caparrós, who, according to Chávez, are “two of the best chroniclers in contemporary Latin America” (2022: 135). Chávez analyses the research methods and literary devices used by these chroniclers in their respectiveworksThe Fear in the Mirror. A Chronicle of the Earthquake in Chile (2010)andA Moon. A Hypertravel Diary (2009), which were born out of their private writing and recount dramatic experiences in Chile, in the case of Villoro, and in different parts of theworld in thecaseofCaparros̓work. Thepresenceofviolence in thehistoryofLatinAmericahasbeencontinuousandhas manifested itself in differentways.Violence is nowrecognized as a complex andmulti- dimensional phenomenon that permeates the core of many Latin American societies, and is also interlinked with an extremely high incidence of insecurity and fear. The differentmanifestationsof violence contrast, overlapand intertwinewith eachother to form a very complex layering of multiple practices. In recent decades, Latin America has also produced the highest rates of urbanization, poverty and exclusion, and it has definitely been a place where being a journalist has often been a dangerous profession (Moser & McIlwaine 2004: 41). Chapter 6 analyses what Chávez calls “documentary metafictions”, life stories of violence published by such authors as Leila Guerriero (Argentina), Cristian Alarcón (Chile), Arturo Fontaine Talavera (Chile) and Santiago Roncagliolo (Peru). The author examines the ways they represent ʻothersʼ in times of violent oppressive regimes and social crisis, and the relationship between the journal- ists and their sources. Appendix to the book consists of transcripts of interviews Chávez conducted with Elena Poniatowska, Leila Guerriero, Christian Alarcón, Arturo Fontaine, Santiago Roncagliolo, Francisco Goldman, Martín Caparrós, and Juan Villoro. It seems unclear why Francisco Goldman is on the list of the interviewed journalists. He is a US novelist and journalistwhocovered thewars inCentralAmericaandwroteanonfictionaccount of the assassination of a Guatemalan Catholic Bishop in a 2007 book The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?, but he writes in English. Shouldnʼt his journalism be analysed in thecontextofAmerican journalism? Although Chávezs̓ analysis of different journalistic genres remains at times unclear, and becomes foggier in an international context (new journalism, reportaż zaan- gażowany, literary reportage, periodismo narrativo, etc.), the books̓ strength lies in the brilliant reading of the corpus of the texts. Chávezs̓ work is an important study of the Latin American hybrid journalistic narratives, the platypuses of prose. It is important also fromtheperspectiveofpostcolonial traumanarrativesasChávezanalyses the texts 129 ............................................................................... CROSSROADS.A JOURNALOFENGLISHSTUDIES39 (2022) (CCBY-NC-SA4.0) which show interest in the experiences and sufferings of those belonging to non-West- erncultures (see:Craps2013). Journalism is a profession at the service of the right to know, and the documentary narratives analysed in Chávezs̓ book give voice to those who have suffered. They draw attention to exploitation and injustice, and describe the reality that might otherwise be unknown.Victimshavearight to tell theirownstories,andtheyhavearight toberecog- nizedas legitimate sourcesof truth. Storytellingand“narrative truth” contribute to “the processof reconciliationbygivingvoice to individual subjectiveexperiences” (Borraine 2002: 152). It is also away “to speak for others and toothers” (Felman1995: 14). Bhabha claims that the right tonarratemeans the right tobeheard, tobe recognizedandrepre- sented, andcontinues that: Thearts andhumanities contribute to theprocess of cultural translationbypropagating andprotectingwhat I call the “right tonarrate”—theauthority to tell stories, recount or recast histories that create thewebof social life andchange thedirectionof its flow. The right tonarrate is not simply a linguistic act; it is also ametaphor for the fundamental human interest in freedomitself, the right tobeheard—tobe recognized and represented. (Bhabha2014: n.p.) Suchaviewwaspropagated in the1980sby the lawand literaturemovement, and the legal storytelling movement. In the 1990s, they tried to converge studies of legal and witness testimony into a storytelling imperative, and they entered into dialogue with LatinAmerican testimonioand traumastudies (StonePeters 2012: 20-21). Engagedstory- telling has the capacity to illuminate history, time, and experience through narratives that invite listeners to find their respective places within these stories, and to actively move beyond them. Stories, to use Hayden Whites̓ thought, translate knowing into telling. They allow for coherence, integrity, fullness and closure, especially in the case of traumaexperience. Stories transmitmessages, impose ameaningon the events, and help survivors of trauma make sense of their experiences. Stories and storytelling are central to human experience and understanding. Liliana Chávez Díazs̓ book is dedi- cated to it, and it also opens a lively international discussion about the many facets of LatinAmericandocumentarynarratives.Among thepoints indiscussionsare theparal- lelsbetweenLatinAmericandocumentarynarrativesand theirNorthAmericancousin. In theperiodof the1950s-1970s therewere twoparallel literary journalisms inLatinand AngloAmerica.Both registered the social, political, andeconomic transformations that wereoccurringonbothcontinents.Amongthemorenotableauthorsofsuch journalism in the United States were Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Jimmy Breslin and John Sack. Among those in Latin America were Gabriel García Márquez, Rodolfo Walsh, and Miguel Barnet. Both groups produced some of the most 130 ............................................................................... CROSSROADS.A JOURNALOFENGLISHSTUDIES39 (2022) (CCBY-NC-SA4.0) compelling narrative nonfiction in their respective languages. But although their style of writing and the techniques they used were similar (recording everyday details, detailed descriptions, scene-by-scene construction, for example), the political and cultural contexts in which they wrote their stories were very different, and that is why theirnarrativeprojectsweredifferent in scopeandnature (Calvi 2010: 63-64). Thebookalsoopensadiscussionabout the representationof theOther, truth-telling, and shows thatmore research in this area is needed, including thedocumentarynarra- tives from other countries in Latin America. Chávez shows her readers that documen- tary narratives form a group of interrelated genres with fluid boundaries and flimsy barriers. They are also related to others, such as travel literature, memoirs, historical andethnographic essays, and fictional or semi-fictional literature.To show thatChávez entered murky waters in taking up the topic of documentary narratives, suffice it to quote Darío Jaramillo Agudelo about Villoros̓ definition of the platypus of prose: “the platypus is much more platypus than the one Villoro saw as a platypus”5 (Jaramillo Agudelo 2012: 16). The topic is a challenging one but the author coped with the matter extremely well, and her book is a vital contribution to the field. Latin American Docu- mentary Narratives, despite the aforementioned minor shortcomings, is an obligatory read for anyone interested in the subject, andgives its readersmany jumping-off points fromwhich to immerse themselves in this fieldof inquiry. References Aguilar, M. 2010. Alberto Fuguet: en fuga. In: M. Aguilar (ed.), Domadores de historia. Conversaciones con grandes cronistas de América Latina, 159-171. Santiago de Chile: UniversidadFinisTerrae,RILEditores. Bhabha,H.K. ʻTheRight toNarrate,̓ Harvard Design Magazine, No. 38 (2014), available at: www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/38/the-right-to-narrate [accessed: 19 February 2022]. Boraine,A.2002.TruthandReconciliationinSouthAfrica:TheThirdWay. InR. I.Rotberg &D.Thompson(eds.),Truthv. Justice, 141–157.Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress. Calvi, P. 2010. Latin America's Own New Journalism, Literary Journalism Studies, 2: 2, Fall, 63-83. Craps, S. 2013. Postcolonial Witnessing. Trauma out of Bounds, London: Palgrave, Macmillan. Felman,S. 1995.EducationandCrisis,or theVicissitudesofTeaching. InC.Caruth (ed.), Trauma: Explorations in Memory, 13-44. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress. 5 “[…]elornitorrincoesmuchomásornitorrincoque loque levioVillorodeornitorrinco” 131 ............................................................................... CROSSROADS.A JOURNALOFENGLISHSTUDIES39 (2022) (CCBY-NC-SA4.0) Interview with Juan Villoro. 2016. La crónica es un ornitorrinco. Charlando con JuanVilloro, April 8, available at www.iletradoperocuerdo.com/2016/04/08/la-cronica- es-un-ornitorrinco-charlando-con-juan-villoro/ [Accessed20February2022]. Jaramillo Agudelo, D. (ed.) 2012. Antología de crónica latinoamericana actual, Madrid: Alfaguara. Kramer,M.&W.Call. 2007.Telling True Stories,NewYork:APlumeBook. Moser C. O. N. & C. McIlwaine. 2004. Encounters with Violence in Latin America. Urban poor perceptions from Colombia and Guatemala,NewYork:Routledge. Muñoz,B.2014.Notasdesabotonadas. In:D. JaramilloAgudelo (ed.), 627–631,Antología de crónica latinoamericana actual,Madrid:Alfaguara. Stone Peters, J. 2015. “Literature”, and the “Rights of Man”, and Narratives of Atrocity: HistoricalBackgrounds to theCultureofTestimony. InE. S.Goldberg&A. Schultheis Moore (eds.), 19–40. Theoretical Perspectives on Human Rights and Literature, New York:Routledge. Thompson, H. S. 1979. Gonzo PapersVol. 1. The Great Shark Hunt. Strange Tales from aStrangeTime,NewYork: SimonandSchuster. *** Anna Maria Karczewska is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Literary Studies at the University of Białystok, Poland. She is a graduate in English and Spanish Philology. She has a Ph.D. in cultural studies from the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw. Her current research interests revolve around Latin American cultureandLatinAmerican literature. ANNA MARIA KARCZEWSKA DOI: 10.15290/CR.2022.39.4.09 Latin American Documentary Narratives. The Intersections of Storytelling and Journalism in Contemporary Literature by Liliana Chávez Díaz, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021, 312 pp. ISBN: 9781501366031. £ 64.80.