The Critique of Neo-Colonialism and the Rethinking of Collective Identity in Papeles de Pandora (1976)

Abstract

Twentieth-century Puerto Rican literature was concerned with defining national identity in a historical context marked by the transfer of power between Spain and the United States. In response to attempts at foreign cultural assimilation, writers in the first half of the 20th century tried to delimit the constituent elements of the Puerto Rican national imaginary. However, the second half of the century saw the development of a literature that highlighted the shortcomings of the definition of Puerto Rico that had been proposed by previous generations. Among the voices that called for a change in Puerto Rican literature was Rosario Ferré. This research focuses on eleven of the stories that form part of her first work, Papeles de Pandora (1976), with the aim of analysing the similarities and differences established around the colonial question and the definition of collective identity that had been theorised by the representatives of cultural nationalism in the first half of the 20th century.