This study compares the influence of the childhood homes of three Latin American authors on the creation of the microcosms in which their masterworks, Cien años de soledad, Al filo del agua and Pedro Páramo, are set. The origins of the names of the locations are analyzed. The importance of the physical geography of the authors' homelands is investigated as is the history of their countries, especially that part of history which has touched them personally. The influence of the people who surrounded them as children is observed and the magical, mystical qualities of the childhood experience are finally presented to complete the picture of how microcosms much broader and universally appealing than the authors' real surroundings, yet somehow inextricably bound to them, were created.

Autorentext

The Author: Wilma Detjens received her B.A. from the University of California at Davis, her Master's from California State University at Sacramento and her Doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Delta Pi. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures at The Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas.

Zusammenfassung
"'Home as Creation' is a highly readable, accessible, and originally conceived study of three major works in Latin American fiction. Given the importance of the three novels studied in the development of fiction in Latin America in the past fifty years, such a book would be a welcome addition for students of Latin American literature." (Gwen Kirkpatrick, University of California, Berkeley)