Lacuna is “an opening, like a mouth, that swallows things… It goes into the belly of the world.”
I loved this novel. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver has one foot in Mexico, one foot in the U.S, as does its protagonist who lives years in both countries. It takes place throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and captures a strong sense of the public sentiment and cultural feel at the time in each nation surprisingly well. Kingsolver is the rare author of historical fiction who gives balanced importance to her characters and the historical events going on around them, not letting them be overshadowed by the loudness of the history they’re living through. In this case, it’s the communist movement in Mexico, Kahlo and Rivera, Trotsky’s exile there, World War II, the McCarthy era, on and on. In the end, the character finds a way to slip behind this historical backdrop and context, quietly escape into anonymity just as the U.S. is blossoming into the loudmouth, sound byte culture we have perfected today.
Highly recommend it! And Kingsolver is doing a reading in NYC at Cooper Union on Sept 28.
***********************
Lacuna Found at Teotihuacan
Unbeknownst to me when I wrote this post a few weeks ago, INAH archeologists recently found a ritual tunnel under the Temple of the Plumed Serpent at Teotihuacan. Apparently this is the first tunnel they have been able to find and open at Teotihuacan. It was closed and sealed tight with huge stones thousands of years ago. Check out the article in Spanish here.
Another thing found just below the surface.
In other news, INAH is getting some heat again, from a group of protesters who demand that the Museo Nacional de Antropología return Tlaloc to the indigenous community it came from in Texcoco. Of course they refuse to budge. The eternal discussion, do treasures like these belong in museums or with the communities whose ancestors created them, to whom they have incredible cultural significance?
