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On the banana novel in the Banana Republic. Some reflections on the canonization of one novelistic subgenre and the absence of another

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No. 24 (2025): April-September. Dossier: Central America in the Caribbean/The Caribbean in Central America
https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-4862.2025.78726

Abstract

From the 19th century until well into the 20th century, the economies and societies of Central American nations were based on the production and export of two main agricultural products: coffee and bananas. During the course of the 20th century and up to the present day, bananas have become the dominant metaphor, even the symbol, for the construction of imaginaries about the region—both in external perception and in self-perception—, for which literary and media representations have played a central role. Starting from the questions: Why is there a series of banana novels in Latin America and especially Central America?, and why are there few literary representations of coffee in Central America?, this essay analyzes the positioning of the banana novel in this discourse dominated by the topos of the Banana Republic. Resorting to a narratological analysis of the novel Mamita Yunai (1941) by Costa Rican Carlos Luis Fallas, which in literary studies has been characterized as a synecdoche of the canonized sub-genre banana novel/working class novel, the article reflects on its paradoxical role between questioning and reaffirming the discourse-imaginary of the banana republic, persistent even in the present day as in the novel Anchuria (2023) by Honduran Giovanni Rodríguez.

Keywords:

coffee, banana, banana culture, working class novel, banana novel, banana republic

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How to Cite
Mackenbach, W. (2025). On the banana novel in the Banana Republic. Some reflections on the canonization of one novelistic subgenre and the absence of another. Meridional. Revista Chilena De Estudios Latinoamericanos, (24), 113–142. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-4862.2025.78726
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Meridional. Revista Chilena de Estudios Latinoamericanos
Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades
Universidad de Chile
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