Doubly Troubling Narratives Writing \u27The Oppression of Possibility\u27 in Puerto Rico and Cuba

Since the \u27boom\u27 of US ethnic writing, a number of writers have published novels dealing with the colonial-era Hispanic Caribbean. US-authored novels such as The Agüero Sisters (Cristina García, 1998) have received little critical attention in the USA. Similarly, English language novels written by Hispanic Caribbean authors such as The House on the Lagoon (Rosario Ferré, 1996) have received even less, if not hostile, critical attention from Caribbean scholars. Both novels locate the origins of Caribbean modernity in the violent movement from Iberian colonialism to US neo-colonialism. By comparing these novels\u27 narrative concerns about writing, history and race, the complex relationship between \u27possibility\u27 and \u27violence\u27 they depict is delineated. Such texts reflect a growing corpus of historical fiction about the Hispanic Caribbean and complicate the flawed and persistent schism between US Latina and Latin American literary traditions