Colonizing the Self

Nineteenth-century autobiographical narratives have given us a curious perspective into the early manifestations of Latin American writing as well as into Latin America’s emergence from colonial status to nationhood. Sylvia Molloy, in At Face Value, maintains that the autobiographical works of these new nations became a form of historical account, a personalized insertion of the authorial I/(eye) witness in the historical process. Thus, the personal, private history of the individual functions metonymically within the national discourse.2 Travel narratives stemming from the autobiographical impulse of constructing the self through the travel metaphor confront us with a unique perspective into a privileged site of confluence where the individual voice acts (however reluctantly) as a vessel for a dominant ideology.