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Rosario Ferre's latest works of fiction, House on the Lagoon and Eccentric Neighborhoods, offended and angered many of Puerto Rico's artistic elite, in part because both books were first written in English then rewritten in Spanish (Hanley). Shortly afterward, she received further negative criticism for an article in the New York Times in which she presented her support for statehood for the island (Ferre, "Puerto Rico"). It appears as if Rosario Ferre had gone from one political extreme to the other: through most of her adult life she had been a staunch "independentista," and now she seems to embrace statehood and American culture.
Yet, by sharing her writings with the English-speaking majority, she promotes Puerto Rican literature-which in the past has suffered from neglect by mainstream publishers-and potentially helps both the United States and Puerto Rico come to a better mutual understanding. Since language is an essential part of cultural identities, it is of special importance to Ferre and her writings.
In her story "Amalia," which is part of her first anthology: Papeles de Pandora (1976), Ferre uses hybrid writing. In doing so, she shows Puerto Ricans' hybrid culture resulting from United States intervention on the island. Few critics have given a detailed reading of "Amalia," and, even when they have, the language issue has not been explored.1 In the Spanish version of the story, English is used to show how Puerto Ricans, at times, use a hybrid language (despite an often expressed denial that this even occurs); this language stands for an effective colonial influence. Through "Amalia," Ferre takes a critical stand on language as an important part of a hybrid cultural identity formed during postcolonial times. "Amalia" is representative of postcolonial literature as Ashcroft and others define it in The Empire Writes Back: The term "`post-colonial,' cover[s] all the culture affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day" (2). Given Puerto Rico's unique situation-though not under Spanish rule anymore, it has not yet gained its full independence given its Commonwealth status with the United States-"post-colonial literature" applies in this context. The in-between situation of Puerto Rico provides the framework for my discussion of Ferre's writings. Puerto Rico has been under colonial rule by two world powers for...