SITUATIONS OF TRANSCULTURATION THROUGH ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS IN ALEJO CARPENTIER'S CONCIERTO BARROCO

Direct and continuous contact between different cultural groups generates a complex dialogue in which the adoption and integration of elements belonging to the foreign culture are conditioned by the cultural patterns of the group. These cultural patterns give their own meaning to the adopted traits through this modification process: no element from the source cultural system is reproduced in the same manner once it is admitted into the receiving culture. These problems arising from cultural contact and exchange are dealt with, through the literary discourse, in Concierto Barroco. Carpentier displays two opposing views: the American view of Europe and the European view of America, developed by each continent by means of different artistic expressions (literary, musical, pictorial). We will analyze within the America/Europe tension, the configuration of an identity, a tradition and a new syncretic cultural expression. It is essential to add to this dichotomy, others that are also relevant: nature/culture, cultured/popular, tradition/innovation. To contribute to the analysis of these matters it is very useful to incorporate anthropological categories such as transculturation, appropriation, reinterpretation, assimilation-to those of the literary criticism field-especially the concept of carnivalization (Bakhtin). The manner in which Carpentier represents a situation of transculturation as a reciprocal projection phenomenon will be shown.