Laura Esquivel Criticism
Laura Esquivel, a prominent Mexican screenwriter, novelist, and theater director, gained international recognition with her novel Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate, 1989). This work, celebrated for its unique style that blends elements of a cookbook and a romance novel, became a bestseller in Mexico and achieved significant success worldwide. The story, set during the Mexican Revolution, follows Tita de la Garza, whose life is constrained by family tradition demanding she remain unmarried to care for her mother. Tita’s emotions are magically infused into her cooking, influencing those who consume her dishes. This use of magical realism, where fantastical elements seamlessly integrate with the narrative, is a hallmark of Esquivel's storytelling, as explored in Ritual and ‘Sacred Space’ in Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate.
The novel's thematic core lies in its exploration of power dynamics, cultural traditions, and personal rebellion. Tita's culinary creations become acts of defiance against oppressive familial structures, as discussed in Hispanic American Women Writers' Novel Recipes and Laura Esquivel's Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate). Esquivel's narrative challenges traditional gender roles, presenting male characters as passive and often ineffectual, a parody of conventional romance novels, noted by On Recipes, Reading and Revolution: Postboom Parody in Como agua para chocolate.
The critical reception of Like Water for Chocolate highlights its intelligent parody of romantic literature and adept use of metaphor and symbolism to add depth to the narrative, as explored by Like Water for Chocolate and the Free Circulation of Clichés. The novel’s genre-blending nature, combining elements of fantasy, romance, and culinary art, resists traditional classification but is praised for being both entertaining and thought-provoking, as analyzed in Cooking, Community, Culture: A Reading of Like Water for Chocolate.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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A Novel Recipe for Sensuality and Romance
(summary)
In the following review, Polk discusses the role of food and food preparation in Like Water for Chocolate.
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Revolución interior al exterior: An Interview with Laura Esquivel
(summary)
In the following interview, Loewenstein and Esquivel explore the emotional impact of Como Agua Para Chocolate on readers, its therapeutic uses, and its themes of family dynamics, cultural traditions, and personal rebellion, while Esquivel discusses her influences, including her experiences with children and storytelling within her family.
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Hispanic American Women Writers' Novel Recipes and Laura Esquivel's Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate)
(summary)
In the following essay, Jaffe examines the community-like qualities of recipe sharing and the empowerment women can obtain from the kitchen.
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Translation, Criticism or Subversion? The Case of Like Water for Chocolate
(summary)
In the following review, Britt disparages the translation of Como agua para chocolate because of numerous errors and altered text.
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On Recipes, Reading and Revolution: Postboom Parody in Como agua para chocolate
(summary)
In the following essay, Ibsen explains that Como agua para chocolate is not feminine literature as much as it is a parody of male-orientated literature.
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Verbal and Visual Representation of Women: Como agua para chocolate/Like Water for Chocolate
(summary)
In the following essay, de Valdés discusses the effect of feminist imagery in both the novel and the film Como agua para chocolate.
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Romancing the Cook: Parodic Consumption of Popular Romance Myths in Como agua para chocolate
(summary)
In the following essay, Dobrian states that through the use of parody in Como agua para chocolate, Esquivel is not ridiculing romance novels, she is denouncing the male-domination in society that makes women want to read romance novels.
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Ritual and ‘Sacred Space’ in Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate
(summary)
In the following essay, Fernández-Levin analyzes the metaphors and symbolism found in Like Water for Chocolate and how Tita, the novel's protagonist, transforms the drudgery of the kitchen into a magical experience.
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Spanish American Women Writers: Simmering Identity Over a Low Fire
(summary)
In the following essay, Bilbija compares and contrasts Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate and Silvia Plager's Like Potatoes for Varenike.
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Cooking, Community, Culture: A Reading of Like Water for Chocolate
(summary)
In the following essay, Lawless claims that Like Water for Chocolate cannot be easily classified as simply a novel or simply a cookbook; it contains the elements of both genres. Lawless gives detailed examples of this genre blending.
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Como agua para chocolate and the Question of Viable Alternatives to Technologies of Domination
(summary)
In the following essay, Hoeg studies the importance of the “gringo” scientist, Dr. John Brown, in Como agua para chocolate.
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Like Water for Chocolate and the Free Circulation of Clichés
(summary)
In the following essay, Zapata examines the effects of clichés and metaphors in Like Water for Chocolate, illustrating how clichés work in the text and how their euphoric function contributes to the novel's success and the pleasure of reading it.
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A Novel Recipe for Sensuality and Romance
(summary)
- Further Reading