Resumo

VILLALOBOS, Carlos Manuel. The socialist utopia and the other side of the Iron Curtain, as seen by Costa Rican travelers during the Cold War. Comunicación [online]. 2020, vol.29, n.1, pp.69-89. ISSN 1659-3820.  http://dx.doi.org/10.18845/rc.v29i1-2020.5261.

The socialist utopia and the other side of the Iron Curtain, as seen by Costa Rican travelers during the Cold War This article examines the travel accounts of four Costa Rican writers who visited socialist territories, known as the other side of the “iron curtain” countries in the context of the Cold War. These texts show the ideological sympathies of Costa Ricans with the Socialist International, the Chinese Revolution, and the Juche idea of Kim Il-sung’s Korean regime. The writers considered are Joaquín Gutiérrez Mangel, who visited Poland, the Soviet Union and Vietnam, where he served as war chronicler; the travel memories of Carlos Luis Fallas, who was in the Soviet Union and China; the travel accounts of Adolfo Herrera about his trip to China, and, finally, the writings of Mario León Rojas on North Korea. These trips were made between 1949 and 1982, covering almost the entire Cold War period. Beyond the anecdotal nature of these trips, the writings are an exercise in political propaganda. By resorting to a hermeneutical strategy, this work seeks to analyze the discursive codes. It concludes that these stories are characterized by the commendable tone, the display of the revolutionary epic, and the achievements of the socialist model.

Palavras-chave : Travel literature; Costa Rican literature; Costa Rican authors; Cold War; Iron Curtain.

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