Adriana Kolijn
This current study investigates the role of nature in the novel Viento fuerte by Guatemalan author Miguel Ángel Asturias. Whereas critical studies of this classic have mainly focused on historical and social implications, this paper shifts the focus to the agency of nature in the wake of neocolonial hegemony in Latin America. I adopt an ecocritical approach on the concept of deep ecology, to show how nature is structurally and thematically present in the novel. I argue that the novel gives readers an active and holistic view of nature, thus conveying bio-centric and eco-centric values, by employing the narrative mode of magical realism.