SOURCE: Gossen, Gary H. “Rigoberta Menchú and Her Epic Narrative.” Latin American Perspectives 26, no. 6 (November 1999): 64–69.

In the following essay, Gossen argues that I, Rigoberta Menchú should be categorized as a work of epic literature.

I would like to address three themes that link Rigoberta Menchú's narrative [in I, Rigoberta Menchú] to the politics of ethnicity and cultural pluralism in modern Mesoamerica: (1) a contextual appreciation of the larger picture of the cultural and political transformation of the Maya communities of Mexico and Guatemala, of which Rigoberta Menchú's book is a key but far from most important part; (2) the role of epic literature in this transformation, an issue that places Rigoberta Menchú's narrative at center stage; and finally (3) the truth status of events that typically underwrite epic narrative in general and Maya story-telling in particular. I shall address each of these topics briefly and will stress throughout...