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The theme of migration is not new for Ecuadorians. In the visual arts and literature, artists have traditionally found the theme of migration to be useful when interpreting the personal and existential experiences of individuals living outside of Ecuador. Initially, the topic was not understood as a collective phenomenon capable of putting at risk an elusive national identity. Over time, however, the personal drama became a collective tragedy, which defines and conditions in no small measure the cultural, psychological and geographic boundaries of a pluri-national Ecuador struggling to re-signify the new cartographies that place and displace a nation in constant migratory movement, both internally and externally. This complex social, migratory and cartographic process of becoming is found in works of literature and the visual arts, which often oscillate between testimonial representations and representational testimonies. My analysis focuses on five works and highlights some of the identity transformations that Ecuador, a country located at the centre of the world, continues experiencing while seemingly adrift, yet fully engaged in re-inventing its multiple moving borders.

Th is new study, Fuga hacia dentro. La novela ecuatoriana en el siglo XX, by Alicia Ortega Caicedo, invites us to accompany her on her journey through the Ecuadorian novel of the 20th century, which she understands as a product of a complementarity between what is written and how it is read. Without any desire to off er an exhaustive catalog of names and titles, Ortega concentrates on some milestones obtained from his multiple and continuous readings to put into debate the "crossings between political consciousness, modernity, disenchantment and literary writing." Far from the rancid dualisms that have stagnated Ecuadorian literature in idle pronouncements about the local versus the universal, Fugue in invites us to rethink and problematize the critical reception of the Ecuadorian novel throughout the 20th century. Ortega analyzes how the narrative tradition and literary criticism is the result of a continuous and confl icting history of appropriations and disputes before an elusive representation of the national, which she ponders as a process towards a desired decolonization always in tension, where aesthetics constitutes ethics and ethics an aesthetic. ; Este nuevo estudio, Fuga hacia dentro. La novela ecuatoriana en el siglo XX, de Alicia Ortega Caicedo nos convoca a acompañarla en su recorrido por lanovelística ecuatoriana del siglo XX, que ella entiende como producto de una complementariedad entre lo que se escribe y cómo se lo lee. Sin ningún afánde ofrecer un catálogo exhaustivo de nombres y títulos, Ortega se concentra en algunos hitos obtenidos de sus múltiples y continuas lecturas para po-ner en debate los "cruces entre conciencia política, modernidad, desencanto y escritura literaria". Lejos de los rancios dualismos que han estancado laliteratura ecuatoriana en ociosos pronunciamientos sobre lo local versus lo universal, Fuga hacia dentro nos invita a repensar y problematizar la recepcióncrítica de la novela ecuatoriana a lo largo del siglo XX. Ortega analiza cómo la tradición narrativa y de la crítica literaria es el resultado de una continuay confl ictiva historia de apropiaciones y disputas ante una elusiva representación de lo nacional, que ella pondera como un procesohacia una deseadadescolonizaciónsiempreen tensión, donde la estética constituyeuna ética y la ética una estética.

Los escritores ecuatorianos han creado un rico legado de imaginarios que apuntan a una identidad nacional que es, en el fondo, plurinacional e intercultural. Si bien los autores de la Generación del 30 plantearon con su narrativa un proyecto de nación que incluía a las diferentes culturas que la habitan –proyecto mestizo fallido, sin embargo, en tanto anulaba las diferencias y consagraba las desigualdades–, el protagonismo social de estas culturas en la década de los 90 complementa la propuesta surgida desde lo literario en los años 30. Adicionalmente, la auto-representación política actual de dichos grupos pone en tela de juicio criterios del ámbito cultural contemporáneo, uno de ellos es el del llamado «Síndrome de Falcón», que pretende ser una metáfora de la carga de representar a sectores sociales desfavorecidos, que ha pesado sobre los narradores ecuatorianos durante el siglo XX. Todo ello empuja el proceso de reconfiguración del panorama de la cultura ecuatoriana: la creciente participación de estas voces antes silenciadas, así como la emergencia de otras formas de contemplar al mundo natural, que suscitan nuevas lecturas de novelas clásicas como Don Goyo o La isla virgen de Demetrio Aguilera-Malta. ; Ecuadorian writers have created a rich legacy of characters who point towards a national identity that is, ultimately, multi-national and inter-cultural. Although the authors of the 1930's generation proposed through their fiction a notion of nation that included all of the different cultures within it –it was a failed miscegenation project as it eliminated differences while reinforcing inequalities–, the social role of these groups during the 90's complements that proposed by the literature of the 30's. Additionally, the political self representation of these groups calls into question the criteria of the contemporary cultural context exemplified by the «The Falcon Syndrome», which seeks to be a metaphor for the burden of representing socially disadvantaged groups, which has weighed heavily over Ecuadorian writers throughout the 20th century. All of this propels the reconfiguration process within the panorama of Ecuadorian culture: the growing participation of the long-silenced voices, as well as the emergence of other ways to look upon the world, allows for new readings of classic novels such as Don Goyo or La isla virgen, by Demetrio Aguilera-Malta.

Ecuadorian writers have created a rich legacy of characters who point towards a national identity that is, ultimately, multi-national and inter-cultural. Although the authors of the 1930's generation proposed through their fiction a notion of nation that included all of the different cultures within it –it was a failed miscegenation project as it eliminated differences while reinforcing inequalities–, the social role of these groups during the 90's complements that proposed by the literature of the 30's. Additionally, the political self representation of these groups calls into question the criteria of the contemporary cultural context exemplified by the «The Falcon Syndrome», which seeks to be a metaphor for the burden of representing socially disadvantaged groups, which has weighed heavily over Ecuadorian writers throughout the 20th century. All of this propels the reconfiguration process within the panorama of Ecuadorian culture: the growing participation of the long-silenced voices, as well as the emergence of other ways to look upon the world, allows for new readings of classic novels such as Don Goyo or La isla virgen, by Demetrio Aguilera-Malta. ; Los escritores ecuatorianos han creado un rico legado de imaginarios que apuntan a una identidad nacional que es, en el fondo, plurinacional e intercultural. Si bien los autores de la Generación del 30 plantearon con su narrativa un proyecto de nación que incluía a las diferentes culturas que la habitan –proyecto mestizo fallido, sin embargo, en tanto anulaba las diferencias y consagraba las desigualdades–, el protagonismo social de estas culturas en la década de los 90 complementa la propuesta surgida desde lo literario en los años 30. Adicionalmente, la auto-representación política actual de dichos grupos pone en tela de juicio criterios del ámbito cultural contemporáneo; uno de ellos es el del llamado «Síndrome de Falcón», que pretende ser una metáfora de la carga de representar a sectores sociales desfavorecidos, que ha pesado sobre los narradores ecuatorianos durante el siglo XX. Todo ello empuja el proceso de reconfiguración del panorama de la cultura ecuatoriana: la creciente participación de estas voces antes silenciadas, así como la emergencia de otras formas de contemplar al mundo natural, que suscitan nuevas lecturas de novelas clásicas como Don Goyo o La isla virgen de Demetrio Aguilera-Malta.