Rev. thesis New York Univ. 2004. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Comparative Literature)--Vanderbilt University, May 2006. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

The Demise of the Picaresque: Dividual Narratives of the Neoliberal Marketplace in Brazil and Argentina (1881-2000) examines the connections between economics, Jewish conversos (or new Christians), mechanisms of desire, and literature from a transatlantic and Luso-Hispanic perspective. Taking as a point of reference the Iberian Golden Age (16th and 17th centuries) and the influential figure of the pícaro from the picaresque novels of the time —a roguish figure living in the margins of society— this project questions the nature, conditions, and problems of renowned writers living in Golden Age times, only to interrogate the reenacting of this genre in Latin America centuries later by way of two Brazilian and two Argentine authors. In so doing, this study announces a post-picaresque aesthetic that formally hearkens back to the rogues of old while establishing a new paradigm from which to observe the neoliberal subject in the information age. / Spanish

This dissertation offers a novel approach to Hispanic Orientalism, developing a dynamic paradigm from its origins in medieval and Renaissance Iberia during the process of the Christian Reconquest, to its transatlantic migration and establishment in the early years of the Colony, from where it changed in late colonial and post-Independence Latin America, and onto modernity. The study argues that Hispanic Orientalism does not necessarily imply a negative depiction of the Other, a quality associated with the traditional critique of Saidian Orientalism. Neither, does it entirely comply with the positivist approach suggested in the theoretical research of Said’s opponents, like Julia Kushigian. This dissertation also argues that sociopolitical changes and the shift in the discourse of powers, from imperial to non-imperial, had a significant impact of the development of Hispanic Orientalism, shaping the relationship with the Other. The methodology involves close reading of representative texts depicting the interactions of the dominant and dominated societies from each of the four historic periods that coincided with significant sociopolitical transformations in Hispanic society. Through an intercultural approach to literary studies, social history, and religious studies, this project develops an original paradigm of Hispanic Orientalism, derived from the image of the reinvented Semitic Other portrayed in the literary works depicting the relationship between the hegemonic and the subaltern cultures during the Reconquest period in Spain. Then, it traces the turn of the original paradigm towards reinterpretation during its transatlantic migration to Latin America through the analysis of the chronicles and travelogs of the first colonizers and explorers. During the transitional late colonial and early Independence periods Latin America sees a significant change in the discourse of powers, and Hispanic Orientalism reflects this oscillation between the past and the present therough the works of the Latin American authors from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Finally, once the non-imperial discourse of power established itself in the former Colony, a new modern stage in the development of Hispanic Orientalist paradigm takes place. It is marked by the desire to differentiate itself from the O(o)thers, as manifested in the works of the representatives of Modernism and the Boom.

No description available.

This thesis establishes a biographical and critical context pertaining to the life and work of the nineteenth-century Puerto Rican author Alejandro Tapia y Rivera (1826-1882), and presents a proposed translation of his final novel, Póstumo el envirginiado o la historia de un hombre que se coló en el cuerpo de una mujer (1882). In a discussion of Tapia’s life and work, I highlight important historical factors for comprehending the text’s and Tapia’s relatively obscure status. Then I turn to the text itself to analyze key themes and narrative techniques, referring to literary scholars of Póstumo in order to provide a general interpretive frame work for contemporary readers of the text in translation. Next, I address the functions and metaphors of translation in the novel, and how these relate to discussions in translation theory around the metaphorics of fidelity, gender, and cosmopolitanism, before finally presenting my translation of the novel itself.

Mi disertación se centra en la literatura fantástica latinoamericana escrita por mujeres en el siglo XIX y principios del XX. En ella examino los cuentos y novelas de tres escritoras latinoamericanas del Cono Sur: los cuentos “El guante negro” (1852), “El lucero del manantial (Episodio de la dictadura de Don Juan Manuel Rosas)” (1860), y “La novia del muerto (A mi querido amigo Vicente G. Quesada)” (1861), de la argentina Juana Manuela Gorriti (1818-92); la novela La última niebla (1934), de la chilena María Luisa Bombal (1910-80); y la novela La mujer desnuda (1950), de la uruguaya Armonía Somers (1914-94).Sostengo que los efectos sobrenaturales de estos relatos confrontan no solo la idea de nación y género sino también la de tiempo como una categoría política y arbitraria. También destaco cómo las protagonistas de estas historias muestran la posición conflictiva de la figura de la mujer escritora en el contexto social en el que fueron escritas. En tal sentido, sostengo que las regulaciones sexuales y políticas son cuestionadas por sus autoras a través de lo fantástico. Mi enfoque teórico y metodológico agrupa distintas perspectivas, incluyendo teorías del género fantástico, teoría feminista y teoría queer. Apoyándome tanto en las discusiones recientes en torno a las temporalidades queer, así como en las estrategias narrativas típicas de la literatura fantástica que usan estas historias, argumento que los tropos y motivos fantásticos −como fantasmas, dobles y mundos distópicos, entre otros elementos− funcionan como dispositivos que problematizan elementos relacionados con el género, como la división sexual del trabajo, la institucionalización de la familia, la imposición del trabajo reproductivo y la exclusión de la mujer de la esfera pública. Finalmente, mi disertación no solo busca revisar el canon de la literatura fantástica, que sigue estando dominado por un canon eminentemente masculino, sino que también desafía la visión actual de lo fantástico como literatura escapista, argumentando en cambio que este modo narrativo siempre incluye ansiedades sociales y políticas, sea para apoyar o cambiar el statu quo, y un marco ideológico que no puede ser eludido. Por último, mi tesis destaca la importancia de incluir una perspectiva latinoamericana en los debates actuales sobre literatura fantástica y de género, así como en las discusiones recientes en torno a las temporalidades queer. / Spanish

No description available.

This study analyzes Virgilio Piñera’s concept of performance in relation to his representation of mass media products and technologies. The central argument is that Piñera’s notion of theatrical representation connects fiction with politics in subversive ways, challenging assumptions of naturalness at different levels, from that of the gendered self, to the family and the nation. To support this argument, the study focuses on Piñera’s representation of a variety of mass media genres as these inspire everyday life performances, mainly in Cuba but also in Argentina. While fictional models and sentimental narratives from the mass media most often convey oppressive conceptions of gender, family, and nation, the author’s representation of the media’s pervasive influence questions and denaturalizes those conceptions. Piñera stresses the disruptive potential of individual performance against the repetitive character of both the mass media industry and the social reenactments of its sentimental myths. His references to mass culture thus destabilize structures of power, including stereotypes of both sexuality and gender. The analysis shows that Piñera’s fictions exhibit important characteristics of queer aesthetics. The study comprises a time span of almost three decades, from the early 1940s to the late 1960s, and focuses on a selection of Piñera’s criticism, drama, poetry, and narrative. Within those texts, special attention is given to references to photography, radio programs, romance novels, movies, and popular music. The organization of Piñera’s texts in this study answers to both thematic and chronological considerations. Chapter 1 outlines the study’s objectives and methodology, also providing a background on critical studies about Piñera. Chapters 2 and 3 deal with plays and short-stories written before the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Chapter 2 examines texts that represent both family and nation in relation to a variety of mass media genres, from Cuban “radionovelas” to Hollywood gangster films. Chapter 3 focuses on two narratives, written in Buenos Aires, that address posing and self-representation in relation to issues of sexuality, masculinity, and power. Chapter 4 deals with a selection of poems written, for the most part, after 1959. In these poems, the literary use of photography stresses theatrical self-representation, often in direct resistance to revolutionary reformulations of masculinity in the figure of the “New Man.” / text

This dissertation examines representations of feminicide victims in documentary film, novels, non-fiction, art, and graffiti and argues that these images express anxiety about they way women traverse and inhabit the geography of Ciudad Juárez, often giving precedence to the idea of the public female body as hypersexualized. In order to reclaim memory of the victims some cultural producers focus on the testimonial form in which victims’ families and other activists share their stories or construct informal memorials in the city; these remembrances later appear in works of non-fiction, film, and art, as markers of the process of creating and preserving memory. My dissertation analyzes such works as the documentary Señorita extraviada (2001) by Lourdes Portillo, the non-fiction work Huesos en el desierto (2002) by Sergio González Rodríguez, and the novel 2666 (2004) by Roberto Bolaño, among other cultural expressions, to show how feminicide victims and their families have been marked by and have challenged a pervasive public discourse about female sexuality.