This thesis examines the carnivalesque strategies evident in the short story "Confabulacion de la arana" by the Cuban writer, Guillermo Vidal. Two particular perspectives are used here. First, an analysis of the narrator and the narrative structure is made in which the contribution of the narrative strategies present in the text are explored. To do this, the methodological framework of literary carnivalization offered by the Russian critic Mijail Bajtin has been used, foregrounding his basic argument that carnival, as a social practice, is intrinsically subversive since it abolishes all forms of hierarchy and convention present in society during non-carnival time. By extending his theory to those genres of literature in which the elements of carnival are transcribed, Bajtin insists that carnival and carnivalized literature are potentially subversive since they contest conventional structures and frameworks. The narratological models and categories outlined by Gerard Genette and Mieke Bal allow consideration of the variety of pronouns through which the story is narrated and text's representation of the various speech acts. Unlike traditional narratives which are based on the use of a single pronoun, narration in this text is conducted through continual and abruptly shifting changes of pronoun. Such a technique disrupts the stability afforded by a single narrative voice and a narrative function based on ambivalence and plurality becomes evident. Secondly, the carnival theme and its relationship to the Bajtin's theory of the carnivalesque is examined. It is the contention here that "Confabulacion de la arana" may be read as a satire of contemporary Cuban society. Through the process of the continual debasement of the main character, the representative here of authority in Cuba, the story critiques the social and political values in force in Cuba today.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.30166 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Filippou, Helen. |
| Contributors | Sibbald, K. M. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | sp |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Hispanic Studies.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001744965, proquestno: MQ64148, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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