Invisible Specters: Representations of the Fantastic and the Ghost in 20th-Century Spain (1920-1946) seeks to make a significant scholarly contribution within two specific areas of theoretical interest: on the one hand, the critical discourses on the fantastic and, on the other, the relationship between these analytical approaches and the representation of spectral apparitions. Although phantasms are commonly cited as the paradigmatic example of the fantastic, the intrinsic affinity between the two ideas has not been properly addressed and should start with a consideration of their shared etymological origin in reference to fantasy. It would seem that the ghost has a privileged position inside the fantastic genre due to the tension its apparition establishes between a natural and a supernatural order. However, this dissertation argues that, while seemingly questioning any possibility to reconcile these two realms, specters may very well be considered the actual and primordial source of the fantastic. The disquiet their presence conjures implies the invocation of jurisdictions whose incompatibility is analogous to the perturbation of a religious miracle or the distress of a sovereign interruption. In this way, the coming and going of ghosts incorporates not only the transgression that characterizes the fantastic as a literary and film genre but also the religious, metaphysical, ontological, and epistemological repercussions entailed by the intrusive dynamic of otherworldly apparitions.
By engaging the notions on hauntology and spectrality proposed by the French philosopher of Algerian origin Jacques Derrida (1930-2004), this dissertation reassesses the interdependence between the fantastic and ghosts within the Spanish tradition. Since there is a commonly held belief about the intrinsic realist nature of Spain’s art and culture, the selection of works to be analyzed challenges this conception. The creative corpus to be discussed includes three significant twentieth-century examples of ghostly representations while acknowledging that the fantastic is by definition a popular, although, marginal genre. In fact, several of the creators included in this project have been related not to the canonical and universally praised Generation of ’27, but to an alternative, or “other,” Generation of ’27. As some of these works cross the boundaries established by the Spanish Civil War, the project suggests that there is a chronological continuity which indicates the fantastic’s ability to endure the most traumatic historical events. In this instance, the purpose is to examine not only literary representations, but also film adaptations and other visual materials related to the selected corpus. A particularly intriguing notion to be pursued involves the relationship between technology and spectrality. Likewise, the parodic character of the fantastic as frequently noted in Spanish culture is a significant point of reflection. Besides the introduction, the project follows a structure in three chapters and, in addition to a number of visual materials, uses as backbone one play, one novel, and one collection of short stories, all of which had a film version produced in the early 1940s. This graphic component emphasizes that the cornerstone of both the fantastic and the phantasm is the notion of becoming visible and appearing. / Spanish
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/10688 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Ruiz Garcia, Fernando |
| Contributors | Pereiro Otero, José Manuel, Pueyo Zoco, Víctor, Baker, Christina, 1985-, Poeta, Salvatore J. |
| Publisher | Temple University. Libraries |
| Source Sets | Temple University |
| Language | Spanish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 587 pages |
| Rights | IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/10650, Theses and Dissertations |
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