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UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Witold Gombrowicz and Virgilio Piñera, the Argentine Experience Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9n14r0b5 Author Žilinskaitė, Milda Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Witold Gombrowicz and Virgilio Piñera, the Argentine Experience A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Literature by Milda Žilinskaitė Committee in charge: Professor Jaime Concha, Chair Professor Amelia Glaser Professor Luis Martin-Cabrera Professor Michael Monteón Professor William Arctander O’Brien 2014 The Dissertation of Milda Žilinskaitė is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2014 iii EPIGRAPH I speak of exile not as a privilege, but as an alternative to the mass institutions that dominate modern life. Exile is not, after all, a matter of choice: you are born into it, or it happens to you. But, provided that the exile refuses to sit on the sidelines nursing a wound, there are things to be learned: he or she must cultivate a scrupulous (not indulgent or sulky) subjectivity. Edward W. Said iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ...……………………………………………………………………...iii Epigraph ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... v List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................... vii Note on Translation and References ............................................................................. ix Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... x Vita ............................................................................................................................... xv Abstract of the Dissertation ........................................................................................ xvii Introduction. No Echo in Buenos Aires: Gombrowicz and Piñera’s Exilic Voices Revisited ......................................................................................................................... 1 Witold Gombrowicz: “What sort of Columbus am I?” ............................................ 14 Virgilio Piñera and the “Dreadful Nothingness” ...................................................... 25 The Failure of Ferdydurke and Experiencing the Cultural Margins of Argentina ... 34 Chapter 1. The Ferdydurkian Battle of 1947 ............................................................... 43 Textual Sources ......................................................................................................... 47 Argentina as the Common Battleground: “nosotros, las naciones menores” ........... 55 Literary Tantalism ..................................................................................................... 67 Banalizadores of Culture .......................................................................................... 77 Chapter 2. The Continuation of the Ferdydurkian Battle in the Novels Trans-Atlantyk and La Carne de René ..................................................................... 91 Understanding Gombrowicz’s “Merciless Realism”: the Case of Trans-Atlantyk . 101 The Anti-Tantalic Baroque in La Carne de René ................................................... 114 Chapter 3. Banalizing the Nation ............................................................................... 126 Institutionalizing the Moral Imagination: the Father and the Representative ........ 130 The Limits of Exilic Freedom: the Foreigner ......................................................... 146 Continuing Preoccupations with the National Form Post Trans-Atlantyk and La carne de René ................................................................................................... 158 Chapter 4. A Revolution Against The Revolution(s) in Los Siervos and Operetta ... 164 v Piñera’s Nikita as Gombrowicz: Freeing the Captive Mind ................................... 176 Operetta and Falling into the Trap of the Form ...................................................... 183 Postscript. “Al galope, al galope, al galope…”: Revisiting the Later Years of Gombrowicz-Piñera Friendship .................................................................................. 198 Final considerations .................................................................................................... 207 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 213 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Witold Gombrowicz’s Works DA Diario argentino, ed. By Witold Gombrowicz, trans. to Spanish by Sergio Pitol (Buenos Aires: Adriana Hidalgo, 2001) D1 Diary. Volume 1, ed. Jan Kott, trans. to English by LillianVallee (Evanston: North Western UP, 1988) D2 Diary. Volume 2 (1957-1961), ed. Jan Kott, trans. to English by LillianVallee (Evanston: North Western UP, 1989) D3 Diary. Volume 3 (1961-1966), ed. Jan Kott, trans. to English by LillianVallee (Evanston: North Western UP, 1993) F Ferdydurke, trans. to Spanish by Witold Gombrowicz et al. (Buenos Aires: Argos, 1947) K Kronos, ed. Jerzy Jarzębski et al. (Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2013) KT A Kind of Testament, ed. Dominique de Roux, trans. to English by Alistair Hamilton (Champaign: Dalkey Archive Press, 2007) O Operetta, trans. to English by Louis Iribarne (London: Calder and Boyars, 1971) PA Peregrinaciones argentinas, trans. to Spanish by Bozena Zaboklicka and Francesco Miravitlles (Madrid: Alianza, 1987) PM Polish Memories, trans. to English by Bill Johnston (New Haven: Yale UP, 2004) TA Trans-Atlantyk, trans. to English by Carolyn French and Nina Karsov (New Haven: Yale UP, 1994) vii Virgilio Piñera’s Works CR La carne de René, eds. Pedro de Oraá and Antón Arrufat (Habana: Ediciones Unión, 2011) RF René’s Flesh, trans. to English by Mark Schafer (Boston: Eridianos, 1989) S Los siervos, in Órbita de Virgilio Piñera, ed. David Leyva (Habana: Ediciones Unión, 2011) 135-181 VT “La vida tal cual,” autobiographical fragments published in Unión (10), April – May - June 1990, 22-35 VV Virgilio Piñera, de vuelta y vuelta. Correspondencia 1932-1978, ed. Patricia Semidey Rodríguez (Habana: Ediciones Unión, 2011) viii NOTE ON TRANSLATION AND REFERENCES In this thesis some of the quotations from Gombrowicz and Piñera’s works are cited in the original Polish and Spanish. I include published translations where possible; where no reference is given, English translations are mine. Secondary sources in Polish, Spanish and French are quoted directly in my own English translation. The titles of Gombrowicz and Piñera’s works are for the most part given in the original language. I present the English translation when introducing them for the first time in parentheses. ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author’s of this dissertation passion for literature is best illustrated by the fact that as a teenager she got hit by a car while crossing a busy street reading a novel. She also missed the bus on a number of occasions, while actually standing at the bus stop, all for being too absorbed in the world of fiction. Yet, none of these early voracious reader’s experiences come anywhere close to her encounter with literature at the university level. What an experienced scholar can find in a text and see through the text goes beyond the imagination of an ordinary reader like myself. It is because of my luck to have been a student of several incredible scholars that I now use the word “Professor” not with a hierarchical obedience, but with the utmost respect and admiration. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge Professor Jaime Concha for his support throughout this long process as my advisor and chair of my committee. Thank you for having taught me how to work independently and self-sufficiently, while at the same time patiently walking me through the labyrinths of Latin American literature whenever I needed guidance. And yes, I pledge to convert to Onettism as soon as I break free from the gombrowiczian pitfall. I am also grateful to Professor Michael Monteón from the Department of History at UCSD, who completely breaks the stereotype of the uninterested outside committee member. Thank you for your encouragement, mentorship and patience with my non-native English. My academic writing skills have improved significantly because of your corrections and comments on my multiple drafts. x I would also like to acknowledge Professors Luis Martin-Cabrera, Amelia Glaser and William O’Brien (in the order you joined my dissertation committee). Luis, you’d be surprised how much of your teaching philosophy I’ve secretly stolen from you and now use in my own classes. Amelia, thank you for being so supportive throughout the years, and a special thanks for pushing me to participate in my first academic conferences. Und lieber Billy, if I ever acquire one-tenth of your charisma, I will consider myself a highly successful teacher and a very free person. Research grants from the Literature Department, the Institute for International, Comparative and Area Studies, and the Center for Iberian and Latin
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