Copyright by Ann Deviney Jasper 2003 the Dissertation Committee for Ann Deviney Jasper Certifies That This Is the Approved Version of the Following Dissertation
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Copyright by Ann Deviney Jasper 2003 The Dissertation Committee for Ann Deviney Jasper Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Humor and Irony in the Postwar Writing of Carmen Martín Gaite, Rosa Montero and Carme Riera: 1978 -1988 Committee: Virginia Higginbotham, Supervisor Ricardo C. Ainslie Enrique H. Fierro Lily Litvak Madeline Sutherland-Meier Humor and Irony in the Postwar Writing of Carmen Martín Gaite, Rosa Montero and Carme Riera: 1978 -1988 by Ann Deviney Jasper, B.S.; M.B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Universit y of Texas at Austin December, 2003 Dedication ,o my parents, Mary E. and Richard C. Jasper Humor and Irony in the Postwar Writing of Carmen Martín Gaite, Rosa Montero and Carme Riera: 1978 -1988 Publication No._____________ Ann Deviney Jasper, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2003 Supervisor: Virginia Higginbotham Humor has often provided a means of articulating and resisting abuse and injustice throughout literary history, especially for those on the margin of society. From the picare sque novel of the seventeenth century to the esperpentos of Valle - Inclán in the twentieth century, satire, parody, caricature, and comic irony have served as weapons of protest for writers. Prose writing by women writers in postwar Spain offers examples of humor cultivated by those long -oppressed and voiceless in a dictatorship which was very restrictive to women and confined them almost exclusively to domestic life in postwar society. In Chapter One I present a brief history of humor theories, their curren t status, and humor in women’s writing. In Chapter Two I discuss various examples of humor used by the principal male authors of the first part of the twentieth century who are known for their sense of humor. In Chapter Three I examine two works of Carmen v Martín Gaite, Cuarto de atrás (1978) and Los usos amorosos de la postguerra española (1987). Her humor is understated and ironic as she recalls the absurdities, inconsistencies, hypocrisies and intolerance during the Franco years. In Chapter Four, I analyz e two works of Rosa Montero, a writer of the younger generation. She describes women’s struggles and conflicts as they enter the corporate world in her satirical novels Crónica del desamor (1979) and Amado amo (1988). Her humor is less understated than Mar tín Gaite’s as she caricatures the male managers who populate the business world. In Chapter Five, I explore the Catalán writer Carme Riera’s novella, Cuestión de amor propio (1987), which continues to darken the humor. The feminist side to the humor in th is work is revealed by the intensity with which the character attempts to strike back against injustice. With a framework of gender differences in humor that accounts for different tastes, means and ends to which humor can be applied, along with feminist contextual criticism, I analyze the humor that was not recognized in these Spanish women’s postwar works, validating their perceptions and experiences and thus restoring their true perspective and reaction to past events. vi Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 I. Brief history of humor theories ................................................................... 1 II. Current status of humor theory .................................................................. 7 III. Humor in women’s writing .................................................................... 13 Chapter 2 Humor in twentieth century Spanish literature by male writers ........... 32 Whimsy, surprise, word play ........................................................................ 34 Word games .................................................................................................. 37 Irony ............................................................................................................. 39 Caricature ..................................................................................................... 42 Grotesquerie, satire ....................................................................................... 48 Postwar .................................................................................................................. 56 Humour noir, scatological humor................................................................. 56 Parody, sardonic humor................................................................................ 61 Conclusion............................................................................................................. 66 Chapter 3 The humor and irony of Carmen Martín Gaite ..................................... 68 A. Post -Franco: political, social and literary context ................................... 70 B. Carmen Martín Gaite’s literary humor .................................................... 73 i. El cuarto de atrás (a novel) .............................................................. 73 ii. Los usos amorosos de la postguerra española (a social history) ... 96 Chapter 4 Rosa Montero: Humor and irony after the Mid -generation writers .... 117 A. Crónica del desamor ............................................................................. 118 B. Amado amo ............................................................................................ 139 Chapter 5 Female wit, humor and retribution: Carme Riera's Cuest ión de amor propio ......................................................................................................... 159 Cuestión de amor propio ............................................................................ 161 vii Conclusion........................................................................................................... 187 Works Cited ......................................................................................................... 198 Vita .................................................................................................................... 207 viii Chapter1 Introduction I have had great difficulty in determining what 'funny' is. Lt. Comm. Data, Star Trek - The Next Generation I. BRIEF HI STORY OF HUMOR THEOR IES As Salvatore Attardo reminds us in this quote with which he begins Linguistic Theories of Humor (1994), humor is funny yet serious and an often complicated business. A perusal of the literature on humor reveals an extensive range of theories, philosophies, definitions and contradictions that have occupied mankind since the times of the Greeks and the Latins. Though humor is considered to be a nearly universal human trait, writers and researchers acknowledge that it is hard to define. For Boskin, for instance, there is no easy way to define humor, “one of the most complex and ubiquitous of human expressions [. .]. Its very breadth [. .] presents formidable obstacles to comprehending the intricate mechanisms through which it operat es on both individual and societal levels” (Humor and Social Change in Twentieth -Century America 1- 3). In addition, he says, the process of understanding humor is further compounded by the fact that “one person’s seriousness is another’s humor and that la ughter can too easily be misconstrued” (3). This comment reflects a 1 characteristic that Freud has attributed to humor. “The affects, disposition and attitude of the individual in each particular case make it understandable that the comic emerges and vanish es according to the standpoint of each particular person” (Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious 219-220). Similarly, other critics have pointed out the complicating factors of the lack of absolutes as well as the individual perspective involved in the nature of humor. “Rien, absolument, n’échappe au rire. Ce n’est pas une question de matière, mais de manière, de contexte et de perspective,” affirms Jean Emilina (Le Comique. Essai d’interprétation générale . 1991, 23). So if we almost all feel that we possess a sense of humor, claiming that we know humor when we see it, why should something as common as humor be so challenging to define and analyze? Humor is not, as Alice Sheppard reminds us, just a judgment of funniness (Women’s Comic Visions 38). I t is a complex psychological -cognitive process involving perception and evaluation within a set of socio -cultural constraints. The problem begins with the definition of the word humor. Over time, various words have become synonymous with it such as comica l, laughter, amusement, and funny as well as many of its forms - satire, irony, wit, caricature, parody, and travesty. For instance, let us take a look at the way the Spanish words "humor" and "cómico" are defined. The Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (1992) defines "humor" as:" fig. Jovialidad, agudeza / Disposición en que uno se halla para hacer una cosa / Humorismo, manera graciosa o irónica de enjuiciar las cosas. Humor negro: Humorismo que se ejerce a propósito de cosas 2 que suscitarían, contemp ladas desde otra perspectiva, piedad, terror, lástima o emociones parecidas." "Cómico" is defined as: "Perteneciente o relativo a la comedia / Que divierte y hace reír." The terminological problem, it seems, stems from the historic development of the wor d itself. Robert Escarpit, in his study entitled L'Humour (1960), explains that the English playwright Ben Jonson (1573?-1637) was the first to