Construction of Authorial Figures and Critique of Commodification in Colombia, Brazil, and Peru
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i THE AUTHOR AS A PRODUCER: CONSTRUCTION OF AUTHORIAL FIGURES AND CRITIQUE OF COMMODIFICATION IN COLOMBIA, BRAZIL, AND PERU (1924-1977) by JAVIER MUÑOZ B.A., Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2009 M.A., University of Colorado Boulder, 2014 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Spanish and Portuguese 2019 ii This thesis entitled: The Author as a Producer: Construction of Authorial Figures and Critique of Commodification in Colombia, Brazil, and Peru (1924-1977) written by Javier Muñoz has been approved for the Department of Spanish and Portugese Professor Peter Elmore Professor Juan Pablo Dabove Professor Leila Gómez Professor Andrés Prieto Professor Juan Carlos Galdo Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. iii Abstract Muñoz, Javier (Ph.D., Department of Spanish and Portuguese]) The Author as a Producer: Construction of Authorial Figures and Critique of Commodification in Colombia, Brazil, and Peru (1924-1977) Thesis directed by Professor Peter Elmore I analyze the self-reflective dimension in three novels and one novella by Latin American writers from the twentieth century: La Vorágine (1924), by the Colombian, José Eustasio Rivera; Macunaíma. O herói sem nenhum caráter. (1928), by the Brazilian, Mário de Andrade; El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo (1971), by the Peruvian, José María Arguedas; and A hora da estrela (1977), by the Brazilian, Clarice Lispector. In the context of the uneven and combined modernization process that characterized the Latin American region, these long narratives share a critical perspective towards the increasing professionalization of literary writing and its incorporation into a market economy in two historical junctures (the 1920s and 1970s) and three different countries (Colombia, Brasil, and Peru). Moreover, this questioning is conducted through meta-fictional and inter-medial devices, which include the construction of authorial figures and cultural producers, as well as the comparison between literary writing and other forms of material and symbolic production in a capitalist economy. In a context of bigger circulation of commodities both material (rubber, coffee, fish meal) and symbolic (photography, folklore, culture industries), literary writing assumes a stance of resistance and negotiation towards the commodification process. Consequently, the four long narratives in my corpus highlight the importance of the politic, ethic, and ritual dimensions of the literary production. In iv other words, although the work of art participate in the circulation of commodities (books are purchased in the market), literary writing can surpass rigid economic demands. For instance, in the first two novels in my corpus, La vorágine y Macunaíma, literary writers become champions of nationality in the context of resource-based economies and the modernization of nation-states. In the two following long narratives, El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo and A hora da estrela, literary writers reject the professionalization achieved during the 1960s Latin American Boom, while paying attention to the experience of marginalized populations—namely, rural-urban migrants who start participating in capitalistic economies. v Dedicado a la memoria de Eugenia Carballido, Gregorio Muñoz y Calixta Huamán. vi CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1 Statement of Topic .................................................................. 1 Criteria for Corpus Selection ................................................. 4 Politics of Representation ...................................................... 8 Production in the Capitalist Mode ...................................... 12 Authorship ............................................................................ 15 Outline of Chapters .............................................................. 20 II. BECOMING A COMMITTED WRITER: LA VORÁGINE (1924) BY JOSE EUSTASIO RIVERA ........................................................ 27 From Tierra de Promisión to La Vorágine .......................... 27 Photographs and Maps ......................................................... 38 “Incorrecciones” in Arturo Cova’s Manuscript .................... 48 The Stages of Poetry ............................................................. 56 Recording Bodies and Crimes .............................................. 69 The National Community in La Vorágine ........................... 77 vii III. A STORYTELLER AGAINST BUSINESSMEN: MACUNAÍMA (1928), BY MÁRIO DE ANDRADE .............................................................. 86 De Andrade in the Context of Brazilian Modernismo ........ 86 Jiguê: Sex and Food .............................................................. 95 Venceslau Pietro Pietra: Machines and Language ........... 101 Painting and Photography ................................................. 109 The Parrot and the Anonymous Narrator ......................... 117 The National Community in Macunaíma ......................... 123 IV. NON-PROFESSIONAL WRITERS AND RITUAL PERFORMANCES: EL ZORRO DE ARRIBA Y EL ZORRO DE ABAJO (1971), BY JOSÉ MARÍA ARGUEDAS. .................................................... 127 Forty Years Later ............................................................... 127 Arguedas in the 1960s Latin American Boom .................. 130 The Three Dimensions of El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo .......................................................................... 140 Arguedas, the Diarist and the Author ............................... 149 Andean Folklore and Craftwork ........................................ 154 Braschi, Author and Ruler of Chimbote ............................ 164 Commodification and Sexuality ......................................... 179 The Network of Rural-Urban Migrants ............................ 185 V. AUTHORIAL UNEASE AND CHARACTER’S PERFORMATIVITY IN A HORA DA ESTRELA (1977), BY CLARICE LISPECTOR. ............................................................................................... 196 Lispector’s New Beginning ................................................ 196 viii The Profesionalization of Writing in Brazil ...................... 204 Rodrigo S.M., the outcast writer ........................................ 211 The Sorority Network of Lower-Class Characters ........... 221 VI. CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................... 233 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………..…………………………………………247 ix FIGURES Figure 1. “Arturo Cova, en las barracas del Guaracú. (Fotografía Tomada por la madoma Zoraida Ayram).” Rivera, José Eustasio. La vorágine. First edition. Cronos, 1924. Print. ............................................ 39 2. “Un cauchero.” Rivera, José Eustasio. La vorágine. First edition. Cronos, 1924. Print. ............................................ 40 3. “El cauchero Clemente Silva.” Rivera, José Eustasio. La vorágine. First edition. Cronos, 1924. Print. ............................................ 40 4. “Cortar a seringueira e collocar tigelinhas.” / “Fazendo os Cortes por meio de um andaime (moitá).” Kosmos. Revista Artistica, Scientifica e Litteraria, 5 (3), March 1908, p.42. Print ............................................................. 41 5. “O defumadouro do leite da seringueira.” (Bis) Kosmos. Revista Artistica, Scientifica e Litteraria, 5 (3), March 1908, p.44. Print ............................................................. 42 6. “Croquis de Colombia” Rivera, José Eustasio. La vorágine. Fiffth edition. Editorial Andes, 1928. Print. ............................ 43 7. “Ruta de Arturo Cova y sus compañeros” Rivera, José Eustasio. La vorágine. Fiffth edition. Editorial Andes, 1928. Print. ............................ 43 8. “Ruta de Barreda y los enganchados” Rivera, José Eustasio. La vorágine. Fiffth edition. Editorial Andes, 1928. Print. ............................ 44 x 9. “Odisea de Clemente Silva” Rivera, José Eustasio. La vorágine. Fiffth edition. Editorial Andes, 1928. Print. ............................ 44 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Un poeta piensa que, por ser poeta, no puede hacer otra cosa que versos para ganarse el pan. Día y noche escribe versos. No quiere ni se esfuerza por franquear los otros campos de trabajo. ¿Hacer zapatos un poeta? ¡Qué ocurrencia! ¡Qué indignidad! ¿Conducir un coche? ¡Qué ofensa! ¡Qué vergüenza! Unas manos que escriben poemas más o menos perecederos o inmortales, se mancharían y estropearían si luego de dejar la pluma pasaran a aserrar madera. El poeta, el novelista, el dramaturgo, de este modo, se han parcializado, sustrayéndose a la hermosa pluralidad de trayectorias de la vida y amputándose así otras tantas múltiples vías de sabiduría y riquezas emocionales. Se han profesionalizado. Están mutilados. Están perdidos. (César Vallejo, “La gran piedad” 340) STATEMENT OF TOPIC Published in 1926, the chronicle “La gran piedad de los escritores de Francia” points out a common trope among several Latin American writers between the 1920s and the 1970s—the comparison between literary writing and other forms of material and symbolic production, most of them proletarianized and professionalized labor. Based in Paris since 1923, the Peruvian poet César