The Faces of Inclusion: Historical Fiction in Post-Dictatorship Argentina
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University of Alberta The Faces of Inclusion: Historical Fiction in Post-Dictatorship Argentina by Wojciech Tokarz A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in part fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature - Spanish and Latin American Studies Department of Comparative Literature, Religion, and Film/Media Studies Edmonton, Alberta Spring 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45617-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45617-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract This thesis examines the forms of representation of history in Argentina in three historical novels written between 1995 and 2003 during the period of continuing transition from dictatorship to democracy. The first two chapters establish the theoretical framework for the analysis of the novels. Chapter One focuses on the socio-political context in which the historical novel re-emerged in Argentina after the last military dictatorship (1976-83). During the post- dictatorship period three phenomena have undermined the role of the state as a point of reference for the construction of national identity: the excesses of the military junta, the politics of oblivion of governments that absolved the crimes of the dictatorship, and the neoliberal policies of the 1990s that questioned the traditionally protective role of the state. The second chapter traces the evolution of the historical novel in Argentina from the nineteenth century to the present with an emphasis on the ideological changes in the principles that conditioned the fictionalization of national origins. While the historical novels from the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth projected the idea of exclusion in the formulation of the nation, the novels produced in post-dictatorship period are characterized by inclusion. The last three chapters explore different aspects of inclusion expressed in three contemporary Argentinean historical novels. La tierra del fuego (1998) by Sylvia Iparraguirre embraces the heritage of Native people and of all those who were "disappeared" from national history. Ese manco Paz (2003) by Andres Rivera proposes a view of history drawn from the sphere of the private world of the great figures of the past rather than from their public lives. The last novel analyzed, La passion segun Eva (1995) by Abel Posse, attempts to formulate national history on the basis of multiple perspectives representing different social groups and including the recent past in historical discourse. The principle of inclusion, combined with the temporal and discursive fragmentation characteristic of the novels analyzed, suggest an historical project that escapes closed and predetermined structures and projects a vision for the future of the nation marked by a struggle for tolerance, freedom, and democracy. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter I A Country without Identity: Crisis of Modernity in Argentina: 13 Chapter II The Historical Novel in Argentina: From Exclusion to Inclusion 48 Chapter III Remembering the Forgotten: La tierra del fuego by Sylvia Iparraguirre 95 Chapter IV Patria versus patria: Ese manco Paz by Andres Rivera 138 Chapter V History in the Present: Lapasion segun Eva by Abel Posse 174 Conclusion 223 Work Cited 229 Introduction Hay palabras que cambian poco a poco: otras, las que importan, a veces mudan subitamente su sentido. Durante afios, cualquiera que leyera Que Pais sabia que los signos que faltaban eran, sin duda, de exclamation entre indignada y harta: jQue Pais! Era nuestra manera de reconocernos, de decirnos sin necesidad de decirnoslo que compartiamos la pesadumbre y el hastio por una patria que siempre nos la daba por la nuca - o, por lo menos, nunca nos daba lo que queriamos de ella. Y era la forma de decir, tambien, que no tenia remedio: que ella era asi, que que se le iba a hacer, que habia que joderse y buscarse la vida como fuera, sabiendo que esto no cambiaba. [...] /Que pais! fue la sintesis de la protesta, de la desesperacion ante el derrumbe, de las ganas de que se derrumbara, de ese miedo. Pero tambien pensamos que quizas que pais podria ser esa pregunta: <<,que posibilidad nos queda de armar uno donde podamos vivir y ser un poquito felices? i Que pais? (Martin Caparros) History in Latin America has always been a problematic affair. The very question of its beginnings, for example, immediately raises important inquiries. The past of Latin America consists of a series of ruptures each of which brought political, social, and cultural reorganization. Along with those transformations came a reformulation of the time of origin intended to legitimize the new situation. For much of Spanish America the ascent of pre-Columbian cultures, the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the colonial period, and the struggle for emancipation from Spain could all be considered as mythological times of foundation. The decision about the adoption of one of them over 1 the others, however, has always been a political one and has triggered mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion. This tendency was undisputedly present when Latin American nations were taking shape in the nineteenth century and the intellectual elite was producing national narratives that would legitimize the foundation of new political entities, provide a mythology that would serve to unite the population living within its borders, and project a direction for the future. In the case of Argentina, the desire of the nineteenth-century ruling liberal elite in starting over, erasing the Indigenous past and the Spanish heritage from history was, as Noe Jitrik remarks (2005 83), was reflected in nineteenth-century literature, including the historical novel. Argentina was supposed to be a modern, ordered and efficient country modeled after European states like England and France and able to compete in the international market. Susana Rotker (20) points out that for this very reason the Native inhabitants of Argentina and the African descendents of slaves were considered backward and found themselves outside the nation. In his seminal book The Invention of Argentina (1991) Nicolas Shumway states that the exclusionist tendency in formulating the nation, which he calls an "exclusionist mythology" (xi), was even extended during the constitutional debate of the nineteenth century to encompass political groups. From the very beginning, therefore, the history of Argentina had to reflect the ambitions of the young country and consider only its most immediate past as its heritage in a way that depended on whatever group was in power. Not surprisingly, nineteenth-century Argentinean literature that contributed to the formulation of national narratives was preoccupied primarily by contemporary issues and the recent history of Independence and internal conflicts (see Jitrik, 1995 42). 2 Although the groups that would be included in the nation might be juggled in the course of Argentinean history, the paradigm of exclusion persisted as the predominant logic underlying the definition of nationhood. Its terrible apogee was reached during the Process of National Reorganization, the military dictatorship that claimed the lives of 30,000 Argentineans in the years 1976-1983. State terrorism and its ideological justification provoked a national trauma that questioned nineteenth-century epistemological paradigms on which the national discourse was based. Yet again, Argentina found itself at a crossroads. In the face of disenchantment with nineteenth- century narratives, national history had to be re-written once more. This time, however, the notions of both the nation and history had changed. In light of the exhaustion of previous projects of modernization it was