The Image of the Remainder in Latin American Literature and Visual Arts
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THE IMAGE OF THE REMAINDER IN LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND VISUAL ARTS A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Marcela Romero Rivera August 2012 © 2012 Marcela Romero Rivera THE IMAGE OF THE REMAINDER IN LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND VISUAL ARTS Marcela Romero Rivera, Ph. D. Cornell University 2012 The present dissertation studies the image of the remainder in three variations— garbage, human remains and wastelands—as they appear in contemporary Latin American literary and visual products. Works by Marcelo Cohen, Vik Muniz and Teresa Margolles are clustered around the image of garbage in chapter 1; Rodolfo Walsh, Artur Barrio, Rubem Fonseca and Guadalupe Nettel offer the images of human remains analyzed in chapter 2; and finally, chapter three reads the image of the wasteland in José Revueltas, Sebastião Salgado, and Matilde Sánchez. This constellation of images produced by contemporary writers and artists from Argentina, Brazil and Mexico is read against its immediate historical context to uncover the patterns of political engagement triggered by a moment of crisis. These moments of upheaval produce an awareness of collective vulnerabilities, which find their expression in images of waste. The most recurrent pattern of collective behavior after an instance of crisis, as it is observed in the analyzed works, can be summarized as a political mobilization springing from the improvised usage of waste materials as a strategy for the survival of the community. iii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Marcela Romero Rivera was born in Guanajuato Mexico and lived in Mexico City and Leon before moving to Monterrey to study Spanish literature at the Tec de Monterrey. This north-bound move continued a few years after obtaining her B.A. degree, this time to New York City where she got a M.A. in Liberal Studies at The Graduate Faculty at The New School for Social Research. During her years in New York City she also continued the teaching career she had started in Monterrey, serving as a language instructor at The New School and New York University. Further north, Marcela moved to Ithaca, NY in 2005 to join the doctoral program in Comparative Literature at Cornell University. She got her Ph.D. degree in August 2012, thanks to the help of family, friends and family. iv A Guille, Eunice y Enrique. Gracias por ser y por estar. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would would not exist in its present form were it not for the generous help of the friends, colleagues, and faculty members with whom I have the opportunity to work during my years at Cornell University. Chief among them are the members of my special committee Bruno Bosteels, Susan Buck-Morss, José Edmundo Páz-Soldán and Luz Horne; their wise comments and suggestions throughout the entire process of writing made it an exciting and challenging journey. I also want to thank other members of the faculty in the Comparative Literature department who offered much needed guidance and advise about the dissertation and beyond; Tim Murray, Barry Maxwell, Jonathan Monroe, Matt Smith, Anindita Banerjee and Karen Pinkus helped me gather a clear picture of what a vibrant intellectual community looks and feels like. And a deeply-felt thank you goes out to Sue Besemer, whose wise, knowledgeable, and steady hand helped me figure out and navigate all the intricacies of the administrative realm of graduate life. I thank my friends and colleagues for sustaining me throughout the years. Thank you Beth Bouloukos, María Fernanda Negrete, Juan Sierra, Paloma Yannakakis, Henry Berlin, Zac Zimmer, Ricardo Arribas, Federico Fridman and Kavita Singh, your hearts gave me shelter and your minds, challenge and excitement. I want to thank Fede Sor for always being there for me, from beginning to end. Finally, I want to thank my family, to whom this dissertation is dedicated, for being such an extraordinary group of generous and lovely people. All my strength comes from you, from the ever-present love with which you surround me. I love you all. vi TABLE OF CONTENT Biographical Sketch ................................................................................................... iii Dedication .................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. v Table of Contents ....................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................ vii Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Garbage .................................................................................................. 9 Marcelo Cohen’s Donde yo no estaba .............................................................. 10 Vik Muniz’s Pictures of Garbage ..................................................................... 31 Teresa Margolles’s Work from SEMEFO to the Venice Biennial ............. 55 Garbage: history, nature, image, and smell ................................................ 74 Chapter 2. Human Remains ................................................................................... 106 Rodolfo Walsh’s Operación masacre ............................................................... 107 Artur Barrio’s “Situação T / T, 1” ................................................................. 124 Rubem Fonseca’s “A arte de andar nas ruas de Rio de Janeiro” ............. 144 Guadalupe Nettel’s El huésped .................................................................... 162 Human Remains: shock, improvisation and politics ................................. 181 Chapter 3. Wastelands ............................................................................................. 204 José Revueltas’ El luto humano ..................................................................... 205 Sebastião Salgado’s Terra: Struggle of the landless ................................... 225 Matilde Sánchez’s El desperdicio .................................................................... 253 Latin American Wastelands: Apocalypse and Utopia ............................... 280 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 314 Works Cited ............................................................................................................... 324 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Author Description Page 1. Vik Muniz Emerson 33 2. Vik Muniz Narcissus 35 3. Vik Muniz Atlas 35 4. Vik Muniz Saturn Devouring One of his Sons 37 5. Vik Muniz A Cigana (Magna) 40 6. Vik Muniz Mãe e Filhos (Suellem) 40 7. Vik Muniz A Carregadora 40 8. Vik Muniz Atlas (Carlão) 41 9. Vik Muniz Mulher Passando Roupa (Isis) 42 10. Vik Muniz O Semeador (Zumbí) 42 11. Vik Muniz Marat (Sebastião) 43 12. SEMEFO Lavatio Corporis 56 13. SEMEFO Catafalco (Catafalque) 59 14. SEMEFO Dermis 60 15. Teresa Margolles Memoria fosilizada 62 16. Teresa Margolles Lienzo (Shroud) 64 17. Teresa Margolles Vaporización (Vaporization) 66 18. Teresa Margolles En el aire (In the Air) 68 19. Teresa Margolles Mesa (Table) 71 20. Teresa Margolles Limpieza (Cleaning) 72 21. Teresa Margolles Limpieza (Cleaning) 72 22. Teresa Margolles Limpieza (Cleaning) 73 23. Teresa Margolles Limpieza (Cleaning) 73 24. Artur Barrio Situação T/T, 1 (first part) 124 25. Artur Barrio Situação T/T, 1 (first part) 126 26. Artur Barrio Situação T/T, 1 (second part) 128 viii 27. Artur Barrio Situação T/T, 1 (second part) 130 28. Artur Barrio Situação T/T, 1 (third part) 130 29. Artur Barrio Trabalho: 1970 Arte 133 30. Sebastião Salgado Yanomami youths in Roraima, Brazil 234 31. Sebastião Salgado Sertanejo with his son in Ceará, Brazil 236 32. Sebastião Salgado Children at Rosa do Prado encampment 240 33. Sebastião Salgado Cotton field workers 240 34. Sebastião Salgado Sugar cane plantation workers 240 35. Sebastião Salgado Three young girls at a wedding in Bahía, Brazil 241 36. Sebastião Salgado Young children of the sertão 243 37. Sebastião Salgado Children at play at the sertão 243 38. Sebastião Salgado Children after a sermon in Pernambuco 244 39. Sebastião Salgado Sugar cane plantation workers 246 40. Sebastião Salgado Peasant building a dam 246 41. Sebastião Salgado Vaqueiro in the backlands of Paraíba 247 42. Sebastião Salgado Orphanage in São Paulo 248 43. Sebastião Salgado Prison cell in the 33rd precinct in São Paulo 249 44. Sebastião Salgado Homelesss night shelter in São Paulo 249 45. Sebastião Salgado Homeless teenagers in São Paulo 250 46. Sebastião Salgado Homeless family living at an underpass in São Paulo 250 47. Sebastião Salgado Inmate at the Carandiru state penitentiary 250 48. Sebastião Salgado Children asking for charity 252 49. Sebastião Salgado Collective blessing of bread 252 50. Sebastião Salgado MST members entering expropriated land 253 51 Sebastião Salgado MST manifestation in Sergipe 253 52. Juan Rulfo Autorretrato (Self-portrait) 283 Introduction The genesis of this project can be traced back to one late January afternoon in Rio de Janeiro, when I was returning to the city of Rio de Janeiro after having visited its landfill. In the drive back, as I completed my notes about the place