Play, Space and Idealized Reader Constructs in Contemporary Argentine Fiction: Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Ana María Shua and Belén Gache Halbert, William University of Liverpool Abstract This thesis explores the convergences and divergences in the personal conceptualizations of play, space and idealized reader constructs as they are manifest in the short fictions of Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar, the sudden fictions of Ana María Shua and, more recently, in the hypertext fictions of Belén Gache. The four chapters that make up this thesis offer an in-depth examination of how the narrative strategies employed by each individual author are used in an attempt to imbue the reading process with a game-like quality that serves to reduce the ontological distances between author, text and reader. As such, this thesis not only identifies key developments in the thematic and stylistic concerns of the Argentine short story, but also situates the reader’s position in relation to what I call the ‘narrative space’. This ‘narrative space’ refers to a spatially-inflected manifestation of the cognitive, imaginative and emotional experiences of the ideal reader construct that foregrounds his/her role in the co-production of narrative meaning. Such a focus not only allows this thesis to engage with each author’s individual contribution to the literary politics of the contemporary Argentine short story, but also facilitates a serious consideration of the short story’s ongoing dialogues with increasingly prevalent new media technologies. 1 Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 5 0.1 Literary Politics - A Heritage of Experimentation ................................................................................. 5 0.2 The Short Story ................................................................................................................................. 11 0.3 Exploration and Co-production - Outlining Play ................................................................................. 15 0.4 Cognitive Maps and Narrative Spaces - Outlining Space .................................................................. 22 0.5 Dialogues with Critical Theory ........................................................................................................... 29 0.6 The Game is Afoot - a Chapter Breakdown ....................................................................................... 34 Chapter I Topographical Structures of Play in Jorge Luis Borges ....................................................................... 39 1.0 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 39 1.1 Spatial Concepts and Reader Movement – ‘La biblioteca de Babel’ .................................................. 42 1.2 Strange Loops, Tangled Hierarchies and Paradoxical Architecture – ‘Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius’ and ‘Las ruinas circulares’ .............................................................................................................................. 52 1.3 The Labyrinth as Play Space – ‘La casa de Asterión’ ........................................................................ 61 1.4 The Super-sleuth and the Metaphysical Detective Story - ‘La muerte y la brújula’ ............................. 76 1.5 The Player as Victim – ‘El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan’ ......................................................... 95 Chapter II Houses, Homes and Hostile Spaces in the Short Fiction of Julio Cortázar ....................................... 106 2.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 106 2.1 The House as Hostile Space - ‘Carta a una señorita en París’, ‘Casa tomada’ and ‘Bestiario’ ........ 111 2.2 The Player and the Prisoner - ‘Instrucciones para John Howell’ ...................................................... 139 2.3 An Ontology of Mutual Performance - ‘Las babas del diablo’ .......................................................... 151 2.4 The Death of the Reader – The Metaleptic Transgressions of ‘La noche boca arriba’ and ‘Continuidad de los parques’...................................................................................................................................... 166 2 Chapter III Mocking the Idle Reader: Casual Play in the Sudden Fictions of Ana María Shua ............................ 180 3.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 180 3.1 Shaping the Playground - The Impact of Nomenclature, Generic Hybridization and Intertextuality on the Narrative Space .............................................................................................................................. 184 3.2.1 Intertextuality and Transtextuality - The Narrative Space as Mediating Environment .................... 192 3.2.2 Intertextuality and Transtextuality - The Narrative Space as Authorial Hiding Place ..................... 204 3.3 Merging of Ontological Territories - ‘Hardcore’ and ‘Casual’ models of Readerly Engagement........ 214 3.4 Fellow Clowns and Acrobats: From the Boxing Ring to the Circus Tent .......................................... 228 3.5 Digital Playgrounds - Sudden Fiction as Precursor to the Hypertext ................................................ 240 Chapter IV Gameplay Literature and the Literary Politics of Belén Gache’s WordToys ...................................... 246 4.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 246 4.1 The Literary Politics of Hypertext - Freedom, Agency and Destruction of ‘the Line’ ......................... 252 4.2 Hypertext as Cultural and Theoretical Analogue to the Video Game – ‘Escribe tu propio Quijote’ ... 257 4.3 Suture and Scission - Outlining the Avatar in ‘El llanto del peregrino’ and ‘Los sueños’ .................. 263 4.4 The Narrative Space as Contested Arena of Play – ‘Dedicatoria espiral’ ......................................... 277 4.5 Respawn and Infinite Play - ‘Mariposas-libro’ & ‘¿Por qué se suicidó la Señorita Chao?’ ................ 295 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 316 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 326 3 Acknowledgements This work was supported by funding from the E. Allison Peers Doctoral Scholarship in Hispanic Studies at the University of Liverpool. I would like to extend the warmest and most sincere of thanks to my supervisors, Professors Chris Harris and Claire Taylor. Not only for their unparalleled wisdom and support, but for their unwavering patience over the last few years. I would also like to thank my parents for picking me up, dusting me off, and not asking too many questions. This is for you. 4 Introduction The present thesis concerns itself with the concepts of play, space and idealized reader constructs as they are manifest in the works of Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Ana María Shua and Belén Gache. Of specific interest are the ways in which the concepts of play and space - as they come to represent heavily thematized elements of the respective fictions, short fictions, sudden fictions and hypertext fictions of all four artists - actively problematize the literary politics that inform the dynamic relationship between author and reader. This introduction is comprised of six key sections. Its first and second sections outline and justify the thesis’s overall position within the wider context of the study of Latin American Literature. Its third, fourth and fifth sections elucidate upon the key terminology, the methodological frameworks and the theoretical dialogues that guide the work’s avenues of investigation. Its sixth and final section offers a breakdown and overview of each chapter’s structure and also provides a summary of each chapter’s salient arguments. 0.1 Literary Politics - A Heritage of Experimentation This thesis offers a concise examination of how the narrative strategy of play - as it pertains to the landscape of Argentine short fiction - is used to reduce the ontological distances between author, text and reader.1 Serving as a unifying line of enquiry across the works of all four authors is a comparative study of the concern for ludic engagement as it comes to represent a narrative strategy that problematizes the 1 What follows is an elaboration on the thesis’ critical position within, and contribution to, the wider study of Latin American Literature, as well as a justification for the specific avenues of analysis explored throughout this study. 5 ontological distance between author, text and reader. As such, this thesis not only identifies key developments in the thematic and stylistic concerns of the Argentine short story, but also attempts to situate the reader’s position in relation to the narrative space as well as his or her role in the co-production of such a