Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 7-1-2013 Post-Revolutionary Post-Modernism: Central American Detective Fiction by the Turn of the 21st Century Gael Guzman-Medrano Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI13080707 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Latin American History Commons, Latin American Languages and Societies Commons, Latin American Literature Commons, Modern Literature Commons, and the Spanish Literature Commons Recommended Citation Guzman-Medrano, Gael, "Post-Revolutionary Post-Modernism: Central American Detective Fiction by the Turn of the 21st Century" (2013). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 917. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/917 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida POST-REVOLUTIONARY POST-MODERNISM: CENTRAL AMERICAN DETECTIVE FICTION BY THE TURN OF THE 21ST CENTURY A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in SPANISH by Gael Guzman-Medrano 2013 To: Dean Kenneth G. Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Gael Guzman-Medrano, and entitled Post-revolutionary Post-modernism: Central American Detective Fiction by the Turn of the 21st Century, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Maida Watson _______________________________________ Maria Asuncion Gomez _______________________________________ Astrid Arraras _______________________________________ Santiago Juan-Navarro, Major Professor Date of Defense: July 1, 2013 The dissertation of Gael Guzman-Medrano is approved. _______________________________________ Dean Kenneth G. Furton College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2013 ii DEDICATION To my family and Max. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the members of my committee for their support, patients and guidance. I would like to recognize Dr. Maida Watson’s perceptive and insightful reading of the manuscript, and for her genuine concern for my success and that of the rest of her students. I truly enjoyed our conversations on Panamanian literature and cultural expressions. I also want to thank Dr. Maria Asuncion Gomez who is an outstanding educator and demonstrates in and out of the classroom a high level of commitment to her students. Her valuable feedback and directions during my career as a student at FIU helped me reach many goals. I also want to express my gratitude to Dr. Astrid Arraras whose amiable smile and committed support to this project as an outside reader made this dream a reality. Her approachable demeanor and knowledge make her a great educator. Finally, I am extremely and forever grateful to my Major Professor Dr. Santiago Juan- Navarro. I am honor to have had the guidance and support of a great scholar and dedicated mentor. His knowledge and passion on postmodernism opened a new field of investigation for me. Thank you for always believing in me and never leaving my side. My gratitude also goes to my dear friend and classmate Elizabeth Solis for her continuing friendship and support through the many experiences we shared during our trajectory as graduate students. iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION POST-REVOLUTIONARY POST-MODERNISM: CENTRAL AMERICAN DETECTIVE FICTION BY THE TURN OF THE 21ST CENTURY by Gael Guzman-Medrano Florida International University, 2013 Miami, Florida Professor Santiago Juan-Navarro, Major Professor Contemporary Central American fiction has become a vital project of revision of the tragic events and the social conditions in the recent history of the countries from which they emerge. The literary projects of Sergio Ramirez (Nicaragua), Dante Liano (Guatemala), Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador), and Ramon Fonseca Mora (Panama), are representative of the latest trends in Central American narrative. These trends conform to a new literary paradigm that consists of an amalgam of styles and discourses, which combine the testimonial, the historical, and the political with the mystery and suspense of noir thrillers. Contemporary Central American noir narrative depicts the persistent war against social injustice, violence, criminal activities, as well as the new technological advances and economic challenges of the post-war neo-liberal order that still prevails throughout the region. Drawing on postmodernism theory proposed by Ihab Hassan, Linda Hutcheon and Brian MacHale, I argued that the new Central American literary paradigm exemplified by Sergio Ramirez’s El cielo llora por mí, Dante Liano’s El hombre de Montserrat, Horacio Castellanos Moya’s El arma en el hombre and La diabla en el espejo, and Ramon Fonseca v Mora’s El desenterrador, are highly structured novels that display the characteristic marks of postmodern cultural expression through their ambivalence, which results from the coexistence of multiple styles and conflicting ideologies and narrative trends. The novels analyzed in this dissertation make use of a noir sensitivity in which corruption, decay and disillusionment are at their core to portray the events that shaped the modern history of the countries from which they emerge. The revolutionary armed struggle, the state of terror imposed by military regimes and the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, are among the major themes of these contemporary works of fiction, which I have categorized as perfect examples of the post-revolutionary post-modernism Central American detective fiction at the turn of the 21st century. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 I. THE NOIR NARRATIVE IN CENTRAL AMERICAN LETTERS 7 I.1. A Brief Historical Background of the Detective Fiction I.2. Multiple Definitions of the Noir Narrative I.3. Typifying Characteristics of the Classic Detective and the Noir Narratives I.3.1. Typifying Characteristics of the Noir Narrative I.3.2. Summary of the Main Characteristics of the Classic Detective Novel and the Noir Novel I.4. What Then Constitutes the Noir Narrative? I.5. The Noir Genre in Latin America I.6. The Birth of the Central American Noir Narrative I.7. Historical Contextualization of the Central American Noir Narrative I.8. Central American Noir Narrative, An Expression of Postmodernity I.9. An Overview of Postmodernism II. SERGIO RAMIREZ’S EL CIELO LLORA POR MÍ: (RE)INVENTING FACTS-CONSTRUCTING “HISTORIOGRAPHICAL” NOIR FICTION 54 II.1. History in Sergio Ramirez’s Literary Project II.2. Sergio Ramirez’s Literary Postmodernity II.3. El cielo llora por mí: An Introduction II.4. The (Re)construction of the Narrative Space in Ramirez’s Novel II.4.1. Fact and Fiction in El cielo llora por mí II.4.2. Heteroglossia in El cielo llora por mí II. 4.2.1. The Contemporary and Prevailing Literary Discourse II. 4.2.2. The Historiographic Discourse in El cielo llora por mí II. 4.2.3. The Socio-Cultural Discourse in El cielo llora por mí II. 4.2.4. Other Discoursive Forms in El cielo llora por mí II.4.3. Other Postmodern Structural Aspects of El cielo llora por mí II. 4.3.1. El cielo llora por mí, the Noir Narrative and Postmodernity II. 4.3.2. Referenciality, a Postmodern Element in El cielo llora por mí II.5. Conclusion III. THE CENTRAL AMERICAN LITERARY TRADITION OF VIOLENCE IN DANTE LIANO’S AND HORACIO CASTELLANO MOYA’S NARRATIVE PRODUCTION 119 vii III.1. Violence in Central American Letters III.2. History and Reflexivity in Dante Liano’s Literary Project III.3. Dante Liano’s Literary Postmodernity III.3.1. El hombre de Montserrat: Plot, Main Character and Other Relative Information of Liano’s Novel III.3.2. Technical Practices in the (Re)construction of Reality in the Narrative Space in Liano’s novel III.3.3. The Theme of Violence in El Hombre de Montserrat III.3.4. El Hombre de Montserrat as a Postmodern Parody of the Detective Narrative III.3.5. Other Characters in El Hombre de Montserrat III.4. Horacio Castellanos Moya’s Literary Project III.5. Literary Postmodernity in Castellanos Moya’s Narrative III.5.1. Corruption in Castellanos Moya’s La diabla en el espejo and El arma en el hombre III.5.2. Violence in Castellanos Moya’s La diabla en el espejo and El arma en el hombre III.5.3. Aspects of the Noir Narrative in La diabla en el espejo and El arma en el hombre III.6. Conclusion IV. THE CENTRAL AMERICAN LITERARY TRADITION OF PATRIOTISM IN RAMON FOSECA MORA’S EL DESENTERRADOR 181 IV.1. Ramon Fonseca Mora’s Literary Project IV.2. Ramon Fonseca Mora’s Literary Postmodernity IV.3. El Desenterrador: An Overview IV.4. Elements of the Noir Narrative Tradition in El desenterrador IV.5. Postmodern Practices: The (Re)construction of Reality in Fonseca Mora’s novel El desenterrador IV.5.1. Heteroglossia in El desenterrador IV.5.2. The Historiographic Discourse in El desenterrador IV.5.3. A Parody of the Testimonial Account in El desenterrador IV.5.4. The Socio-Cultural and Political Discourse in El desenterrador IV.5.5. Other Postmodern Structural Aspects of El desenterrador IV. 6. Conclusion CONCLUSION 207 BIBLIOGRAPHY 213 VITA 222 viii INTRODUCTION Contemporary Central American literature has been popularized by the political armed struggle that occurred during the last four decades of the 20th century. In the late 1960s and through the first half of the 1980s, Central America came to be known as a region filled with violent guerrillas and heartbreaking civil wars. In the United States and in Europe, the focus of the criticism of Central American literature was on explaining how the literature of the region became an instrument of resistance and political struggle.