Trends in the Chilean short story Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Gregg, Karl Curtiss, 1932- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 09/10/2021 07:04:19 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/319078 TRENDS IN THE CHILEAN SHORT STORY by Karl C. Gregg A Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of Spanish in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Graduate College, University of Arizona 1954 Approved t Director of Thesl/s Ate This thesis- has: heen submit ted,in partial.. fulfillment of requirements for an s^dva.nee.d- degree at the University of V Arizona and is deposited in the Library:to be made.avail­ able to borrowers under , rules,, of the Library« Brief quotations from this -thesis are allowable.without special p ermiasion 9 provided .that. aoeurate . acknowledgement, of source, is made<, Requests for permisslon, for extended quotation from or reproduction of this ’ manuscript in -.whole or in. part may be granted by the head of the major depart­ ment or the dean of,the Graduate Oollege when in their judgement the proposed use'of the. material is in the, interests of scholarship.« In all other instances 9 however $ permission must be obtained from the authoro ■ f v . : , :S1UHED8 - ; ; TABLE OF CONTENTS To Introduction . Page 1 IT® Short Storsr Trends . Beginning Before 1 9 0 0 7 ■ - ;• 1© The Trend of Political Criticism . 7 A ' The 0 ostumbri sta - TrendThe Ouadro de Qostumbres . .. .. 1 2 3 o The Tradiclon and the Ouento % l i t a r ' 17 4© The TJ.rbs^n Haturali at Trend . 28 III© . Short Story Trends Beginning Between 1900-1935 3.2 I© Introduction. 32 2© The Pure Social Trend (of Naturalist Influence.). V 3 8 ■ 'V'The..-Imaginatly:©,..Trend::. ' 5 5 r ::'4o.. The'Rural Trend .. 63 '5o The .Rural Story -<= First. Epoch 67 6 0 The Rural Story — Second'Epoch 78 . 7 © The . Rural. Story. ~ Third Epoch 96 IVo The dontemporary Period . - . 3 ' 108 1 © Introduction : ' . , . 1 0 8 2© 0 ontemno rarr Tradiclonallsmo - 109 3o The Modern ..duento. Mllltar • 109 ■ 4® The Urbano=Realist Trend ' ,110' 5® Modern First-Phase Rural!sm . 112 6 y Modern Second.=*Phase Rural! sin 113 . 'To Modern.. Third-Phase .Euralism 117 8 ® The ..Social, Trend / .119 3 9 ° The Psycho-Imaginative Trends . -, 121 10 o. The Surrealist Trend - 131 Vo- Conclusion 136 Notes:3 \ : 3 : ... • > 33 3 ' 3 3 3 .;; .; 3;,--' 3.40 Bibliography Oeneral . 153 Bibliography =« Source Material 158 ^ ' Chapter I’ ■ • INTRODUCTION The purpose of this thesis is to present art analysis of the trends in the Chilean short story,,- from 11 s beginnings around 1842 to the present day 0 In the past 9 a considerable number of critics have discussed the novel and the poetry of Chile| and well they might,, as both are rich fields0 Among the;greatest Latin American novels are some by Chilean authors (such works, for example, as Durante la Reconcjui sta 9 Los Traspl ant ado s Q Martin Rivasn Casa Grande^ 21 Socio 0 El Hermano Asnofl 21 Rotoo etc o)e ,Chilean poetry -w with Its origins in La Araucana of Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga and more'particularly in 21 Arauco DomadOo by Pedro de Oha has recently gained world­ wide recognition through the works of Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Nerudao . : - It is only natural that the Chilean cuento9 overshadowed by the national novel and poetry, has received little atten- tlon 0 Certain cuentistas, such as Baldomero Lillo, Mariano Latorre and Manuel Rojas have, it is true9 gained consider­ able popularity outside their native lands The vast majority of the other short story writers j however, have been unknown, for the most part,, by no n-Chile an s 0 This situation is unfor­ tunate,, as there are a number of lesser-knovm, cuentistas whose ■works possess considerable ‘.merit = The Chilean cuento ■ as a wholej, howeverj ought not to be Ignored to the extent It has been by foreigners» Previous to the date of this writingg several critics have attempted to discuss the Chilean short storywith .varying resultso Three such works stand out particularly? Mariano Latorre 8s critical introduction to his anthology of the Chilean cuento Domingo Melf1 'Demarco8 s Estudios de la hiteratura Chilena (Prlmera Serie)92 and Raul Silva Castro1s . • . - 3 • introduction to his anthology of. Chilean cuentistaso Mariano•Latorre (in the work cited, which; incidentally§ was. revised and incorporated into his history of Chilean literature'^) attempts to identifys in outline form,, the various trends in the ouentop . Unfortunately, the author either was poorly acquainted with some of the material or careless in his writing, as a large number of minor dis=* qrepanoi.es and errors occur® Fortunately, many of the errors were corrected when the revised version appearedg but a goodly number can be noted in both works® As examples of careless­ ness on Latorre*s part, in both versions can be found some improper dates (since so few are given anyway,, this consti-y tutes a serious fault), wrong or misspelled titles (eog 0s Parvas Violas for Parras Tle.jas; and Cuentos de la Alcoba„ where the definite article should be omitted)Q In addition, the chronology is often confused, and, perhaps worst of all, some novels are included as collections of short stories (for ^ ■ ' examples Faralelo 53 SurQ by Jtian Marin and the Reina de - Rapa Hui^ \ of Pedro Prado)® F.ortunately? however5 Latorre8s main points are soundd as no other critic violently;disagrees with his system of class!floation# and as the stories them- . selves usually bear out what he' says« , Domingo Melfi Demarco devotes the major part of his critical studies to the rural short .storya together with the (Generation of 900#., Although his work does not contain foot­ notes nor a!bibliography@ his observations on the actual stories are as a rule suhstantlated by the cuentos themselves, To judge from the bibliographies and footnotes of later writers concerned•with the same subject# MeIfi provides the most popular9 if not the: best 8 soureet One author^; it . might be mentioned9 even goes to the extent of incorporating verbatim whole Sections of Melfi?s work into M s own — with­ out the nicety of suitable acknowledgement <? Radi Bilva Castro betrays his academic nature in the introduction to his anthology9. Los Ouentlstas Qhilenosi Latorre has traced the.development of the cuento through dis­ cussion of its trends; now 9 , Silva Castro discusses it from ' a purely chronological aspect® The study is very well docu­ ment ed@ and an excellent bibliography of the Chilean cuento is appendedo Unfortunately^ the author8s decision to discuss ("&) This titleg as given by Latorre9 is incorrect and should beg; Lh Reina de Rapa-Mule:. the major works in the order in which they appeared leads to a certain, amount of confusion on the reader^s part; especially if he is attempting to group the collections "by type6 While .not as vahiahle as i*atorre*Sa for e x a m p l e R a u l Silva Castro -s analysis of the short story does provide some excellent critical material for use when discussing trends in the Chilean short story0 . I n ,one particular aspect all of the critics mentioned are uhsatisfaetoryo. Since their respective works were all pub® 1 1 Shed prior to 1940g, none of these men presents a thorough discussion either in regard to trends or individual col= ' lections of the m o d e m cuentOo,- This gap is partially filled "by a more recent; work, Hicomedes Guzman8s anthology with, its corresponding introductlono^ Another "book which has been particularly helpful is that by Francisco Santanag7 which presents individual critical studies of the major con# temporary cuentlstaSo together with valuable biographical dat a o The .aim of this thesis is not primarily a critical one& and. for this reason little discussion Will be found of the comparative Values of the short stories or of their authors^:' This thesis intends to analyze the various trends taken by the short story of Chile during its existence as a genre© The method followed to achieve this purpose is fairly simple,3 andg with slight alterations in various sections8 remains constant throughout this worko Taking the trends noted by : : . : .5 Latorre (in the work cited previously) the author has attempted, first of all 5 to establish their existence; secondlyp, to pre= sent a picture of their form (ioee?, their individual charac^ teristies)j and finallys.to introduce into the discussion of each trend enough examples from specific cuentos to show con­ cretely the nature of the trend. For obvious reasons it would be impossible to discuss each and every short storygi showing to which trend it belongs® An attempt has been made to present those examples which most clearly identify an individual tendency in the Chilean short story®. Chapter II:: deals with the short story trends beginning before 1900 tracing • them up to the middle 1930®s I n Chap-* ter III will be found all major trends initiated during the period 1900«1935t- ' . ■ In Chapter IV^ the procedure will.be modified somewhatt All of the tendencies existing in the Chilean cuento during the modern period ^(i‘=>e,g. 1935-1954) will be presented singly® In addition to those authors properly belonging to this period will be mentioned such cuentistas as demonstrate a change in style (compared to their; previous works eogop,.