DONOSO THE HUMORIST: A STUDY OF ENTROPY _____________________________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board _____________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY _____________________________________________________ by John A. Cunicelli August 2017 Examining Committee Members: Hortensia Morell, Advisory Chair, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Hiram Aldarondo, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Sergio Ramírez-Franco, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Michael Colvin, External Reader, Marymount Manhattan College ii © Copyright 2017 by John A. Cunicelli All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Donoso the Humorist: A Study of Entropy John A. Cunicelli Doctor of Philosophy Temple University, 2017 Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair: Hortensia Morell For over two millennia, humor has been the topic of philosophical discussion since it appears to be a nearly universal element of human experience and offers different perspectives on that experience. Humor delves deep into the cultural norms governing religion, family, sex, society, and other aspects of day to day life in order to investigate the absurdities therein. Viewing such reified aspects of life in a new, humorous light is one of the principal characteristics of the Chilean author José Donoso’s novels. Oftentimes irreverent and scathing, Donoso’s dark humor reaches entropic proportions since it accentuates (and at times even seems to celebrate) the human condition’s descent into chaos. Given this downward trajectory, a selection of the Chilean author’s novels will be analyzed under the entropic humor theory originated by literary theorist Patrick O’Neill. The notion of entropy contains the very idea of a breakdown of order that tends toward chaos, so this special brand of humor is a unique fit for a study of Donoso. Within the author’s first novels, we note extreme existential angst which, as we pass into his later works, gives way to resignation, a trajectory we see mirrored in the use of humor, going from extremely dark and bitter to more playful, albeit always caustic and acerbic in nature. By delving into the psyche of man, Donoso finds much humor behind the tragedy and then uses it to expose life’s absurdities. He toys with our expectations. His use of humor externalizes alternative ways to view life – in its tragic comedies or comic tragedies. iv Questa tesi è dedicata a voi, nonna Tina e zio Angelo, che mi avete ispirato allo studio delle lingue. È grazie a voi che sono arrivato fino a qui. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank first and foremost my advisor, Dr. Hortensia Morell, for her guidance and support throughout this process. Her critical eye and vast experience have been indispensable in helping me complete this project. She also helped me to realize the importance of terse language, indeed an invaluable skill for an academic (and an Italian- American). I would also like to thank each member of my examining committee. After studying fantastic literature with Dr. Hiram Aldarondo, I was inspired to change my concentration from Peninsular to Latin American literature. Thereafter, in Dr. Ramírez- Franco's course, I encountered the Boom writers and learned the importance of finding just the right theory to approach a short story or novel. I am grateful to them both for sparking my interest in Latin American literature. I also thank Dr. Michael Colvin for acting as my external reader. Your expertise in Donoso's oeuvre is greatly appreciated. The professional support I have received is complemented by the love and encouragement of family and friends throughout the years. So many have helped me stay the course. Principally, my parents, Frances and Tony, who were my first and still are my biggest cheerleaders. Thank you to my brother, Anthony, sister-in-law Missy and their children, Marco and Sofia, for helping me relax and play games. To Joshua Pongan, my colleague and friend, I owe much gratitude for his constant encouragement and humor during this whole PhD process. Also, my friend Amanda’s laugh and her wonderful technical expertise helped me immensely. And a special thanks to my partner, Andrew, who has heard so much about Donoso’s characters that he may also be an expert himself now. His faith in me and his humorous outlook on life are a constant inspiration. Finally, to all those who have taught me, implicitly or explicitly, to laugh directly in the face of adversity… I thank you! vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ vii CHAPTERS 1. CORONACIÓN: LAUGHINGLY TOWARD COSMIC CHAOS ................................1 2. EL LUGAR SIN LÍMITES: HUMOROUS HOPELESSNESS.....................................38 3. CASA DE CAMPO: THE NARRATOR SMILES ON HIS CHARACTERS’ DARK FATE .....................................................................................................................69 4. LA MISTERIOSA DESAPARICIÓN DE LA MARQUESITA DE LORIA: EROTIC HUMOR AND THE EXISTENTIAL VOID .....................................................94 5. DÓNDE VAN A MORIR LOS ELEFANTES: A SATIRICAL VIEW OF SOCIAL INTERACTIONS ............................................................................................................111 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................130 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………...………….134 vii INTRODUCTION José Donoso (Chile 1924-1996), a prominent figure in twentieth century Latin American literature, is known for his dark narratives dealing with the difficult themes of death, destruction and the desacralization of the societal institutions of family, religion and cultural norms. He once stated in an interview, “My vision of life is pretty gloomy. I’m not really a joking person; I just tend to put the act on. I’m not in general a very happy man, I guess. I tend to be joking in public because I try to win people over. I try to woo people” (Christ 29). Despite the constant theme of despair that pervades Donoso’s body of work spanning five decades – from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s –, we nonetheless find an ever-present undercurrent of humor throughout his narratives. Whether a decrepit nonagenarian madwoman spouting obscenities or an elderly transvestite dancing flamenco in a small-town Chilean brothel, Donoso’s characters convey his masterful use of humor. By weaving humor into the themes of death and despair, the Chilean author perhaps was trying to woo readers by offering them something with which they could identify: “If literature is to communicate its humanitarian message, it must appeal to the humanity of the reader. It must contain humor, an essential human trait” (Rodríguez Monegal 5). The inclusion of this essential human trait also has another function that is the principal focus of this study: it offers a different perspective, a lens that when used to view any given situation can only accentuate or expose, by sheer juxtaposition, the absurdity of existence, the predominant backdrop of all Donoso’s works. The author himself, as expressed during a round table interview in a text edited by Guillermo Castillo-Feliú, was perhaps aware of externalizing absurdity when he stated that so many of his characters “are quite absurd and this should viii make for some amusement” (16). Donoso continued to explain that his mode of humor “is not comical in any way but there is a level at which humor exists, continually” (16). This suggests that humor, not simply relegated to random humorous scenes but rather found consistently throughout his narratives, is an integral factor when considering the Donoso novel. Donoso, by presenting life’s difficulties in a humorous way, detaches them from their contexts so the reader can inspect them more closely, through humor, perhaps gaining insight otherwise unavailable. John Morreall, one of today’s leading humor theorists, describes this function of humor succinctly: “In humor we shift mental gears and look at everyday things in new ways. And this departing from well-worn paths of thought brings a certain mental liberation, which has long been counted as among the chief values of humor” (Philosophy of Laughter 2). In this way, humor can help us see the absurd aspects of some beliefs and customs, by inspecting them from a different viewpoint. Humor therefore provides, “a jolt to our picture of reality” (Morreall, Taking Laughter Seriously 83). Again, this study postulates that Donoso’s humoristic lens can be used to underpin the possibility that life may not have much purpose, since Donoso’s use of humor is always so intimately interlocked with tragic events. We investigate this juxtaposition of humor and tragedy contained in five Donoso novels: 1. “Coronación (1957) – Laughingly Toward Cosmic Chaos”; 2. “El lugar sin límites (1966) – Humorous Hopelessness”; 3. “Casa de campo (1978) – The Narrator Smiles on His Characters’ Dark Fate”; 4. “La misteriosa desaparición de la marquesita de Loria (1980) – Erotic Humor and the Existential