MELODRAMATIC AFFECTION. THE EMOTIONAL POLITICS OF MASCULINITIES IN JOSÉ MARÍA ARGUEDAS AND MARIO VARGAS LLOSA
This dissertation concentrates on the writings of José María Arguedas and Mario Vargas Llosa, the two most important Peruvian authors in the 20th century. While many prior critics studied the representation of the racial and the social identities depicted in the fictions of these two writers, the masculine identity and the central role of the emotions have received little interest.
The analysis develops the links between indigenous and mestizo masculinities and emotions in their novels and short stories published between 1935 and 1969: Agua (1935), Los jefes (1959), Los ríos profundos (1958), La ciudad de los perros (1963), Amor mundo (1967) and Los cachorros (1967). I propose the term melodramatic affection to describe a device that shapes the ideological substratum and outlines its melodramatic formalization and emotional deployment. In that sense, under the realistic and sophisticated Avant-garde styles of narrating, there are melodramatic schemes and an emotional repertoire that help to convey the authors’ ideological point of view regarding Arguedas’ defense of indigenous identity and the Vargas Llosa’s condemnation of the abuse of power.
Furthermore, the influence of Latin American melodrama —romantic poetry, popular music, radionovela, Mexican cinema— is traced with the intensification of some emotions such as hatred, fear, pain and shame. Those affect the masculine characters and the plots, have political implications in relation to the institutional power represented, and connect with readers intellectually and emotionally.
History
Degree Type
- Doctor of Philosophy
Department
- Languages and Cultures
Campus location
- West Lafayette