Sobre el autor
Uruguay, 1878-1937
initial impressions: this guy is
CRAZAY.
Notes from wiki:
He wrote stories which, in their
jungle settings, use the supernatural and the bizarre to show the struggle of man
and animal to survive. He also excelled in portraying mental
illness and hallucinatory states.[1]
His influence can be seen in the Latin
American magic realism of Gabriel García Márquez and the postmodern surrealism
of Julio Cortázar.[2]
-accidentally murdered a
friend.
-would often say that Poe was his
first and principal teacher.
-tragedy #2: wife committed suicide
-after painful illness, committed
suicide
Sobre su obra
-
As he further developed his particular style, Quiroga
evolved into realistic portraits (often anguished and desperate) of the wild
nature around him in Misiones: the jungle, the river, wildlife, climate, and
terrain make up the scaffolding and scenery in which his characters move, suffer,
and often die. Especially in his stories, Quiroga describes the tragedy that
haunts the miserable rural workers in the region, the dangers and sufferings to
which they are exposed, and how this existential pain is perpetuated to
succeeding generations. He also experimented with many subjects considered
taboo in the society of early twentieth century.
-
Realist, with an emphasis on bizarre and
monstrous in his stories
-
Big on punch, low on adjectives is his advice
for writing cuentos.
-
His stories move by action more than by dialogue
-
Constant theme of Man vs. Nature
Comps Example Questions
-
The
regional narrative (novela telúrica), with its variants (criollismo, novela de la tierra, de la
selva, etc.). Authors: Gallegos, Güiraldes, Rivera, Quiroga. Some
suggested, secondary readings: Alonso.
-
Realismo and naturalismo. Authors: Echevarría
(earlier, under “From Independence to Modernismo”), Quiroga; Gamboa.
What Franco says (Chapter 7, pg. 216-220)
-
Writer of some of the best regional short stories of
Latin America (216)
-
Interest in the human personality in extreme or
abnormal situations (217)
-
“An essential factor in good regionalist literature is
that the natural environment should be more than a setting for a human drama.
The great regional novels… are those in which the human drama and the
environment are inseparable” (217)
-
Idea that man cannot control nature; he can only study
the environment and hope to survive through courage and resourcefulness (217)
-
The great majority of Quiroga’s stories follow a
similar pattern. The protagonist is never an intellectual, but rather a
pioneer/farmer/laborer in the rough rural region of Uruguay going about his
daily work. Some accident happens and suddenly he becomes a lonely man fighting
for life. (218)
-
“A la
deriva” and “Un hombre muerto” (218)
o
Follows above pattern; fatal accident occurs in
first few lines and the protagonist dies at end
o
Death isn’t completely “accidental” in either
story
o
Summaries
of both stories – pg. 218
-
Quiroga is not directly concerned with society in his
stories, but criticism of social organization is often implicit (219)
-
Idea that all man-made institutions are fallible,
fragile, and ultimately unimportant when set against the mightiness of nature
(219)
-
Conflict between human reason and will which seeks to
plan, structure, and control the environment, and nature which defies such
control (219)
-
“Anaconda” (219)
o
Story in which the snakes rise up to fight a war
to the death with a group of men in charge of a laboratory which manufactures
snake serum. Snakes instinctively defend the natural order.
o
Exploration of animals – their instinctual
knowledge and acts are totally opposed ot the willed and motivated actions of
human beings
-
Idea of nature not as a passive element but as an
actively destructive force, a threat to human identity (220)
Common themes in stories
-
Regionalist narrative
-
Civilization vs. barbarie, power of nature, man vs.
nature
-
Realism/naturalism
o
Describes life as it really is
o
Grotesque
-
Death, man contemplating imminent death
***Note on readings: short and
sweet! YAY!
“Las Moscas” (1933) (Text available here)
Summary
Man sitting near tree in a field of
ashes with one untouched tree. He’s fallen, become paralyzed. Has the feeling
he’ll die. Shadows come over him…sees a zoco marroquí and some potros blancos
come out and some decapitated men run in. Now he sees a hospital room. Drs. try
to convince him he won’t die. So, they put him to the test of the green flies,
which detect dead flesh far before humans can.
Now, flashes back to where he’s
sitting. Flies are zumbando around. The end is nigh… “Y vuelo, y me poso con mis compañeras sobre el tronco caído, a los rayos
del sol que prestan su fuego a nuestra obra de renovación vital.”
Themes/ideas
-
Time is used as a device here, as it seems to pass more
slowly for the dying man than it is for everyone else.
-
Nature is unavoidable: it comes from all sides.
-
Out of death can come renewal (the dying tree, the
dying man)
“A la deriva” (1912)
Summary
Man feels snake bite him (influence
of his time in the jungla?). Chops up the snake with his machete. Ties a
bandage around his injured foot. His foot is swelling, he’s getting thirsty,
walking back to his house. He begs his wife to give him caña, not water, but it
doesn’t quench his thirst. He gets in his boat and tries to paddle (maybe to
receive treatment?) but, he’s getting nauseous. His whole leg is becoming
deformed by the venom. He asks his friend to help, but he doesn’t hear. Tries
to take his canoe out again. Notes that along the river, “El paisaje es agresivo
y reina en él un silencio de muerte.” Then, as night falls, his pain starts to
alleviate. (Mentions river, landscape). Then, he just calmly stops breathing…
Themes/Ideas
-
Man vs. Nature
-
solitary man
-
inevitable death
-
solace is a lie
“El hombre muerto” (1920)
(I think I recognize this one)
Summary
-Un hombre y su machete doing work. While cleaning some land, he
drops his machete, falls down. And, he's going to stab himself (accidentally)
and BOOM. Stabbed. "llegaremo a
nuestro turno al umbral de la muerte...es la ley fatal". Sueños,
trastornos, esperanzas y dramas (these are the things that make up our time
between birth and death...something of a philosophy of life). How did this
final day finally arrive for him? Wasn't this just another day? When he dies, sólo
él es distinto...everything else is business as usual. Now, his son is
coming (prediction: son will probs find him dead.)
Themes/Ideas
-
The passage of time is played with in this story, as
time seems to be passing differently for the man than it is for the rest of the
world.
-
As he lies there, waiting to die, the man feels
uprooted, disconnected from his land and his family.
-
Shows how nature can never fully be dominated, no
matter what man tries to do (the man has worked to cultivate this land that has
now killed him)
“La Gallina degollada” (1909) (mmm...what a nice title! Not.)
Summary
Starring "los cuatro hijos idiotas del matrimonio
Mazzini-Ferraz....casi siempre estaban apagados en un sombrío letargo de
idiotismo" When the couple first was married and had their first child, it
was hopeful for them; renewing. Then, when the child was a year old, it
had convulsions and could no longer recognize parent. Mom sees it as "aquel fracaso de su joven
maternidad." Now, another child. Situation repeats itself. They
couldn't create one atom of normal life. They start to blame one another. Then,
they have a girl. And so far, things look normal. The other children are left
to the servant, treated with "visible brutalidad". Then, the girl gets
sick; One of them blames the other for having an ill father. Then, they tell
the servant to kill a hen...the 4 idiot children are stupefied and enjoy
watching,yet the parents send them out of the kitchen.
Then, the idiot children start to
look at the daughter...she screams for her parents....(and you know what
happens...she become the next gallina degollada. NASTY.)
Themes/Ideas
-
Naturalism: does fate play a role in people’s lives?
Are people destined to suffer? Focus on sickness, discord, anger, rejection,
and death.
“El hijo” (1935)
Summary
Hot, sunny day. Father tells his
son to come back before lunchtime (he's going out to explore). Son is a good
hunter, though he's only 13, something his father would have wanted when he was
a child. Though he usually worries about his kid, today he feels okay about it.
BUT...now it's lunchtime and the
son hasn't come back. Heard only one shot. Then, the father goes to look for
him...sees his dead child. (he must've tripped on a wire)...Then, he thinks his
son responds to him, picks him up, talks to him, takes him home...BUT, reality
is: the kid's been dead since 10 am.
Themes/Ideas
-
Naturalismo: solace from nature and destiny and death
is a lie.
-
Man vs. nature and nature wins (as it always does)
-
Great tragedy
“Anaconda” (1921)
-
Summary: The snake Lanceolada was prowling
around her property when she decided to go and see what was up at the house (an
abandoned building with sheds around it).
She slithers over there and realizes that there is a person who is
living there now. She strikes at his
boot, but it’s not clear if she succeeds in biting him. The next day she alerts her snake buddies
because they don’t want their habitat destroyed. She first tells Terrifica, a rattlesnake, who
is really old. A bunch of other yararas
from the area came to the meeting too.
The snakes decide that they will go to war with the humans. They send nacanina, a really poisonous snake
to hunt them. She hides and listens to
them in the darkness. As it turns out,
the men have come to this region of the jungle to set up an institute to
research antivenomn. The nacanina gets
caught in the house overhearing everything.
She doesn’t care about the plan because she’s an anaconda and she has
more power than the venomous snakes.
When she escapes the house and tells them of the humans’ plan, they are
upset. Another snake ends up getting
caught anyway and put in a cage with a cobra, who bites her. The humans, thinking she’s dead, throw her
out and she helps the cobra escape. They
attack a man and get him right in the vein, so he ends up dying. They all band together then and listen to the
cobra’s advice to attack the horses before the dog. The humans beat them off and they end up
basically killing all of them. The cobra
gave bad advice and the anaconda wants revenge.
They fight and she kills the cobra.
The men find her and they take her in, restoring her with antivenom from
the cobra’s bites and the anaconda lives for another year after that with the
men, hunting rats.
-
Themes/ideas
o
Man seems to mostly triumph over nature in this
story, although Anaconda escapes and continues to live.
o
Discord causes the vipers and snakes to be
killed: they cannot overcome their dislike of each other even if their survival
depends on it
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