Postmodern Parody in Latin American Literature by Helene Carol Weldt-Basson

Author:Helene Carol Weldt-Basson
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

2.The citation of apocryphal works and authors;

3.The production of literary essays on works that were never written; and

4.Literature as theme and motive of existence of his own fiction.

One of the principal legacies of A Universal History of Infamy to Nazi Literature is the exploration of the American space as the site of an epic that is different from traditional epic . Some critics, such as Margo Glantz and Marta Gallo , have indicated a relationship between Borges’s book and the epic genre . Glantz explores the cinematographic character of Borges’ book, while Gallo searches for the meaning of the incidence of this genre in Borges’ work. Gallo concludes that the modern heroes of A Universal History of Infamy , in contrast to the classics, “establecen un antagonismo con su entorno y al romperse la armonía propia del mundo épico, afirman el coraje ya no en función de una comunidad sino como acto gratuito” (Gallo, 99) [establish an antagonism with their surroundings and upon breaking the harmony proper to the epic world, affirm courage no longer in function of a community but rather as a gratuitous act]. Undoubtedly, there is an impulse toward epic present in all of the tales of the book discussed here, and, in an ostensible way, in the stories that deal with the United States : “The Dread Redeemer Lazarus Morell ,” “Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities,” “The Disinterested Killer, Bill Harrigan,” and “Streetcorner Man,” where, in a species of distorted mirage, “The History of Old Time Argentine Underworld” reflects “The History of New York Old Underworld” ( A Universal History of Infamy , 51).

I would like to dwell on Gallo’s proposition that the rupture of harmony in the epic world appears to result from the antagonism between the hero and his world. She suggests that this break is produced by the impossibility of conceiving a non-parodic epic story in the modern world, even if it is serious, as in the case of Joyce’s Ulysses . Borges, in turn, desires to elaborate a comic parody. It is necessary to recall that these tales from A Universal History of Infamy were originally published separately in the newspaper Crítica and were designed as Saturday entertainment for a middle-class public (Calvi, 19–21). In this parody, the Borgesian epic hero , mixture of a model that runs the gamut from Hollywood cinema to the recovery of the Gaucho tradition, breaks down faced with the irony that not only separates him from society, but also disarticulates him from life. The epic heroes of most of the stories from A Universal History of Infamy , particularly those tales that unfold on North American soil, live in limitless and senseless violence that precedes a banal death whether it is in a hospital bed like Lazarus Morell, or via an anonymous assassination, like Monk Eastman, or by being brought to justice as an enemy of the community, like Bill Harrigan. Those non-heroic deaths are ironically inconsistent with their lives that conferred fame upon them, although the fame was due to illegal or dishonorable actions.

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