Date of Award

Spring 5-17-2015

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Major

LACS: Hispanic Studies

First Advisor

Rosario Hubert

Second Advisor

Anne Lambright

Abstract

The style of magical realism gives Boom generation authors of the 1950s and 60s—such as Alejo Carpentier, Gabriel García Márquez, and Julio Cortázar—the opportunity to explore what it would be like if the animal and human worlds combined. In their works, these authors portray animalism in the form of human-animal metamorphosis, hybridization, and the crossing-over of identity. Philosopher Gilles Deleuze calls this process of transformation becoming-animal and states that the becoming-animal challenges the traditional power structure of man's superiority over animals. Using the philosophies of animal turn, I examine each Latin American author's use of animals within El reino de este mundo (Carpentier, 1949), “Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes” (García Márquez, 1955), and “Axolotl” (Cortázar, 1956). Isolating instances where the human and animal worlds combine, I determine that the becoming-animal challenges the original structures of power in Latin America's history. Structures such as slavery, capitalism, and colonialism crumble beneath the idea that the oppressed are actually the ones in power and thus the animal triumphs over man.

Comments

Senior Thesis completed at Trinity College for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Hispanic Studies.

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