El cuento hispanoamericano de la primera mitad del siglo XX (1910-1940). De Quiroga a Arlt

Abstract

This thesis deals with the Latin American short stories of the first half of the 20th century, which can be divided into two main lines: tranculturation and cosmopolitan. First of all, a theoretical framework is presented that covers different aspects regarding the genre of short story. In order to achieve a detailed analysis, the following corpus was selected: for the first line, Cuentos de la selva (1918) by Horacio Quiroga, Los cuentos de mi tía Panchita (1920) by Carmen Lyra and Leyendas de Guatemala (1930) by Miguel Ángel Asturias; for the second line, we will analyze Cuentos de amor, de locura y de muerte by Horacio Quiroga, El jorobadito (1933) y El criador de gorilas (1941) by Roberto Arlt. Through the methodologies of textual analysis and comparison, relying on the theories of each genre, I manage to demonstrate the hypothesis that the writers of the first half of the twentieth century seek to show a national identity in each area and also begin to explore resources that then they will be what sustains the maturity of this genre in later decades. Specifically, the writers of the first line take advantage of their indigenous cultural heritage as a way of showing their own identity, developing from a regionalist literature to one of transculturation, what critics also call “magic realism”. As for the second line, it is developed more in Argentina, where there isn´t a very firm indigenous cultural base. Consequently, intellectuals seek to build their identity from scratch and show their reality through metaphysical inquiry into the individual. In these stories, the use of the fantastic is very frequent.