Dictator novel

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The dictator novel ( span. " Novela del dictador ") is a (especially Hispanic American ) literary genre, which deals with the topic of military dictatorships in the history of Latin American states. Here the personal cults of the dictators are viewed critically and the relationships between power and freedom are analyzed.

classification

Although there are parallels to the Latin American “boom”, the roots of this narrative reach back to barbarism and civilization. The Life of Facundo Quiroga by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento from 1845. This work openly criticized the tyrannical regime of Juan Manuel de Rosas and the figure of Juan Facundo Quiroga , both Argentine caudillos of the early 19th century.

Examples

Examples of the dictator novel are Yo, el Supremo ("I, the Almighty") by Augusto Roa Bastos and La fiesta del chivo ("The goat's festival") by Mario Vargas Llosa . While the previous two make a factual claim , the figure of the dictator in El recurso del método (“The Method of Power”) by Alejo Carpentier is to be seen as a fictional amalgamation of actual historical personalities.

Other titles are Santa Evita by Tomás Eloy Martínez , El Señor Presidente ("The President, Roman from Guatemala") by Miguel Ángel Asturias , Conversación en La Catedral (" Conversation in the 'Cathedral' ") by Mario Vargas Llosa , La Maravillosa Vida Breve de Oscar Wao ("The short, wondrous life of Oscar Wao") by Junot Díaz and Maten Al León by Jorge Ibargüengoitia .

literature

  • Stefan Leopold: The novel as a shift: studies on myth, intertextuality and narratology in Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes . Günther Narr Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-8233-5616-X , pp. 119-133. ( Excerpt in the Google book search)
  • Walter Haubrich: Llosa's cruel billy goat . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. May 15, 2000, No. 112, p. 51.
  • Vittoria Borso: The Myth and Ethics of the Other. Reflections on the relationship between myth and history in the Hispanic American novel . In: Ludwig Schrader (Hrsg.), Karl Hölz ​​(Hrsg.): Sense and understanding . Erich Schmidt Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-503-03766-7 , pp. 252–267, especially pp. 258–263 ( excerpt in the Google book search)