Words and follies in Borges and Ramón, on A Universal History of infamy and Joanna the Mad, Superhistory

Author(s)

Livia Grotto

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
• Defense date: 2013-04-26

Examining board members

Miriam Gárate; José Enrique Serrano Asenjo Valeria de Marco; Valeria de Marco; Ana Cecilia Arias Olmos; Alexandre Soares Carneiro

• Advisor: Miriam Gárate

Abstract

This doctoral thesis on Jorge Luis Borges' A Universal History of Infamy and Ramon Gomez de la Serna's Doña Juana la Loca, Superhistoria is divided into two parts. The first one entitled "Borges and Ramon in the literary Spanish and Argentine magazines, 1919-1949" discusses in its proper context the relationship between these two authors, especially through the periodical magazines where both collaborated from 1919 to 1949. The second part includes three chapters that compare the books A Universal History and Doña Juana. The first one, "The distances of the voice, an inexpert writer and a superwriter ", departs from the prologues of both books in order to approach the construction of the narrator's voice, observing their implications in the image of implicit authors. "Words and follies, on the infamous and super historical creatures" considers both implicit writers in their relation with fictional characters. The third chapter entitled "The epistemology of Universal History and the Superhistory, literary science" aims to deepen the sense of "Universal History" and "Superhistory" present in the titles of the books, from a synchronous cut that outlines critical and epistemological discussions that involved the field of History in the beginning of the 20th century. Finally, the epilogue of this work, "Emblems of the crystal in Borges and Ramon", returns to the initial goal of this thesis, based on Italo Calvino's conference called "Exactitude" (Six Memos for the Next Millennium) (AU)