| This dissertation addresses the complex interplay of representations of forms of technology related to computing as they appear in recent Latin American narrative, specifically in El delirio de Turing, by Edmundo Paz Soldan (2003) and Mantra (2001) by Rodrigo Fresan, in order to explore their relationship to other forms of mass media that have also arisen and become intertwined with literary forms over the course of the previous century. It grasps the tension that arises in critical and theoretical responses and in the literature itself due to the combination of "high" and "low" forms of expression, such as that seen in widely studied canonical works by authors like Manuel Puig and Adolfo Bioy Casares. I argue that Paz Soldan and Fresan expand on this tension as related to cybernetic themes, adding another dimension to this imbalance, though at times seem ambiguous as an underlying corruptness and paranoia threaten to destroy the human. In the end, however, they each present different possibilities for a successful future with the blending of man and machine. I maintain that these authors express different points of tension in questioning the effects that the increasing presence of machines is having on traditional definitions of the body, memory, and the sacred. My research shows that the authors of the works studied here, express this fact through destabilizing established hierarchies within the realm of literary expression, language and ultimately as far as who controls the publishing apparatus. The last point, especially is illustrated using the experimental writing practices of Cristina Rivera Garza in the context of computer interfaces, such as blogs, blending text, image, and sound, with comparative examples of independent publishing on paper of the literatura de cordel and the cartonera publishers in Latin America. |
