| References to popular and folk musics have become increasingly prevalent in Spanish American, Caribbean, and Latino fiction. However, critical approaches to fictional musicmaking have been complicated by the methods, methodologies, and epistemologies within relevant non-literary fields of inquiry. This dissertation approaches The Gaucho Martin Fierro (Jose Hernandez), The Lost Steps (Alejo Carpentier), Three Trapped Tigers (Guillermo Cabrera Infante), and La importancia de llamarse Daniel Santos (Luis Rafael Sanchez) as works which have been mediated by Western discursive practices concerning music.;The introduction provides a background of the science of musicology, the rise and evolution of ethno- and sociomusicology, musicoliterary study, issues concerning popular culture, and Roberto Gonzalez Echeverria's theory of archival fictions.;In chapter one, Hernandez's poem is analyzed as an item of ethnomusicological evidence. The anthropological gaze, research that has (de)valorized the gaucho's musicmaking according to standards of Western art music, and the poem's multiple, heterogenous musical communities are examined.;Chapter two responds to founding figures of the musical Archive of Western music. Through Hornbostel, Sachs, Faust, Orpheus, and Beethoven, Carpentier explores the mis-fit between the hegemonic discourse of music and Latin American contextos.;Chapter three examines the star industry through Cabrera Infante's bolero singer: issues of desire, fame, beauty, power, and the participation of colonized cultures in the U.S. controlled music industry are woven into the tale of La Estrella.;In chapter four I argue that Sanchez's description of Santos is an ethnography of anthropology and goes beyond literary intertextuality to include narrative form found in the soap opera.;In conclusion, I consider developments in communication theory that contribute to approaches to popular music in Latino literature. A brief discussion of systems theory, sociomusicology, and The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (Oscar Hijuelos) explores the analytical possibilities suggested by the changing discursive practices within music study. |
