The pictorial figure in the work of Severo Sarduy.
Item
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Title
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The pictorial figure in the work of Severo Sarduy.
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Identifier
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AAI3325455
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identifier
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3325455
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Creator
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Perez, Rolando.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Oscar J. Montero
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Date
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2008
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Latin American | Literature, Caribbean | Art History
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Abstract
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My dissertation aims to trace the impact of the plastic arts on the work of Severo Sarduy. Though Sarduy never enjoyed the same level of notoriety as that of other Latin American writers like Garcia Marquez and Vargas-Llosa, and his compatriot, Cabrera-Infante, he, on the other hand never lacked for excellent critical interpretations to his work from critics like Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, Rene Prieto, Gustavo Guerrero, and other reputable scholars. Missing, however, from what is otherwise an impressive body of critical material, is a study of the importance of painting and architecture firstly on his theory, and secondly on his creative work.;In order to fill this lacuna in Sarduy studies, this dissertation undertakes a critical approach to his essays, Barroco, Escrito sobre un cuerpo, "Barroco y neobarroco," and La simulacion from the stand point of art history. For often forgotten is the fact that the twenty-three year old Sarduy left Cuba for Paris in 1961 not to study literature but art history, where he earned the equivalent of Masters degree from the Ecole du Louvre with a thesis on Roman art. And yet it was the art of the Italian Renaissance (e.g. the paintings as well as the brilliant and numerous treatises on linear perspective produced from the 15th to the 16th century) and what he called the Italian, Spanish, and colonial Baroque or "neo-baroque" aesthetic that interested him and to which he dedicated so many pages.;From the Renaissance and the Baroque he borrowed an interest in the relationship between science, art, and literature, where the language of art was equated with the rhetoric of scientific texts, such as the dialogues of Galileo. This material as well as a tracing of the theoretical texts that Sarduy read during the mid 1960s (by such art historians as Erwin Panofksy, Walter Friedlaender, Arnold Hauser, Hubert Damisch, et al) is covered in Chapter 1 of the dissertation. Chapter 2 pays special attention at the specific figure of the body in Sarduy's theory vis-a-vis painting and architecture, and provides an analysis of his conclusions regarding such diverse artists as Rubens and the Cuban architect, Ricardo Porro. It also examines Sarduy's treatment of the pictorial body in literature through his critical assessments of Giancarlo Marmori's Storia di Vous, Carlos Fuente's Zona Sagrada, and Salvador Elizondo's Farabeuf: looked through the lens of Western European and Eastern aesthetics.;Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 of the dissertation are devoted to a study of the place of the pictorial figure in the creative work. Thus while Chapter 3 is a study of the poetry in Big Bang (1974), and in the Obra completa, in Chapter 4 I turn my attention to the unstudied radio plays ("La Playa," "Los matadores de hormigas," "La caida," "Relato" and "Tanka"). And though references are obviously also made to his prose ( Gestos, Cobra and De donde son los cantantes, El Cristo de la rue Jacob) it is done so primarily to illustrate points of contact. Critical interpretations of the novels are excellent and extensive, and I felt that I could make a greater contribution by analyzing texts that have not received the same critical attention than by treading on familiar ground already explored by very capable critics. In the end, the goal has been to shed some light on an area of Sarduy's thought and writing---namely, the art historical background---in such a way that it will enrich future readings and study of this very culturally rich and important twentieth century writer.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
