Test tube envy science and power in Argentine narrative

262 Pages·2005·1.501 MB·English

by  Brown, J. Andrew

Test Tube Envy
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TheBucknellStudiesinLatinAmericanLiteratureand Theory
Series Editor:An´ıbalGonza´lez,PennsylvaniaStateUniversity
Dealing with far-reaching questions of history and modernity, language and
selfhood,andpowerandethics,LatinAmericanliteratureshedslightonthemany-
faceted nature of Latin American life, as well as on the human condition as a
whole. This series of books provides a forum for some of the best criticism on
LatinAmericanliteratureinawiderangeofcriticalapproaches,withanemphasis
on works that productively combine scholarship with theory. Acknowledging the
historical links and cultural affinities between Latin American and Iberian litera-
tures,theserieswelcomesconsiderationofSpanishandPortuguesetextsandtop-
ics,whilealsoprovidingaspaceofconvergenceforscholarsworkinginRomance
studies,comparativeliterature,culturalstudies,andliterarytheory.
TitlesinSeries
Mario Santana, Foreigners in the Homeland: The Latin American New Novel in
Spain,1962–1974
RonaldJ.Friis,Jose´ EmilioPachecoandthePoetsoftheShadows
RobertT.Conn,ThePoliticsofPhilology:AlfonsoReyesandtheInventionofthe
LatinAmericanLiteraryTradition
AndrewBush,TheRoutesofModernity:SpanishAmericanPoetryfromtheEarly
EighteenthtotheMid-NineteenthCentury
SantaAriasandMariselleMele´ndez,MappingColonialSpanishAmerica:Places
andCommonplacesofIdentity,Culture,andExperience
AliceA.Nelson,PoliticalBodies:Gender,History,andtheStruggleforNarrative
PowerinRecentChileanLiterature
JuliaKushigian,ReconstructingChildhood:StrategiesofReadingforCultureand
GenderintheSpanishAmericanBildungsroman
Silvia N. Rosman, Being in Common: Nation, Subject, and Community in Latin
AmericanLiteratureandCulture
Patrick Dove, The Catastrophe of Modernity: Tragedy and the Nation in Latin
AmericanLiterature
JamesJ.Pancrazio,TheLogicofFetishism:AlejoCarpentierandtheCubanTradi-
tion
FrederickLuciani,LiterarySelf-FashioninginSorJuanaIne´sdelaCruz
SergioWaisman,BorgesandTranslation:TheIrreverenceofthePeriphery
StuartDay,StagingPoliticsinMexico:TheRoadtoNeoliberalism
AmyNaussMillay,Voicesfromthefuenteviva:TheEffectofOralityinTwentieth-
CenturySpanishAmericanNarrative
J.AndrewBrown,TestTubeEnvy:ScienceandPowerinArgentineNarrative
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Test Tube Envy
Science and Power
in Argentine Narrative
J. Andrew Brown
Lewisburg
Bucknell University Press
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(cid:1)2005byRosemontPublishing&PrintingCorp.
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AssociatedUniversityPresses
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ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstherequirementsoftheAmerican
NationalStandardforPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials
Z39.48-1984.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Brown,J.Andrew,1970–
Testtubeenvy:scienceandpowerinArgentinenarrative/J.AndrewBrown.
p. cm.—(TheBucknellstudiesinLatinAmericanliteratureandtheory)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-8387-5613-1(alk.paper)
1. Argentine fiction—History and criticism. 2. Literature and science—
Argentina. I. Title. II. Series.
PQ7697.B76 2005
863.009(cid:1)36(cid:1)0982—dc22 2004027218
printedintheunitedstatesofamerica
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For Amy
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Contents
Acknowledgments 9
Introduction 13
1. Butting Heads: Phrenology as Weapon in Facundo and
Amalia 28
2. A Dandy New Scientist: Lucio V. Mansilla 55
3. Argentine Naturalism’s Test Tube Anxiety 84
4. Test Tube Terror: Science and Society in Roberto Arlt 97
5. Borges’s Scientific Discipline 125
6. Corta´zar’s Quantum Values 160
7. TestTubeEnvyattheTurnoftheCentury:Convergences
and Divergences 189
Conclusion 217
Notes 226
Works Cited 240
Index 254
7
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Acknowledgments
T
HIS PROJECT SPENT MANY YEARS IN ITS OWN LABORATORY AND
there have been many teachers, colleagues and friends who have
made suggestions and given support at various points along its de-
velopment. I would like to thank my undergraduate mentors Mary
DavisandPamelaGossin,bothofwhomcontributedtotheinterests
that resulted in this book. My professors at the University of Vir-
ginia all helped me greatly, regardless of their specialty or research
focus. Fernando Opere´, Donald Shaw, and Karen Parshall all read
the manuscript at various stages and made substantial contributions
toitsquality.MyadviserGustavoPello´n played aspecialroleinits
creation and I cherish the many hours we spent together working
through the project’s early iterations.
My colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis have also
helped agreat deal. Ingeneral, the nurturingatmosphere ofthe De-
partment of Romance Languages and Literatures has contributed
enormously to my ability to write and revise and I thank all of my
colleagues in Spanish, French and Italian who have helped make
Washington University a great place to work. Elzbieta Sklodowska,
John Garganigo, and Randolph Pope also read versions of the book
and gave excellent suggestions for its improvement. Benigno Trigo
made some helpful observations on the project as a whole and
Anibal Gonza´lez and the anonymous reader for Bucknell Univer-
sity Press made invaluable suggestions that contributed greatly to
the quality of the book. Rita Kuehler, Kathy Loepker, Helene
Abrams, and Christine Hitchcock make up the best office staff a
departmentcould haveandIthank themall fortheir help.Christine
Hitchcock’s talent with image design is on display on the cover of
the book and I thank and recognize her for that especially.
Adria, Colin, and Eva have all made the work on this book much
more enjoyable, their support and presence act as a backdrop to all
that I have written, even if they are not particularly interested right
now in the topic. Above all, Amy has made this project possible
with her unflagging support and devotion from beginning to end.
9
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10 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A portion of chapter 5 appears as ‘‘Borges’s Scientific Discipline’’
in Hispanic Review
A brief section of chapter 6 appears in ‘‘Reading Rayuela in the
Rayuel-O-Matic’’ Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispa´nicos
Thesectionon MempoGiardinelliinchapter7 appearedas‘‘Chaos
in the Chaco: Ilya Prigogine and Mempo Giardinelli’s Imposible
equilbrio’’ in Latin American Literary Review
Iwouldliketothankall threejournalsfor thepermissiontopublish
these articles.
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