Transitional Discourses: The (Psycho)somatic Fiction of Juan Jose Millas
Abbott, Annie R.
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/86181
Description
Title
Transitional Discourses: The (Psycho)somatic Fiction of Juan Jose Millas
Author(s)
Abbott, Annie R.
Issue Date
1998
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
L. Elena Delgado, L. Elena
Department of Study
Spanish
Discipline
Spanish
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Literature, Modern
Language
eng
Abstract
"The underlying discourse of Letra muerta (1984) links political extremism with the contagion of human bodies and the body politic. Silence and isolation ""cure"" the protagonist's unruly behavior; likewise, the dominant discursive practice of Spain's political transition from dictatorship to democracy (1975--1982) attempted to ""silence"" the extreme views---separatism, communism---that might ""infect"" the body politic. El desorden de tu nombre (1988) incorporates the formula for success in late 1980s Spain. Overcoming fever and hallucinations, the protagonist gains power and success by replacing his radical political past with a ""modern"" look and duplicitous discourse. Similarly, the Social Democrats, during their consolidation of power (1983--1992), subsumed their previous counter-discourses within economic policies of modernization and Europeanization. The protagonist of Tonto, muerto, bastardo e invisible (1995) undergoes a professional crisis, mirroring Spain's crisis of 1993--1996. This novel charts the economic practices that construct individuals and nations' ""places"" on ideological maps of power and displays the Social Democrat's re-positioning of Spain on the European map. Juan and Jose, identical twins and protagonists of Volver a casa (1990), inhabit fragmented identities and bodies. A literary corpus provides a body upon which to forge a narrative ""cure,"" but writing's economic system exposes the book to the same anxiety and fragmentation that splinter the writer's self. I conclude that through the body and illness, Millas's fictions contest the forces that attempt to forge a Post-Franco Spanish identity."
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