El humor como principio organizador de las obras de Augusto Monterroso y la Huelga de Dolores

Abstract

This dissertation studies selected works of the Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso and documents related to a cultural event known as the Huelga de Dolores, which takes place annually in Guatemala City during the days preceding Holy Week. These texts are analyzed from the perspective of humor, understanding humor not simply as one element among others but--more fundamentally--as an oblique way to approach and apprehend reality. In this way, humor constitutes an organizing principle of the writings of Monterroso and the documents published by the huelgueros. Chapter one reviews several theoretical interpretations of humor. Here, special attention is given to the theory of incongruity. It is argued that most theories of humor are rooted in a Cartesian epistemology and that a different approach should be considered, one that is more in line with the modern episteme. Chapter two is a biographical profile of Augusto Monterroso, which offers insight into his artistic sensibility. This chapter also includes a discussion of the history and evolution of the Huelga. The event began as an informal and spontaneous student celebration, and it has evolved into a social institution whose agenda includes a carnivalesque attack on different aspects of Guatemala's contemporary economic, political and social situation. Chapter three begins with a characterization of the extant literary criticism of Monterroso's works, from the 60s to the present. This chapter also examines the author's distinctive trait of obliqueness, which is evident not only in his use of irony, satire, and parody, but also in his pessimism, skepticism, relativism, and displacement of literary genres. Chapter four compares the notions of obliqueness and dialogism, and it offers the conclusion that they refer to the same essential characteristic of humor. Additionally, this chapter addresses the dialogical nature of humor and how such nature is related to several characteristics of medieval carnivals. The fourth chapter also establishes connections between the carnival and the Huelga de Dolores and it analyzes the oblique modes of the huelgueros' discourse.