La ironia en la novelistica de Julio Ramon Ribeyro

Abstract

Irony serves a fundamental function in the discursive structure of the novels of the Peruvian writer Julio Ramon Ribeyro (1929-1994). We find its use through different literary devices at work in his novels. Here we analyze the three Ribeyrian novels within an analytical framework that focuses on rhetoric. That is to say, we use an approach that brings together the works by Peter Roster on the various kinds of irony (verbal irony, dramatic irony, character irony, fate irony, and metaphisical irony), and the works of Lauro Zavala, which analyze the different levels of ennunciation (narrative voice, language, and reader). In his first novel, Cronica de San Gabriel (1960), we analyze dramatic irony. This kind of irony is evident in the narrative voice, which in this case is that of the character of Lucho, an adolescent man who finds himself alone in the world. The reason behind his eventual fall lies in his being witness to the disappearance of the latifundia and a series of tragic events that befall other characters. In his second novel, Los geniecillos dominicales (1965), we study primarily fate irony. This kind of irony occurs when the outcome of an event signals a rupture from that which is hoped or expected. In this particular case, Ludo Totem, the anti-heroic protagonist, endures a number of tragic events which contradict his previous hopes. And it is this Ludo who personifies the deterioration and fall of a fragmented society. In his last novel, Cambio de guardia (1975), we examine metaphysical irony, which concerns itself with the irrevocable contradictions of human existence. This form of irony appears when an action ends in death, and is the result of forces that are beyond human control. In this novel we find different stories that are woven together through fateful encounters, each of which ends in chaos. Ambiguity and the game between appearances and reality are also characteristic of these novels, novels in which the reader plays an active role as he or she decodifies the true message intended by the author.