Pastoralism, Parricide, and the PRI: Nostalgia and Self-Awareness in Yáñez's Al filo del agua
Parricide is deeply intertwined with the notion of Revolution: the parricide at the central point of Agustín Yáñez's Al filo del agua (1947) is thematically linked to killing the father in the political sense. In this article I relate the process of the son rising to challenge the father to the overthrow of the antiguo régimen, especially in their aftermath; the outcome of both types of parricide can lead to self-awareness, especially after revolution has become "institutionalized" (as in the PRI, or Partido Revolucionario Institucional). To build my argument, I offer an excursion through the literary-historical genre of pastoral nostalgia, which informs this novel, as well as a parallel to Dostoevski's "Parable of the Grand Inquisitor" from Brothers Karamazov. I conclude that this post-traumatic introspection often leads to the classic philosophical problem of Free Will—or the lack thereof.
Al filo del agua
Hasta ahora, el caso ha versado estrictamente sobre infracciones inmigratorias: por ejemplo, como entro Luis Posada Carriles a los Estados Unidos. La fiscalia alega que llego en el Santrina y desembarco en Miami, y los abogados defensores dicen que llego en una camioneta por la frontera mexicana. Nadie duda que entro ilegalmente, pero la fiscalia piensa que mintio para proteger a los contrabandistas que conspiraron para traerlo en el bote. Es un delito muy serio colar a un terrorista a los Estados Unidos. Tambien hemos escuchado testimonio y examinado evidencia sobre los nombres falsos que ha usado Posada Carriles, incluso uno que aparece junto a su fotografia en un pasaporte guatemalteco.
Shoeless Joe: Fantasy and the Humor of Fellow-Feeling
In his essay on Jean Paul Friedrich Richter, Thomas Carlyle writes of a humor that manifests itself in smile rather than laughter. "Richter is a man of mirth," says Carlyle, whose humor is "capricious . . . quaint . . . [and] heartfelt" (15). The three adjectives represent for Carlyle the essence of what he terms "true humor" because they suggest Richter's enormous respect for humanity. "True humor," he goes on to say, "springs not more from the head than from the heart; it is not contempt, its essence is love; it issues not in laughter, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper" (17). These smiles are not Hobbesian smirks of superiority1 but genuine signs of compassion for, sympathy toward, and empathy with the object of the humor. Carlyle further provides a direct link between humor and both pathos and nobility; the link is the smile of the caring man. For Carlyle, this smile is one of "fellow-feeling":