Between Reason and Madness

Hallucinated Detectives in the Narrative of Juan José Saer and Ricardo Piglia

Alfonso Macedo Rodriguez - Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa - email

Abstract

This paper analyses intertextuality between two novels, Juan José Saer’s La pesquisa and Ricardo Piglia’s Blanco nocturno, in the context of detective fiction, that both writers explore in their narrative. The paper is divided in four parts: “Cruces introductorios” is an introductory form to produce connections between the most important authors of the last quarter of 20th-century Argentine; in “Primeros rastros” communicating vases are set between both poetics in detective genre; in “Subgéneros policiales” some important aspects of La pesquisa and Blanco nocturno are analysed while some differences are identified: the first work belongs to enigma novel and the last work connects with hard boiled; finally, the paper analyses Detective Morvan and Detective Croce aiming at identifying opposite pairs: intelligence and dementia, reason and madness, civilisation and barbarism. Thus, these concepts are establishing new relationships between Saer and Piglia based on their approaches to detective genre and their criticism to capitalist system.

Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Aug. 9, 2017 | Accepted: Feb. 22, 2018 | Published Dec. 11, 2018 | Language: es

Keywords Piglia • Reason and madness • Saer • Conversation • Detective genre

Copyright © 2018 Alfonso Macedo Rodriguez. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Ri/2037-6588/2018/11/003

↑ back to top

Read this article

Articles

A Hebrew Echo of Catullus’ Passer circa 1400?
The Question of Humanism in Late Medieval Hispano-Jewish Communities
Eleazar Gutwirth
Dec. 11, 2018

The Goths of Cervantes
Adrián J. Sáez
Dec. 11, 2018

Between Reason and Madness
Hallucinated Detectives in the Narrative of Juan José Saer and Ricardo Piglia
Alfonso Macedo Rodriguez
Dec. 11, 2018

To Read Looking. Elements for Understanding and Analysis of Latin American Electronic Literature
Verónica Gómez
Dec. 11, 2018

Grotesque Deconstruction of Oficial Colonial and Postcolonial Latin-American Identities
From Valle-Inclan’s Tirano Banderas to Silviano Santiago’s Cosmopolitismo do pobre
Pedro Santa María de Abreu
Dec. 11, 2018

Gender Roles, Family Models and Community-Building Processes in Poblenou
A Comparative Analysis of American, British and Catalan Soap Operas
Silvia Grassi
Dec. 11, 2018

Stolen Lives and the Limits of Art
Aiora Sampedro
Dec. 11, 2018

Transformation of Identity in the Basque Narrative of the 20th Century
Iratxe Esparza
Dec. 11, 2018

Notes

Translating Vicent Andrés Estellés into Italian
On the Occasion of the First Bilingual Anthology
Cèlia Nadal Pasqual
Dec. 11, 2018

Pere Gimferrer in Catalan: from Personal to Political Commitment
Eloi Grasset
Dec. 11, 2018

Reviews

Reyes, Graciela (2018). Palabras en contexto. Pragmática y otras teorías del significado. Madrid: Arco/Libros, pp. 457
Eugenia Sainz Gonzalez
Dec. 11, 2018

De Benedetto, Nancy (2017). Contro giganti e altri mulini. Le traduzioni italiane del “Don Quijote”. Lecce: Pensa Multimedia Editore, pp. 196
Carla Perugini
Dec. 11, 2018

Autissier, Anne-Marie et al. (eds) (2018). Urban Dynamics. Conflicts, Representations, Appropriations and Policies. Berlin: Peter Lang, pp. 356
María Vera Reyes
Dec. 11, 2018

Tabucchi, Antonio (2015). L’automobile, la nostalgia e l’infinito. Su Fernando Pessoa. Trad. di Clelia Bettini e Valentina Parlato. Palermo: Sellerio, pp. 107
Andréia Guerini
Dec. 11, 2018

Aridjis, Homero (2018). Del cielo e le sue meraviglie, della terra e le sue miserie. A cura di Valerio Nardoni. Bagno a Ripoli: Passigli, pp. 319
Patrizia Spinato B.
Dec. 11, 2018

Fernández, Milton (2015). Donne. Pazze, sognatrici, rivoluzionarie. Milano: Rayuela Edizioni, pp. 272
Susanna Regazzoni
Dec. 11, 2018

Dámaso Martínez, Carlos (2017). Lecturas Escritas. Ensayos sobre literatura latinoamericana y arte. Buenos Aires: Alción Editora, pp. 274
Alice Favaro
Dec. 11, 2018

Schnirmajer, Ariela (2017). Ciudades, retazos ardientes. La cuestión social en las “Escenas norteamericanas” de José Martí. Buenos Aires: Corregidor, pp. 320
Fabiola Cecere
Dec. 11, 2018

Magnani, Ilaria (2018). Sulle orme del viandante. Scrittura ed erranza in Antonio Dal Masetto. Roma: Nova Delphi Libri, pp. 133
Claudia Fogliani
Dec. 11, 2018

Villani, Mario; Reati, Fernando (2018). Desaparecido. Memorie da una prigionia. Nota introduttiva, trad. e cura di Valentina Ripa. Salerno; Milano: Ed. Oèdipus, pp. 226
Claudia Fogliani
Dec. 11, 2018

Gutiérrez, Pedro Juan (2016). Fabián e il caos. Roma: Edizioni e/o, pp. 220
Francesca Valentini
Dec. 11, 2018

Gala, Marcial (2018). Verde Limone. Trad. di Pier Luigi Mori. Piacenza: Nuova Editrice Berti, pp. 166
Francesca Valentini
Dec. 11, 2018

Grau, Daniel P. (2017). El dit sobre el mapa. Joan Fuster i la descripció del territori. València: Publicacions de la Universitat de València, pp. 409. Càtedra Joan Fuster 22
Enric Portalés
Dec. 11, 2018

Review Proposals

Reviewing Proposals
Dec. 11, 2018

DC Field	Value
dc.identifier	ECF_article_1571
dc.title	Between Reason and Madness. Hallucinated Detectives in the Narrative of Juan José Saer and Ricardo Piglia
dc.contributor.author	Macedo Rodriguez Alfonso
dc.publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing
dc.type	Research Article
dc.language.iso	es
dc.identifier.uri	http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/rassegna-iberistica/2018/110/entre-la-razon-y-la-locura/
dc.description.abstract	This paper analyses intertextuality between two novels, Juan José Saer’s La pesquisa and Ricardo Piglia’s Blanco nocturno, in the context of detective fiction, that both writers explore in their narrative. The paper is divided in four parts: “Cruces introductorios” is an introductory form to produce connections between the most important authors of the last quarter of 20th-century Argentine; in “Primeros rastros” communicating vases are set between both poetics in detective genre; in “Subgéneros policiales” some important aspects of La pesquisa and Blanco nocturno are analysed while some differences are identified: the first work belongs to enigma novel and the last work connects with hard boiled; finally, the paper analyses Detective Morvan and Detective Croce aiming at identifying opposite pairs: intelligence and dementia, reason and madness, civilisation and barbarism. Thus, these concepts are establishing new relationships between Saer and Piglia based on their approaches to detective genre and their criticism to capitalist system.
dc.relation.ispartof	Rassegna iberistica
dc.relation.ispartof	Vol. 41 \| Issue 110 \| December 2018
dc.issued	2018-12-11
dc.dateAccepted	2018-02-22
dc.dateSubmitted	2017-08-09
dc.identifier.issn
dc.identifier.eissn	2037-6588
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.identifier.doi	10.30687/Ri/2037-6588/2018/11/003
dc.peer-review	yes
dc.subject	Conversation
dc.subject	Conversation
dc.subject	Detective genre
dc.subject	Detective genre
dc.subject	Piglia
dc.subject	Piglia
dc.subject	Reason and madness
dc.subject	Reason and madness
dc.subject	Saer
dc.subject	Saer
	Download data