Dissertation

Desarrollo de la ficción policiaca en México

Munoz, Gerardo Garcia

2005

Overview

This dissertation focuses on the development of Mexican Detective Fiction, from its inception in the 1940's to the recent success of the so-called “neopoliciaco” that portrays police corruption and the unlawful activities of criminal organizations. By applying Austin Freeman's theory of the structure of the traditional detective story and Roland Barthes' hermeneutical code to short stories by Antonio Helú, Pepe Martínez de la Vega, María Elvira Bermúdez, and Rubén Salazar Mallén, this dissertation concludes that these writers tried to assimilate the “whodunit” formula of such key detective fiction authors as Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie. Analysis of Rodolfo Usigli's Ensayo de un crimen (1944) is twofold. On one hand, the use of Patricia Merivale's concepts of the metaphysical detective story stresses the way in which Usigli's text subverts the traditional detective fiction conventions. On the other hand, the application of Foucault's theories on sexuality, as well as his concept of the Panopticon, show that Ensayo de un crimen is a cultural artifact of the homophobic discourse of criminology and journalism prevalent in Postrevolutionary Mexican society. Jameson's theories on the political unconscious and Althusser's notions on ideology are deployed to underscore the fragmentation of the Mexican political system in El complot mongol (1969) by Rafael Bernal. Sergio Pitol's El desfile del anzor (1984) showcases posmodernist traits, such as the impossibility to uncover the truth so the criminal can neither be detected nor punished. Though Paco Ignacio Taibo II's Días de combate (1976) marks the inception of the “neopoliciaco,” the text still adheres to some features of the “whodunit,” such as the pursuit of justice and the closure of a solution. On the other hand, his volume Nomás los muertos están bien contentos (1994) includes three short stories that depict police brutality inflicted on innocent citizens, as well as organ trafficking.In sum, this dissertation emphasizes the development of a genre from the initial assimilation of the “whodunit” through the metaphysical detective novel to its postmodern manifestations.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Chesterton, G K (Gilbert Keith) (1874-1936) / Christie, Agatha (1890-1976) / Doyle, Arthur Conan (1859-1930) / Foucault, Michel / Gide, Andre-Paul-Guillaume (1869-1951) / Hammett, Dashiell (1894-1961) / Kafka, Franz (1883-1924) / Latin American literature / Rohmer, Sax (1883-1959) / Stout, Rex (1886-1975) / Wolff, Virginia Euwer
• ISBN: 0542013444, 9780542013447