Leopoldo Lugones, Horacio Quiroga, and Jorge Luis Borges : the development of the short story of effect

This study will discuss the foundations and development of the short story of effect, or cuento de efecto, in the River Plate region (Argentina and Uruguay). This subgenre of the fantastic short story was first popularized widely among readers of periodicals and writers in the first decade of the twentieth century by Leopoldo Lugones (Argentina). Readers in the River Plate area were already familiar with the work of French- and English-language writers of fantastic tales like Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly, Edgar Allan Poe, Jean-Marie Villiers de l’Isle Adam, and Guy de Maupassant, and Lugones’s continuation and elaboration of the same type of literature was eagerly received in Buenos Aires. Lugones encouraged other local writers to explore the possibilities of this subgenre. Horacio Quiroga (b. Uruguay, res. Argentina) became a protégé of Lugones, following in his mentor’s path. He changed the scenery and types of characters, but the main structural elements and themes remained similar to those in Lugones’s stories. Another celebrated Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges, became an admirer of the types of stories composed by these earlier writers. Borges is widely acknowledged as the foremost Argentine literary figure of the twentieth century. His short stories of effect, along with those of Lugones and Quiroga, are the primary focus of this study. The methodology I have employed for this dissertation is multi-faceted. I provide some preliminary background information about genre. I start with traditional views on the various theories of classifying literary works. This point of departure leads to a study of the short story throughout literary history. Once the short story has been situated within the overall history of literature, I focus on fantastic brief fictional narratives. Finally, in order to bring out the traits of the cuento de efecto, a subgenre of the fantastic, I explore through textual analysis several representative works by Lugones, Quiroga, and Borges. They are the three principal developers of the short story of effect in the River Plate region of South America. Their stories demonstrate the development of this subgenre and the impact it made, popularly and critically, on literary history.Spanish and Portugues