Recent literary studies and related disciplines have given much attention to phenomena that seem to occupy more or less permanently eccentric positions in our experience.
Gustavo Perez Firmat examines three of these marginal or liminal phenomena--paying particular attention to the distinction between "center" and "periphery"--as they appear in Hispanic literature. Carnival (the traditional festival in which normal behavior is overturned), choteo (an insulting form of humor), and disease are three liminal entities discussed. Less an attempt to frame a general theory of such "liminalities" than an effort to demonstrate the interpretive power of the liminality concept, this work challenges conventional boundaries of critical sense and offers new insights into a variety of questions, among them the notion of convertability in psychoanalysis and the relation of New World culture to its European forebears.
- ISBN10 0822306581
- ISBN13 9780822306580
- Publish Date 12 November 1985
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Duke University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 203
- Language English