dc.description | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2010.; Includes bibliographical
references.; Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. We have analyzed Vargas Llosa's plays
using an existentialist approach, mainly following Jean-Paul Sartre's and Albert Camus'
philosophical ideas to understand the dramatic realm in which Vargas Llosa constructs his
characters. According to this philosophical view, human beings are responsible for creating
their own destiny. Several Vargas Llosa's characters are in search of an artistic identity,
and through flash-backs and flash-forwards, they structure their own existence. The topic of
time is key in Vargas Llosa's dramatic project. It is through the reconstruction of time,
sometimes done in a capricious way, that the characters make their lives --otherwise
frustrated and shallow-- more meaningful and productive. But, one could ask if happiness and
fulfillment are at all possible in Vargas Llosa's dramatic worlds? In fact, it is our
contention that meta-fiction and nostalgia are the only milieus where the protagonists have
some snapshots of happiness. The relevance given to the role of art and fiction in the plays
of Vargas Llosa are analyzed as one of the major aesthetic concerns of this author who
utilizes in his dramas most of the literary techniques he also uses in his narrative. Along
with the topic of art, other ones such as family, nostalgia, freedom, defeat, frustration,
anguish, love or lack of it, self-destruction, the passing of life, the ambiguity of life
experiences, and utopia, are quite relevant as well in Vargas Llosa's dramatic
project. | en |