Monica Hanna is Assistant Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at California State University, Fullerton.
Jennifer Harford Vargas is Assistant Professor of English at Bryn Mawr College.
José David Saldívar is Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University and the author of
Monica Hanna is Assistant Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at California State University, Fullerton.
Jennifer Harford Vargas is Assistant Professor of English at Bryn Mawr College.
José David Saldívar is Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University and the author of
Monica Hanna is Assistant Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at California State University, Fullerton.
Jennifer Harford Vargas is Assistant Professor of English at Bryn Mawr College.
José David Saldívar is Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University and the author of
“Chiste Apocalyptus”: Prospero in the Caribbean and the Art of Power
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Published:January 2016
Ramón Saldívar, 2016. "“Chiste Apocalyptus”: Prospero in the Caribbean and the Art of Power", Junot Díaz and the Decolonial Imagination, Monica Hanna, Jennifer Harford Vargas, José David Saldívar
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There are many links between Shakespeare's monster Caliban, in The Tempest, and Abelard’s story in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao: ideas concerning human monsters, education, language, political power, and the magical agency of books. This chapter considers the relationship between political power and aesthetics, especially the aesthetic form of knowledge in books, using examples from both Díaz’s novel and Shakespeare’s play to demonstrate that politics is itself an aesthetic practice. It is an endeavor rooted in individuals’ desire to impose their imprint upon particular situations and things. This is as true of progressive democracies as it is of right-wing, neoliberal dictatorships. In order to shape their world, individuals must use means to represent ideas and mobilize people through the rhetorical manipulation of emotional reactions. All this for the grand aim of giving lasting form to a particular state, political struggle, or to shape the course of a movement.
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