Hispanic Literatures and Linguistics Masters Theses

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  • Publication
    Analisis del Proceso de Adaptacion de Las Galas del Difunto de Valle-Inclan
    (2013-02) Maiztegui Zuazo, Gorka
    The present research is focused on the formal devices that Azcona and José Luís García Sánchez display in the film adaptation of Las galas del difunto, a theater play included in Martes de Carnaval, published in 1930 by Ramón María del Valle-Inclán. Framed within the state politics of cultural promotion, Las galas del difunto was released for television consumption, thus, its characteristics are very relevant in order to analyze the priorities and strategies developed in the adaptation process. Not only does the main obstacle remain in the fact that the original play is difficult to represent in theater (mostly due to its secondary text), but also the metatextual dimension of Valle-Inclán’s texts. The Galician writer creates his own genre (el esperpento) trough both a series of characterization devices, a master use of language, and action structures; but also writing from a very particular perspective (looking for aesthetic distance) and mixing other existent genres. This complex collage crashes with the naturalistic tendency of audiovisual representation and offers a wide variety of open fronts that appeal directly to the adaptation concept. Clearly, the script writers have noticed the formal structures in the text and, to a certain extent, “translated” into genuine cinematographic language. However, the result of this sense of fidelity could present paradoxes within the movie and in regard to the audience’s reception. Those contradictions, even though included in the original play, have to deal with the whole new cinematographic context. The tensions between the play and the movie will arise through acting, lightning, camera framing, and mise en scene.
  • Publication
    O Oceano por onde Passa o Navio Negreiro
    (2012) Menasche, Diana M
    A tese apresenta uma leitura aprofundada do poema “O Navio Negreiro”, de Castro Alves, valorizando os ricos aspectos imagéticos, narrativos e sonoros presentes na obra, assim como trazendo à luz o caráter holográfico de sua estrutura. Estudam-se as metáforas empregadas, as mudanças na atitude e no posicionamento geográfico do eu-lírico, bem como os recursos estilísticos que propiciam o encantamento do falar em voz alta característico do poema, no contexto de sua organicidade. This thesis presents an in-depth reading of the poem “O Navio Negreiro,” written by Castro Alves. It analyzes the complex metaphors, narrative strategies and sound effects employed by the romantic poet, as well as the holographic aspect of the general structure. “O Navio Negreiro” is thus studied in the context of its organicity, taking into consideration the rich imagery, the multiple changes – both interior and exterior – which occur in the lyric-voice, and the manipulation of sounds, which leads to the fascinating stylistic effects that allow for the magic enchantment produced by the reading of the verses aloud.
  • Publication
    Translating Silence: Memory and Forgetting in Andrea Maturana's No decir
    (2012) Holmes, Aaron Mark
    This thesis project is composed of two major parts: my English translation of No decir—a collection of short stories by Chilean author Andrea Maturana—titled Don’t Tell, and an academic introduction to that translation. The first chapter of the introduction gives biographical and cultural information about Andrea Maturana and her work, and it provides a summary of most of the criticism that has been written about her fiction. In the second chapter of the introduction I describe my translation goals and analyze challenges encountered while translating No decir. I first discuss the general problems of any translation project and then focus on several difficulties involved in Spanish to English translation. Finally I analyze a variety of specific challenges from my translation project, providing examples to both emphasize the partial nature of any translation and describe how I attempted to achieve my translation goals.
  • Publication
    Are we the same person in our L1 as we are in our L2?
    (2007) Wirth, Eric Alton
    This research focuses on second language acquisition during a study abroad experience and the developments or modifications in the personality of a language learner’s L1 and L2 discourses through the acquisition of a new expressive voice. Ideas concerning language and mind, cultural frameworks and sociocultural theory will be utilized to investigate how second language learners interpret their understandings of their expressive voice in their first language (American English) and in their second language (Castilian Spanish). This study draws from areas of investigation in applied linguistics, sociocultural theory, and linguistic anthropology, and has at its base the idea that specific grammatical and syntactical structures and the indexicality of a language make unique statements about the perceived realities of the speakers. With resurgence in the study of language and mind, this study brings together the above-mentioned fields, using discourse analysis in ethnographic research to look at how language learners in a study abroad experience learn and make assumptions about their language use.
  • Publication
    Ana Roqué y el Discurso de Emancipación Femenina Burgués Decimonónico Disfrazado en la Ficción
    (2012-05) Batlle, Sonia N
    La situación que atravesaba Puerto Rico a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX alteraba la rutina de los puertorriqueños. La isla pasó de ser colonia de España a ser territorio de los Estados Unidos. Entonces la identidad del puertorriqueño se convirtió en un proyecto nacional. Los cambios económicos surgidos bajo el gobierno estadounidense, dieron pie para que la mujer comenzara a reflexionar sobre su papel social y se organizaran. Se creó una división entre la mujer obrera quien se enfocaba en las luchas laborales y la burguesa quien aspiraba a tener un lugar de igualdad al lado del hombre basándose principalmente en su intelecto. En las luchas de la mujer burguesa se destacó una figura: Ana Roqué de Duprey. Roqué se destacaba principalmente por su desempeño como educadora. Incursionó en la política, la ciencia, la literatura y el feminismo. Luchó por el sufragio de la mujer y se esforzó por proveer para ésta una plataforma de entrenamiento, fuente de ingreso e intercambio de ideas y proyectos. Se le recuerda como la primera feminista de la isla y por haber conseguido el voto para la mujer. Este trabajo propone resumir el contexto histórico en el que se desenvolvía Ana Roqué, develar los recursos utilizados por la mujer burguesa para conquistar sus metas, descubrir el mensaje de emancipación femenina escondido en su literatura y abundar sobre el legado de Ana Roqué por medio de sus manuscritos y el análisis de su obra más conocida Luz y sombra (1903).
  • Publication
    Soldados de Salamina: Terapias Para Después de una Guerra
    (2007) Del Pozo Ortea, Marta
    According to Jung, the individuation process is a spiritual transformation through which the individual attains the maturity of his personality. This process requires the incorporation of subconscious material to the conscious life. The unconscious, though personal, is according to the famous psychologist full of images and archetypes that conform what Jung called the “collective unconscious”, which transcends the personal and expands inter-culturally through time and space. This is the perspective used in the present study of Soldados de Salamina (2001), a novel by the Spanish writer Javier Cercas. The hero of this story that combines fiction and reality travels from the present time into the past of his country, the Spanish Civil war, with the purpose of understanding. This immersion in time parallels another one in his psyche through which he deepens into the collective unconscious of the Spanish people. As a result, we have the vital, spiritual and psychological voyage of a man that stars the narration from a chaotic state to finally emerge innerly renovated and mature. By virtue of this transformation, we witness the hero’s process of individuation. Soldados de Salamina returns to the mystery of the ix unconscious and becomes the narration of a voyage of a human being from his deepest psyche, both as a universal and a particular man, towards his conscience. Comprehension is ultimately the engine of a novel that revisits the Spanish past in order to heal inner wounds.
  • Publication
    Los Perros del Paraíso de Abel Posse: Mito, Rebelión y el Eterno Presente de la Historia Latinoamericana
    (2011-02) Aguirre Perez, Fernando Alfredo
    Humorous and sarcastic on every page, the historical novel Los perros del paraíso (1983) by Abel Posse, presents itself as an iconoclast and subversive response to the historical account of the so-called discovery of the New World and the role played in it by Christopher Columbus. In this post-Boom narrative, linear time collapses and events conflate to depict a fantastic world where anachronism makes almost anything possible. Comic and grotesque in their attributes, characters appear performing a colonial play in which the absurd is apparently the sole stable rule. However, underneath this joyful surface, a colonial reason flows to confirm European Self and Indigenous Other in their classical division of ideological labor: master and slave, superior and inferior. A mystic Columbus, convinced he has finally found the Earthly Paradise and naïve Caribbeans, who believe conquerors are their returned gods reshape the myths of Latin American history not only as a total non-sense, but even worse, as an eternal condemnation of continuing its present condition of subordination. This process of mythification of history implies what I call its dehistorization, which means its epistemological cancellation as an explanatory discourse of human events. The ontological degradation of Columbus to an ape self-exiled from social life, and of indigenous as both cannibals and the perros del paraíso deprived from having a voice and having the will to rebell is the most eloquent proof that debasement of history is a consequence of the survival of a colonial point of view, which structures this novel as a whole.
  • Publication
    Tradición y Ruptura en la Poesía de Carlos de la Ossa
    (2008) Chaves, Gustavo A
    ABSTRACT TRADITION AND RUPTURE IN THE POETRY OF CARLOS DE LA OSSA FEBRUARY 2009 GUSTAVO ADOLFO CHAVES B.A., UNIVERSITY OF COSTA RICA M.A. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS-AMHERST Directed by: Professor Márgara Russotto, Ph.D. The present thesis examines the seven poetry books by Costa Rican poet Carlos de la Ossa (San José, 1946) entitled Imprimatur. This author is of one of Costa Rica’s post avant-garde poets who most clearly expresses the coexistence of a traditional lyric style (centered around the themes of love, God and loneliness, for instance) and everyday language (through records of political facts and personal experience) in his poetry. The purpose of this work is to analyze the distinctive features of Carlos de la Ossa’s poetics considering his formal particularities, his aesthetic and ideological sources, and his historical context. We attempt to explain how his poetry presents a mixture of traditional and innovative poetic languages, as well as the importance of this mixture in his poetry. Furthermore, we discuss the relationship of these characteristics with similar literary processes within both the Costa Rican and Latin American poetries. The central hypothesis of this study is that, in the poetry of Carlos de la Ossa, it is possible to identify an organic coexistence of traditional poetic registers with constant appearances of rupture elements. The study identifies a connection between Carlos de la Ossa’s poetry, romantic and existentialist ideas, and modernista aesthetics. In order to meet these objectives, this thesis revisits the literary criticism on the poetry of Carlos de la Ossa, especially the labels applied to his work (such as metaphysical, mystical, difficult and existentialist), and connects it to other studies of the historical context in both Costa Rican and Latin American literature. Methodologically speaking, this thesis presents a theoretical and critical approach based on non-linear categories, and it studies the specific characteristics of the author’s poetry. The methodology consists mainly of a close reading of the poems of Carlos de la Ossa, and a theorization of the sequential character of the Imprimatur books, intended to underline both the traditional and the innovative elements in his poetry and its general significance in contemporary poetics.
  • Publication
    Novel Lexical Item Decoding in L2 Reading Acquisition: A Socio-schematic Approach
    (2008) Enkin, Elizabeth B
    Past theorists have shown through their work the versatility and advantages of utilizing pre-established schemata to form a novice’s interaction with and comprehension of a text. Schemata have shown to contribute to comprehension by means of four purposes: to disambiguate, to elaborate, to filter, and to compensate (Lee & VanPatten 1999). Furthermore, we see that these schemata, or formerly attained background knowledge, are integral parts of Coady’s ESL psycholinguistic reading model (1979) , as well as Carrel’s schema theory (1984). Previous studies done by Jimenez (2000) and that of Valdés (2001) with ESL/LEP students show that motivation for learning a second language is partly derived from the social environment in which students are participants. Valdés’ study in particular supports a Funds of Knowledge Approach (Moll et. al. 1994), which stresses the need for increased attention on the social environment of the student. The present study focuses on novel L2 lexical item decoding. Students will be given a “pre-study” questionnaire in order to ascertain knowledge of and ability level of Spanish. Novices will encounter the lexical items in two different short texts. One will activate a known “social schema”, while the other will be a text for which students will not have a background structure. There will be the same amount of novel lexical items in both texts, and each text will be of the same level. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to investigate whether, and how, students interpret the meanings of novel lexical items when they are presented in a “socially tailored” text. This new “socio-schematic approach” to L2 lexical item decoding can contribute to the stages of Reading Skill and Acquisition outlined by ACTFL. By applying this “socio-schematic approach”, implications for foreign language learning can be linked to the stages of ACTFL.
  • Publication
    Authentic Input in Early Second Language Learning
    (2008) Pinsonneault, Bridget C.
    Several foreign language teaching methods facilitate the acquisition of a second language. This research proposes a new pedagogical method for teaching second languages, which is especially practical for younger L2 learners. Lenneberg (1967) has proposed the Critical Period Hypothesis which states that the critical period for foreign language acquisition ends when the acquirer reaches puberty (DeKeyser 2000). Therefore, his work may imply that learning a second language during this “critical period” is useful for foreign language learning. Furthermore, Krashen’s (1982) “Affective Filter Hypothesis” links authentic input as a useful tool in the second language classroom because this type of input can lower the “Affective Filter” of the second language learner. The current study examines if authentic input leads to acquisition of lexical chunks , acquisition of vocabulary and the beginning stages of the acquisition of some aspects of the lexicon, such as root morphemes and plural morphemes, and in some cases, gender morphemes in Spanish for a group of second language learners whose native language is English. Authentic input is incorporated into the language instruction through the use of songs, games, stories that are derived from the target language and culture. This research proposes that language transference is occurring from first language, or L1, to second language, or L2, as the participants may fall under Minimal Trees Hypothesis of Vainikka and Young Scholten (1994; 1996a; 1996b). Since the participants are still developing lexicon and lexical chunks in their L1, this occurrence may aide in the transference from the L1 to the L2. The subjects of the study are seventeen kindergarten, first and second grade students, who have not previously learned a second language. The results from the study confirm that the participants did learn lexical chunks in the target language after being introduced to the L2 via the authentic materials. Additionally, the participants were able to demonstrate acquisition of agreement in number in the L2. The long-term results also confirm the initial set of results.
  • Publication
    Facetas da Adaptação: Teoria e Prática em Os Flagelados do Vento Leste
    (2014-02) Eiras, Pedro
    This thesis is the encounter of a process of academic investigation with a theoretical survey and an artistic practice, which attempts to account for my experience in comprehending, studying and adapting the novel Os Flagelados do Vento Leste, by Cape-Verdean writer Manuel Lopes, to the stage. Concerning its structure, the thesis can be divided into three parts: firstly, I perform a historic survey of Cape Verde and its literature, mainly that which concerns Manuel Lopes and the aspects of Cape-Verdean history that are explored in his novel. Secondly, I seek to achieve a theoretical survey on the topic of adaptation. In this part of my thesis, I broaden the discussion beyond the realm of theater, believing that a discussion on mediatic adaptation should take into consideration all mediums. For this reason, I write about the complex process of adapting from literature to theater or cinema, focusing a lot of my discussion on cinematographic adaptations. Mediatic adaptation as a general process is the focus of my discussion during this part of my thesis, seeking to better comprehend it. Finally, I end this thesis with my adaptation to the stage of Os Flagelados do Vento Leste, which I believe to be the fruit of my academic as well as artistic contribution to this thesis.
  • Publication
    The Definite Article System in L1-English L2-Spanish Learners
    (2014) Ardura, Diego
    Previous studies on the acquisition of definite plurals in Child and Second Language Acquisition have found strong evidence on how transfer can affect the L2-acquisition of articles. Nevertheless, these studies presented some limitations. First, they failed to consider other variables that could interfere with transfer in the acquisition of the article system. And second, the methodology used to test the participants’ implicit knowledge of article system was very similar in all studies (Truth-Value Judgment Task). In order to fill these two gaps in the literature, the present study uses a listening comprehension task to test how the mass/count distinction can affect the interpretation of definite plurals in intermediate L1-English L2-Spanish learners. This study also adds another variable, the type of verb, to test whether the mass/count distinction equally affects L1-English L2-Spanish interpretations’ of the Spanish article system throughout different kind of verbs. Two types of verbs were used: gustar-like verbs (psychological verbs) and non-psychological verbs. These verbs were used in questions, so their different syntactic characteristics were neutralized. Two experiments were created following the same guidelines, but using a different type of verb. First, the participants were shown a situation in a computer screen. These situations were controlled so both specific and generic readings could be interpreted. After reading each situation, a question, which could either trigger a specific or a generic reading, was asked orally to the participants. Written responses were collected from each participant, and coded as either ‘generic’, ‘specific’, or ‘other’. The results of this thesis show highly statistically significant differences for how L1-English L2-Spanish learners interpret count and mass nouns. On the one hand, L1-English L2-Spanish tended to interpret count nouns as specific. On the other, they showed a strong tendency to interpret mass nouns as generic. In this sense, the statistical analysis conducted suggests that L1-English L2-Spanish and Spanish native speakers converged in their implicit knowledge of definite plurals containing mass nouns. Nevertheless, native speakers and L2-Spanish learners significantly differed in their interpretations of countable nouns. All of these patterns were found for both psychological and non-psychological verbs. The present study found very similar rates of generic responses for non-psychological verbs in L2-Spanish as previously reported by Ionin and Montrul (2012) and Ionin, Montrul, and Crivós (2011). Interestingly, the rates of generic responses for psychological verbs were much higher and diverged a bit from the results of Ionin and Montrul (2012) and Ionin, Montrul, and Crivós (2011). I discuss the importance of these results for the field of Second Language Acquisition and Semantics.
  • Publication
    Elena Jordi y el Mito de Thais
    (2013-09) Mele Ballesteros, Irene
    This thesis studies the impact of the work of Elena Jordi during the first Spanish avant-garde period (1890-1920) and the relationship between the myth of Thaïs and her homonymous film released in 1918. Here I track the trajectory of her career from its beginnings to culmination, when she directed Thaïs while leading an innovative vaudeville theatre company. The first chapter discusses the activity of Jordi as a Catalan actress, and woman entrepreneur in vaudeville. It analyzes the effect of the introduction of foreign vaudevilles on the reception of her work by critics through the theorization of Herni Gidel´s on vaudeville as genre. The second chapter reviews the cinematographic work of Jordi and situates it within the context of Catalan cinema´s early development as Spain´s first woman film director. After reflecting about the possible cultural influences that informed Jordi’s Thaïs, I explore the literary origins of the Legend of the Saint, an hagiography of Greek origins, and review relevant literary, operatic, and cinematic productions that incorporated this myth during the early Spanish avant-garde period. My conclusion highlights the original and similar features of Elena Jordi and Thaïs in their respective fields and different manifestations, simultaneously placing Jordi’s Thaïs in dialogue with the myth´s resurrection and its impact on the avant-garde feminist milieu. This demonstrates the formative influence of both Jordi as a pioneering artist and the enduring cultural influence of the myth of Thais on twentieth-century cultural production.
  • Publication
    Um Império de Palavras - Aspectos da Literatura Colonialista Portuguesa na Década de 1920
    (2013) Cabral Teresa, Silvia
    Levando em consideração um processo histórico (a colonização) e um sistema (o colonialismo), este trabalho explora a problemática da literatura colonial portuguesa em Angola na década de 1920. Quanto à estrutura, o estudo apresenta quatro capítulos: em primeiro lugar, tecemos um enquadramento teórico do colonialismo, da literatura colonial (em geral), da literatura colonial portuguesa (em particular) e da formação da literatura nacional angolana; essas considerações iniciais intentam sistematizar algumas formulações indispensáveis para se entender o fenômeno colonial, bem como apresentar um apanhado geral da história literária angolana, a fim de reconhecer a relevância das obras de autores portugueses para a construção desta outra literatura nacional. Em seguida, considerando que sem conhecer o contexto histórico é impossível compreender a literatura colonial da década de 1920 em sua plenitude, trazemos uma descrição da situação política entre Portugal e Angola e discutimos o surgimento da Agência Geral das Colónias, além de explorar a criação dos concursos de literatura colonial e introduzir as três obras selecionadas para a análise subsequente: África Portentosa, de Gastão Sousa Dias; África Misteriosa, de Julião Quintinha; e Em terra de pretos, de Henrique Galvão. Para os capítulos três e quatro, porém, foram escolhidos dois eixos temáticos mais específicos – a questão da representação do africano e a questão de gênero, respectivamente – que nos permitem verificar como as obras eleitas para pesquisa constituem um conjunto de referências que ajudam compreender algumas das singularidades do colonialismo português em Angola.
  • Publication
    Protesting Between the Lines: Carmen Martín Gaite's Frustration in Writing vis-à-vis 1950s Francoist Censorship
    (2013) Spring, Emily Rose
    This thesis considered the impact of censorship and authoritarian rule by dictator Francisco Franco on two novels by 20th century Spanish author Carmen Martín Gaite: El balneario, (1955) and Entre visillos (1958). The two works utilize a “discourse of censorship” to express complaints about life as a young woman deprived of fulfilling relationships and self-determination. These novels were analyzed through a search for subtexts and hidden meanings to argue for their status as texts that contain a subversive message. This investigation was accomplished through historical research on Francoist censorship and repression; use of Michel Foucault’s theories about panopticism; and feminist criticism of both novels. In the exploration of El balneario it was determined that a very strange dream sequence revealed psychological trauma from the Spanish Civil War, an anxiety-provoking sense of voicelessness, and an overwhelming isolation from the outside world. In the inquiry into Entre visillos, it was found that provincial and traditionalist social structures prevented meaningful communication and promoted unquestioned obedience to social norms. Martín Gaite achieved this look into society through her detailed depictions of the characters’ experiences and by viewing their social interactions through the lens of an outsider – a German teacher, Pablo Klein. The conclusion of this study was that, despite censorship’s silencing effects, Martín Gaite’s novels do expose the difficulties of daily life under authoritarian rule and are subversive in their implication that Franco’s insistence on maintaining 19th century social and political structures is harmful, and that change is possible if freer communication were allowed.
  • Publication
    José Martí Pedagogo: Educación y Modernidad
    (2013) Kearney, William P
    El objeto de estudio de este trabajo de investigación es la visión de la educación del autor cubano José Martí presente en los escritos de los últimos años de su vida, efectivamente de 1882 a su muerte en 1895. El punto de partida del estudio es la afirmación del crítico uruguayo Ángel Rama (1926-1983) de que la preocupación principal de Martí durante esa época era la incorporación de la modernidad en América Latina. La hipótesis que se intenta probar en este trabajo es que esa mirada hacia la modernidad asume inflexiones particulares aplicadas a la visión educativa del autor. Para una adecuada consideración de tal hipótesis, el trabajo se divide en tres partes. En la primera, se plantean los desafíos, metas y paradojas de la modernidad latinoamericana. En la segunda, se analiza la visión de la educación presentada en los artículos de la prensa de Martí durante dicho período. Y en la última parte, se considera la visión de la educación y de la infancia presentada en La Edad de Oro, la revista infantil que Martí escribió entre julio y octubre de 1889. El objetivo final de esta tesis es detallar la manera en que la preocupación de Martí por la incorporación de la modernidad en América Latina se manifiesta en sus ideas sobre la educación y se extiende también hacia su visión de la historia y de la naturaleza.
  • Publication
    Can I Be Forgiven? Expressing Conversion through the Eyes of Mary Magdalene: Lope de Vega and Richard Crashaw
    (2013-02) Gama De Cossio, Borja
    The present study examines the figure of Mary Magdalene in the poetry of Lope de Vega and Richard Crashaw. I propose that while setting Mary Magdalene as the perfect example to convert, both authors could also express their conversion through the composition of two different poems: “Las Lágrimas de la Magdalena” by Lope de Vega and “Saint Mary Magdalene or, The Weeper” by Richard Crashaw. Each poem is centered on the idea of Mary Magdalene’s copious tears as the performative mark of her repentance which will effect her conversion. These two conversions are placed within two European literary traditions, Spain and England; as well as two different processes: on the one hand, Lope de Vega would go from a licentious life in his early years to becoming a priest at the end of his life, thus, devoting his life to religion. On the other hand, Richard Crashaw’s conversion would take place in between two conflicting religious beliefs, i.e., his transition from Protestantism to Catholicism. The other main goal of this work is studying these poems through the Baroque movement developed at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Hence, Lope de Vega’s poem is full of Baroque characteristics typical of the Spanish conceptism despite his reluctance consider his poetry Baroque. Crashaw, on his side, presents a poem which differs from the literary production in England in the first part of the seventeenth century. His Baroque sensibility would be, accordingly, influenced by his readings of the Spanish Golden Age authors. Therefore, anomaly, exaggeration, tempus fugit, conceptism, contradiction, paradox, and binary oppositions are Baroque characteristics both authors have in common in regard to their own particular description of both Mary Magdalene’s biblical stories and tears. Lastly, both poems will lead us to draw parallels with the Song of Songs in terms of spiritual conversation, and feminine identification.
  • Publication
    Estructuras desbordantes en Silvina Ocampo. Invenciones del recuerdo como poema largo
    (2013) Páez Lotero, Claudia Marcela
    The subject matter of this work is the long poem entitled Invenciones del recuerdo, written by Silvina Ocampo (1903-1993) between 1960 and 1988, a period of time which covers the majority of the developmental stages of this author’s literary career. The hypothesis that this study intends to prove is that Invenciones del recuerdo, by using the form of the long poem, a literary form of the Latin American Modernity, exceeds its own material limits in order to occupy other texts. Through its extensibility, comparable to a river that overflows its banks, Silvina Ocampo’s long poem establishes a dialogue with several short stories and poems written by her with the purpose of revealing essential concerns and characteristics of her writing. This statement is proven with a three-part investigation. The first part addresses the problem of the literary genres and its relation with the form of the long poem. The second one contextualizes Silvina Ocampo’s literary work that is its place and reception within the literary history of Argentina. The third one applies the combined observations of the first two parts to an analysis of Invenciones del recuerdo. The main goal of this thesis is to give a proper place to Silvina Ocampo within Latin American literary history, a place which eluded her due to the prominence of other writers who surrounded her such as Victoria Ocampo, Adolfo Bioy Casares and Jorge Luis Borges. Moreover, this thesis recognizes Silvina Ocampo’s proposal and practice of a unique and individual aesthetic which is unlike that with which she has been associated.