Electra Garrigó by Virgilio Piñera: The Oresteia Transfigured from the Replaced Psychology of the Tragic Farce

Main Article Content

Alicia Basilio Medina

Abstract

The present work sustains that the dramatic piece Electra Garrigó by Virgilio Piñera retakes the tragic argument from the Atreides myth developed in Aeschylus’ hypotext to turn the communicative intention of the tragic genre and update it in a work of hybrid structure and development that contains formal elements that belong to farce. We will explore how one of the mechanisms in the farce dramatic subgenre operates in Electra Garrigó; i.e., the substitution psychology of the characters, which manifests itself when the psychic facts are moved from one character that should execute them to another character completely opposed and viceverse. As a result, there is a modification in the moods of the characters. Therefore, the myth is transvalued to reflect upon the family, the genesis of society: the Atreides core family becomes the personification of fundamental attitudes from the Cuban bourgeoisie and even of the whole humanity. The dynamics of the Atreides family, a relationship system from which Electra will redeem Orestes and will be emancipated, is established through the freedom evasion mechanisms described by Erich Fromm. Through its formal and thematic constitution, the drama expresses Piñeira’s social concerns derived from the Cuban Neo-colony.

Article Details

How to Cite
Basilio Medina, A. (2023). Electra Garrigó by Virgilio Piñera: The Oresteia Transfigured from the Replaced Psychology of the Tragic Farce. Revista Comunicación, 31(2), 28–34. https://doi.org/10.18845/rc.v31i43.6576
Section
Artículos

References

Bentley, E. (1985). La vida del drama. México: Paidós.

Carrió, R. (1988). Los dramaturgos de transición: una resistencia fundadora. Escenarios de dos mundos. Inventario teatral de Iberoamérica. Madrid: Centro de Documentación Teatral.

Fromm, E. (1969). Ética y psicoanálisis. México: FCE.

Fromm, E. (1989). El miedo a la libertad. México: Paidós.

Hernández, L. J. (1997). Beckett. Sentido y método de dos obras. México: UNAM, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.

Ibarra, J. (1994). Un análisis psicosocial del cubano: 1898- 1925. La Habana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.

Knowles, J. K. (1980). Luisa Josefina Hernández: teoría y práctica del drama. México: UNAM.

Leal, R. (1988). 1902-1958: La República. En O. Harmony (Ed.), Escenarios de dos mundos. Inventario teatral de Iberoamérica (pp. 17-26). Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura de España.

Miranda Cancela, E. (1991). Electra en Piñera, Clássica. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Clássicos, 4, 203-213. Recuperado de https://revista.classica.org.br/classica/article/view/586

Pavis, P. (1984). Diccionario del teatro. México: Paidós.

Piñera, V. (1960). Teatro completo. La Habana: Ediciones R.

Piñera, V. (1994). Freud y Freud. En Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Ed.), Poesía y crítica (pp. 277-279). México: CNCA.