Artificial Life in Horacio Quiroga. Commercial Advertisements, Cinema, and the Prompted Suspension of Disbelief

The fictions of the Uruguayan-Argentinian writer Horacio Quiroga allow a case study on how media shape the image of artificial life. While “El hombre artificial”, one of his early novellas, follows a nineteenth-century scheme of electromagnetic transmission of consciousness, later texts chose “N-ra...

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Main Authors: Matei Chihaia, Alejandro Ferrari
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UNICApress 2022-11-01
Series:Between
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/5183
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author Matei Chihaia
Alejandro Ferrari
author_facet Matei Chihaia
Alejandro Ferrari
author_sort Matei Chihaia
collection DOAJ
description The fictions of the Uruguayan-Argentinian writer Horacio Quiroga allow a case study on how media shape the image of artificial life. While “El hombre artificial”, one of his early novellas, follows a nineteenth-century scheme of electromagnetic transmission of consciousness, later texts chose “N-rays” (“El vampiro”) or cinematographic projection (“El espectro”) as a ground for spectral life. This is not, however, the only difference between the early and the later fiction. The models of literary invention follow, on the one hand, the history of technology and the author’s own passion for science and cinema; on the other hand, they can be related to forms of publication, such as the serialized novellas of the illustrated magazine, and the form illustrations and commercial advertisements pervade literary creation. The way artificial life is handled throughout Quiroga’s work sheds light on his own constitution as an author: behind the making of the artificial being stands the making of the artist.
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spelling doaj.art-8056908924a249fa8a76f356c2a65d892023-08-02T07:19:49ZengUNICApressBetween2039-65972022-11-01122410.13125/2039-6597/5183Artificial Life in Horacio Quiroga. Commercial Advertisements, Cinema, and the Prompted Suspension of DisbeliefMatei Chihaia0Alejandro FerrariUniversity of Wuppertal The fictions of the Uruguayan-Argentinian writer Horacio Quiroga allow a case study on how media shape the image of artificial life. While “El hombre artificial”, one of his early novellas, follows a nineteenth-century scheme of electromagnetic transmission of consciousness, later texts chose “N-rays” (“El vampiro”) or cinematographic projection (“El espectro”) as a ground for spectral life. This is not, however, the only difference between the early and the later fiction. The models of literary invention follow, on the one hand, the history of technology and the author’s own passion for science and cinema; on the other hand, they can be related to forms of publication, such as the serialized novellas of the illustrated magazine, and the form illustrations and commercial advertisements pervade literary creation. The way artificial life is handled throughout Quiroga’s work sheds light on his own constitution as an author: behind the making of the artificial being stands the making of the artist. https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/5183Horacio QuirogaPublicityMagazinesIllustrationsFantastic literature
spellingShingle Matei Chihaia
Alejandro Ferrari
Artificial Life in Horacio Quiroga. Commercial Advertisements, Cinema, and the Prompted Suspension of Disbelief
Between
Horacio Quiroga
Publicity
Magazines
Illustrations
Fantastic literature
title Artificial Life in Horacio Quiroga. Commercial Advertisements, Cinema, and the Prompted Suspension of Disbelief
title_full Artificial Life in Horacio Quiroga. Commercial Advertisements, Cinema, and the Prompted Suspension of Disbelief
title_fullStr Artificial Life in Horacio Quiroga. Commercial Advertisements, Cinema, and the Prompted Suspension of Disbelief
title_full_unstemmed Artificial Life in Horacio Quiroga. Commercial Advertisements, Cinema, and the Prompted Suspension of Disbelief
title_short Artificial Life in Horacio Quiroga. Commercial Advertisements, Cinema, and the Prompted Suspension of Disbelief
title_sort artificial life in horacio quiroga commercial advertisements cinema and the prompted suspension of disbelief
topic Horacio Quiroga
Publicity
Magazines
Illustrations
Fantastic literature
url https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/5183
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