Ricardo Palma, Jorge Luis Borges and the Relato
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Author
Ford, Robert Andrew
Subject
Palma, Ricardo, 1833-1919
Borges, Jorge Luis, 1899-1986
Spanish literature
Creative nonfiction, Spanish
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The relato is usually classified as short fiction. However, a relato contains disturbing expository elements that one associates with an essay. A relato contains several of the elements of the short story, such as literary characters and creative material, but few of their usual accouterments, such as character development or plot. It may contain historical subjects but it is certainly not a historical novel. The definition of relato that we will advance in this paper hinges on what we consider its key aspects: it elaborates a thesis within the exterior trappings of narrative fiction. For this reason we term the relato a narrative essay. As we will see, the relato has been primarily a tool used in costumbrismo and in the literature of the fantastic.
As will be shown, these two are often part of the same expression. This thesis will examine the first expressions of the fantastic genre, in order to expose some of the roots of the relato. We will then look at the work in the relato of two of its masters, Ricardo Palma in the nineteenth century and Jorge Luis Borges in the twentieth. [From introductory section]