Mario Vargas Llosa’s the Time of the Hero: paradox of military man

Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Time of the Hero, originally published in Spanish in 1963, depicts military life and its paradoxes in Leoncio Prado, a military high school that the Peruvian author attended in early 1950s. In this essay, I investigate the paradox of military man in regard to two systems of...

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Main Author: Mohammad Safaei
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15154/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15154/1/35263-130390-1-PB.pdf
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author Mohammad Safaei,
author_facet Mohammad Safaei,
author_sort Mohammad Safaei,
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Time of the Hero, originally published in Spanish in 1963, depicts military life and its paradoxes in Leoncio Prado, a military high school that the Peruvian author attended in early 1950s. In this essay, I investigate the paradox of military man in regard to two systems of thought as well as two diverse ontologies. Drawing upon Gilles Deleuze’s metaphysics and his collaborative work with Félix Guattari, I explain, in specific, the properties of mass multiplicities versus pack multiplicities and their corresponding relation to the difference between a State army and its inherent war machine. I analyse the paradox of perceptions and praxis that each of these multiplicities is disposed to generate. Despite the military administration’s insistence on the development of organized behaviour and authentic identities, Leoncio Prado provokes the formation of packs with their inconceivable practices and modes of becoming that undermine the academy’s fundamental tenets. Vargas Llosa demonstrates that the event of becoming which, in this novel, exemplifies resistance against oppressive military norms proceeds along an unpredictable trajectory and culminates in the formation of cells with microfascist sentiments and economy. The emergence of a microfascist cell is a fundamental paradox and ironically the consequence of the military insistence on discipline and submission to authority. In some respects, the radicalization of packs results from initiation rites and other abusive practices that have historically been woven into the fabric of military training.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:151542020-09-08T00:53:14Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15154/ Mario Vargas Llosa’s the Time of the Hero: paradox of military man Mohammad Safaei, Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Time of the Hero, originally published in Spanish in 1963, depicts military life and its paradoxes in Leoncio Prado, a military high school that the Peruvian author attended in early 1950s. In this essay, I investigate the paradox of military man in regard to two systems of thought as well as two diverse ontologies. Drawing upon Gilles Deleuze’s metaphysics and his collaborative work with Félix Guattari, I explain, in specific, the properties of mass multiplicities versus pack multiplicities and their corresponding relation to the difference between a State army and its inherent war machine. I analyse the paradox of perceptions and praxis that each of these multiplicities is disposed to generate. Despite the military administration’s insistence on the development of organized behaviour and authentic identities, Leoncio Prado provokes the formation of packs with their inconceivable practices and modes of becoming that undermine the academy’s fundamental tenets. Vargas Llosa demonstrates that the event of becoming which, in this novel, exemplifies resistance against oppressive military norms proceeds along an unpredictable trajectory and culminates in the formation of cells with microfascist sentiments and economy. The emergence of a microfascist cell is a fundamental paradox and ironically the consequence of the military insistence on discipline and submission to authority. In some respects, the radicalization of packs results from initiation rites and other abusive practices that have historically been woven into the fabric of military training. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15154/1/35263-130390-1-PB.pdf Mohammad Safaei, (2020) Mario Vargas Llosa’s the Time of the Hero: paradox of military man. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 26 (2). pp. 127-138. ISSN 0128-5157 http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1282
spellingShingle Mohammad Safaei,
Mario Vargas Llosa’s the Time of the Hero: paradox of military man
title Mario Vargas Llosa’s the Time of the Hero: paradox of military man
title_full Mario Vargas Llosa’s the Time of the Hero: paradox of military man
title_fullStr Mario Vargas Llosa’s the Time of the Hero: paradox of military man
title_full_unstemmed Mario Vargas Llosa’s the Time of the Hero: paradox of military man
title_short Mario Vargas Llosa’s the Time of the Hero: paradox of military man
title_sort mario vargas llosa’s the time of the hero: paradox of military man
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15154/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15154/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15154/1/35263-130390-1-PB.pdf