Las hilachas de los machos: masculinidad argentina en los cuentos de Fontanarrosa

Abstract

ABSTRACTRoberto Fontanarrosa is considered one of the authors who have been able to represent Argentinian identity most insightfully and critically. His short stories make use of pastiche, parody and folklore as hedonist tools by a humorist who resists dominant narratives with his persistent attention to the mundane. This article focuses on the ideals of Argentinian masculinity that Fontanarrosa evokes and critiques in his parodic costumbrist stories, particularly those of the gallant gentleman (galán), the football fan (hincha) and the wonder player (pibe). With traditional masculine values from gaucho and tango cultures such as courage, craftiness and loyalty, these normative realizations of contemporary Argentinian masculinity hide, however, multiple fears, anxieties and obsessions. Fontanarrosa reproduces in detail the voices of the protagonists themselves and thus, his narratives function as parodies whose ironic tone denotes his analytical and critical view of the frail superiority of the Argentine macho.