The parody, the farce and the intertextuality in El atentado of Jorge Ibargüengoitia and Cúcara y Mácara of Óscar Liera

Abstract

The farce and parody has been a resource widely used in 20th century Mexican theater.
Jorge Ibargüengoitia and Óscar Liera used it commonly in their literary production. Through
his works, they irreverently approached history, politics or religion, always with a critical and
reflective look at the exercise of these institutions. El atentado (1963) and Cúcara and
Mácara (1977) are two pieces that address this issue: the attack on two institutions, the
State and the Church. Both were criticized for their themes and for the “irrespectful” form in
which they treated “intocable” characters, such as the subject of the murder of Álvaro
Obregón and the little-known attack on the Virgin of Guadalupe. This analysis therefore
proposes to review and study the sum of similar characteristics and some opposites that,
from our point of view, represent a vital part of the world view that both writers had on
history and society in Mexico.