Conspiracy and Betrayal in the Shade of McCarthy's America: Philip Roth's / Married a Communist

Abstract

La novela de Philip Roth I Married a Communist ilustra el periodo político dirigido por el senador McCarthy a través de la historia de Ira Ringold. Roth utiliza uno de los periodos más controvertidos de Estados Unidos para crear una trama basada en la conspiración y la traición. Linda Hutcheon afirma en su libro A Poetics of Postmodernism que la ficción histórica es "that which is modeled on historiography to the extent that it is motivated and made operative by a notion of history as a shaping force." La intención de este artículo es analizar como Roth da forma a la definición de Linda Hutcheon acerca de la ficción historiográfica. Roth establece un paralelismo entre la ficción y los métodos empleados por McCarthy para implantar el miedo en la sociedad americana y, por medio de la conspiración, manipularla. I Married a Communist es una ficción de la historia, una novela que nos presenta el alzamiento y la caída de la estrella mediática, Ira Ringold, como víctima de una teoría conspiratoria que le lleva a la paranoia y a su propia destrucción.

Philip Roth's novel I Married a Communist depicts McCarthyism through Ira Ringold's story. Roth uses one of the most controversial political periods of America to create a plot based on betrayal and conspiracy. Linda Hutcheon states in her book A Poetics of Postmodernism that historical fiction is "that which is modeled on historiography to the extent that it is motivated and made operative by a notion of history as a shaping force." The intention of this article is to analyze how Roth gives shape to Hutcheon's definition of historiographic metafiction. Roth establishes a parallelism between fiction and McCarthy's methods, to implement fear in American society and, through conspiracy, manipulate it. I Married a Communist is a fiction of history, a novel that introduces the rise and fall of the media star, Ira Ringold, as a victim of a conspiracy theory that takes him to paranoia and destruction.