Constructing Che Guevara: figurations of an epic hero

Constructing Che Guevara: Figuration of an Epic Hero examines the figure of Ernesto “Che” Guevara from the viewpoint of the epic. The dissertation analyzes Fidel Castro’s construction of an epic of the Cuban Revolution from which Che Guevara eventually emerges as the epic hero of said narrative; it examines monumentality in the Caribbean regarding the monument and the memorial as sites—functioning synonymously with the epic—that participate in the creation, affirmation, or revision of national narratives; and, it reviews a long-established literary and intellectual tradition of contemplating the notion of a Latin American cohesive entity that accounts for Guevara's recent position as the heroic model of this imagined community, as illustrated by Walter Salles's film The Motorcycle Diaries.