Common Sense as the Language of Genocide in "El señor Galíndez" by E. Pavlovsky

Abstract

This research aims to identify dramatic procedures that use common sense as a vehicle for the transmission (and criticism) of fascist ideas in El señor Galíndez by Eduardo Pavlovsky. After the last civic-military dictatorship in Argentina, the play has taken on a prescient meaning, making it difficult for contemporary readers not to anticipate the final surprise in which the setting’s shed turns into a sophisticated torture center. Nevertheless, it is worth returning to the text to track the onset of this ominous metamorphosis and realize that we are dealing with ordinary characters (perhaps too ordinary). Hannah Arendt pointed out the lack of visible monstrosity in Eichmann’s appearance, despite his genocidal behavior, and focused on unveiling him as a neat, even educated official. Like Eichmann, the characters in Pavlovksy's play are officials responsible for an extermination, armed with the firm conviction that they are only carrying out orders. “The horrible can be not only ludicrous but outright funny”, Arendt says, speaking of the accused as a subject emptied of judgment, consumed by common sense and articulate in the language of bureaucracy.