The idea behind the writing of this book is to study the function and representation of the domestic space in Latin American short fiction and representation of domestic space in Latin American short fiction published in the first two decades of the 21st century, in order to published in the first two decades of the 21st century, in order to investigate the concerns of the present. I propose to discuss the literary morphology of the house, that is to say, the discourse that shapes or decomposes it. I try to identify the symptoms of a supposed pathology of the home and I advance the hypothesis of a fragmentation of the domestic space: the home would no longer present itself as a compact place and a compact system but would fragment into a series of rooms. A hypothesis to be discussed, verifiedand nuance: the heterogeneity of the stories allows us to appreciate a dwelling that oscillates between constraints between scenes of conformity to an established code and unforeseen insubmissions. The stories design rarefied houses, dangerous or inadequate, inhabited by changing relationships or, on the contrary, blocked. The selection criteria of the corpus is neither biographical nor generational, although most of the authors included were born in the seventies and eighties of the last century. The book includes, mainly, stories by women who represent different domestic dynamics, chosen or imposed,variable or long-lasting, but also considers other places of enunciation that, for the most part, manifest a questioning of cultural, political and affective norms of identity production and bonding. The varied geographic distribution of the texts does not stem from a criterion of representativeness, but rather from an intention to break away from categories and new canons established by the publishing market. The book is divided into three parts: in the first part, starting from the hypothesis of the fractionation of the domestic space, each section is dedicated to a piece, forming a map of a house stressed by different thrusts. The subdivision into rooms facilitates reading and allows moving through the house independently of the proposed order. For the order should not far from indicating a perfectly structured system, each section does not ratify an established architecture or a value of use, but almost always its infringement. In order to establish a comparison, sometimes filiations, with the narratives the last century, we propose, at the end of each section, an “intermission” where we analyze at the end of each section, an “interlude” where stories published throughout the twentieth century are analyzed. I try to emphasize the contiguity with authors who have already proposed the exhaustion of certain modes of representation of family relationships and their space, who have already questioned the father's authority, the mother's dedication, patriarchal mandates. The second part of the book is dedicated to the windows, an element of connection between inside and outside, which underlies the concept of uninhabiting/cohabiting presented in the introduction.
Desordenar la casa. Habitar en los cuentos latinoamericanos del siglo xxi
Emanuela Jossa
2024-01-01
Abstract
The idea behind the writing of this book is to study the function and representation of the domestic space in Latin American short fiction and representation of domestic space in Latin American short fiction published in the first two decades of the 21st century, in order to published in the first two decades of the 21st century, in order to investigate the concerns of the present. I propose to discuss the literary morphology of the house, that is to say, the discourse that shapes or decomposes it. I try to identify the symptoms of a supposed pathology of the home and I advance the hypothesis of a fragmentation of the domestic space: the home would no longer present itself as a compact place and a compact system but would fragment into a series of rooms. A hypothesis to be discussed, verifiedand nuance: the heterogeneity of the stories allows us to appreciate a dwelling that oscillates between constraints between scenes of conformity to an established code and unforeseen insubmissions. The stories design rarefied houses, dangerous or inadequate, inhabited by changing relationships or, on the contrary, blocked. The selection criteria of the corpus is neither biographical nor generational, although most of the authors included were born in the seventies and eighties of the last century. The book includes, mainly, stories by women who represent different domestic dynamics, chosen or imposed,variable or long-lasting, but also considers other places of enunciation that, for the most part, manifest a questioning of cultural, political and affective norms of identity production and bonding. The varied geographic distribution of the texts does not stem from a criterion of representativeness, but rather from an intention to break away from categories and new canons established by the publishing market. The book is divided into three parts: in the first part, starting from the hypothesis of the fractionation of the domestic space, each section is dedicated to a piece, forming a map of a house stressed by different thrusts. The subdivision into rooms facilitates reading and allows moving through the house independently of the proposed order. For the order should not far from indicating a perfectly structured system, each section does not ratify an established architecture or a value of use, but almost always its infringement. In order to establish a comparison, sometimes filiations, with the narratives the last century, we propose, at the end of each section, an “intermission” where we analyze at the end of each section, an “interlude” where stories published throughout the twentieth century are analyzed. I try to emphasize the contiguity with authors who have already proposed the exhaustion of certain modes of representation of family relationships and their space, who have already questioned the father's authority, the mother's dedication, patriarchal mandates. The second part of the book is dedicated to the windows, an element of connection between inside and outside, which underlies the concept of uninhabiting/cohabiting presented in the introduction.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
