Casanova-Vizcaíno - Latin American Gothic in Literature and Culture

Latin American Gothic in Literature and Culture

This book explores the Gothic mode as it appears in the literature, visual arts, and culture of different areas of Latin America. Focusing on works from authors in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, the Andes, Brazil, and the Southern Cone, the essays in this volume illuminate the existence of native representations of the Gothic, while also exploring the presence of universal archetypes of terror and horror. Through the analysis of global and local Gothic topics and themes, they evaluate the reality of a multifaceted territory marked by a shifting colonial and postcolonial relationship with Europe and the United States. The book asks questions such as: Is there such a thing as Latin American Gothic in the same sense that there is an American Gothic and British Gothic? What are the main elements that particularly characterize Latin American Gothic? How does Latin American Gothic function in the context of globalization? What do these elements represent in relation to specific national literatures? What is the relationship between the Gothic and the Postcolonial? What can Gothic criticism bring to the study of Latin American cultural manifestations and, conversely, what can these offer the Gothic? The analysis performed here reflects a body of criticism that understands the Gothic as a global phenomenon with specific manifestations in particular territories while also acknowledging the effects of globalgothic on a transnational and transcultural level. Thus, the volume seeks to open new spaces and areas of scholarly research and academic discussion both regionally and globally with the presentation of a solid analysis of Latin American texts and other cultural phenomena which are manifestly related to the Gothic world.

Sandra Casanova-Vizcano is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Binghamton University-State University of New York, USA.

Ins Ordiz is a PhD Student and Instructor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Washington, USA.

Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature

For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com.

76 The Cultural Imaginary of Terrorism in Public Discourse, Literature, and Film
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77 The Centrality of Crime Fiction in American Literary Culture
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78 Motherhood in Literature and Culture
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Edited by Victoria Browne, Adalgisa Giorgio, Emily Jeremiah, Abigal Lee Six, and Gill Rye

79 Heritage and the Legacy of the Past in Contemporary Britain
Ryan Trimm

80 Storytelling and Ethics
Literature, Visual Arts and the Power of Narrative
Edited by Hanna Meretoja and Colin Davis

81 Multilingual Currents in Literature, Translation and Culture
Edited by Rachael Gilmour and Tamar Steinitz

82 Rewriting the American Soul
Trauma, Neuroscience and the Contemporary Literary Imagination
Anna Thieman

83 Milton and the Early Modern Culture of Devotion
Bodies at Prayer
Naya Tsentourou

84 TransGothic in Literature and Culture
Edited by Jolene Zigarovich

85 Latin American Gothic in Literature and Culture
Edited by Sandra Casanova-Vizcano and Ins Ordiz

Edited by Sandra Casanova-Vizcano and Ins Ordiz

First published 2018
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2018 Taylor & Francis

The right of Sandra Casanova-Vizcano and Ins Ordiz to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

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CIP data has been applied for.

ISBN: 978-1-138-23422-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-30767-1 (ebk)

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A los puntos cardinales: Marieta, Javier, Juan y Arian.
A Gerardo, todos los das.A Mara del Carmen,
Jess y Lourdes.

The editors would like to thank the following academics, colleagues, and friends who have helped us think through and review this volume: Enrique Ajuria Ibarra, Gerardo Pignatiello, Arian Hasenpusch, Rosa Mara Dez Cobo, Javier Ordiz, Edgar OHara, and Kent Kinzer. Your help with this project has been inestimable. Special thanks go to Justin D. Edwards for his help and support during the first stages of this project.

Research to complete parts of the introduction and chapter eight was possible thanks to Binghamton Universitys Deans Research Semester Award and the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities Fellowship granted to Sandra Casanova-Vizcano.

This book became a project at the International Gothic Association Conference held in Vancouver on July 28August 1, 2015; we would also like to thank the conference organizers and attendees for coordinating and participating in such a thought-provoking convention.

Enrique Ajuria Ibarra is Assistant Professor at Universidad de las Amricas Puebla, Mexico. He has previously published several articles and book chapters on Mexican horror cinema. He is the editor of the peer-reviewed online journal Studies in Gothic Fiction, and is currently preparing a book on the relationship between travel, Gothic, and the horror film.

Antonio Alcal Gonzlez is a Researcher and Professor of contemporary literature at Tecnolgico de Monterrey, Mexico City, and lecturer on literary criticism at UNAM. One of the pioneers in the recent raise of interest for the Gothic in Mexico, he is founder of the International Gothic Literature Congress which has been held biennially at UNAM since 2008. His three main areas of research interest include the relationship between the Weird Tale and the Gothic, the presence of Gothic motifs in the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the use Gothic motifs by the Mexican writers Carlos Fuentes and Juan Rulfo. His has published in journals of Mexican universities and edited the Gothic Studies special issue Nautical Gothic: The Presence of the Gothic on and Under the Sea. He has also contributed to the volumes A Companion to American Gothic, Tropical Gothic in Literature and Culture, and Oscuras latitudes: Una cartografa de los estudios gticos.