Publication: Writing Chicano Los Angeles: Geocriticism of Los Angeles in The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gómez by John Rechy
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2019
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Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
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Abstract
El presente artículo examina la representación de la ciudad de Los Ángeles de John
Rechy en la novela The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gómez (1991) como una construcción
subversiva que realiza una crítica intersticial chicana (mexicano-estadounidense). En mi
lectura de la novela propongo que la estructura de la ciudad ficticia se puede leer en tres
dimensiones diferentes: en primer lugar, la ciudad se construye por medio de un contrato
realista con su referente geográfico. La segunda dimensión de la ciudad de Rechy
considera varias reformulaciones híbridas del referente que aparecen en la novela como
imágenes de yuxtaposición de culturas y estéticas emergentes. La tercera dimensión de la
ciudad de Rechy aparece en la voz de los personajes y el narrador implícito que construye
un mapa cognitivo fundado por rígidas fronteras socioculturales. Juntas, las tres
dimensiones ilustrarán cómo las obras de ficción pueden ayudar a representar el estado
en constante cambio de esta ciudad multicultural y financieramente diversa.
Contextualizaré estas dimensiones ubicando la novela dentro de las teorías estéticas
posmodernas de Jameson, Hutcheon y Deleuze y Guattari, y las perspectivas geocríticas
de Westphal y Prieto que enfatizan el papel de la literatura en la formulación de la crítica
social. Al hacerlo, espero dar a conocer algunas formaciones espaciales y geográficas
emergentes de la ciudad de Los Ángeles que son difíciles de detectar dentro de marcos
explicativos establecidos.
This paper examines John Rechy’s representation of the city of Los Angeles in the novel The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gómez (1991) as a subversive construction that accounts for a Chicano (Mexican-American) interstitial critique. I argue that the structure of his fictional city can be read in three different dimensions: First, the city is constructed in a realist contract with its geographic atlas referent. The second dimension of the fictional city considers various hybrid reformulations of the referent which appear in the novel as images of juxtaposition of cultures and emerging aesthetics. The third dimension of Rechy’s city appears in the characters’ voice and the implicit narrator who assembles a cognitive map founded by rigid socio-cultural borders. Together, the three dimensions will illustrate how works of fiction can assist in representing the constantly changing nature of this multicultural and financially diverse city. I will contextualize these dimensions by situating the novel within the postmodern aesthetic theories of Jameson, Hutcheon, and Deleuze and Guattari, and the geocritical perspectives of Westphal and Prieto who emphasize the role of literature to formulate social critique. In doing so, I hope to unveil some emergent spatial and geographical formations of the city of Los Angeles that are difficult to detect from within established explanatory frameworks.
This paper examines John Rechy’s representation of the city of Los Angeles in the novel The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gómez (1991) as a subversive construction that accounts for a Chicano (Mexican-American) interstitial critique. I argue that the structure of his fictional city can be read in three different dimensions: First, the city is constructed in a realist contract with its geographic atlas referent. The second dimension of the fictional city considers various hybrid reformulations of the referent which appear in the novel as images of juxtaposition of cultures and emerging aesthetics. The third dimension of Rechy’s city appears in the characters’ voice and the implicit narrator who assembles a cognitive map founded by rigid socio-cultural borders. Together, the three dimensions will illustrate how works of fiction can assist in representing the constantly changing nature of this multicultural and financially diverse city. I will contextualize these dimensions by situating the novel within the postmodern aesthetic theories of Jameson, Hutcheon, and Deleuze and Guattari, and the geocritical perspectives of Westphal and Prieto who emphasize the role of literature to formulate social critique. In doing so, I hope to unveil some emergent spatial and geographical formations of the city of Los Angeles that are difficult to detect from within established explanatory frameworks.
Description
Comunicación presentada en el Congreso Internacional Interdisciplinar "La ciudad: imágenes e imaginarios" celebrado en la Facultad de Humanidades, Comunicación y Documentación, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid del 12 al 15 marzo de 2018.
Keywords
Geocrítica, Literatura chicana, Literatura de la postmigración, Mapas cognitivos, Los Angeles, Geocriticism, Chicano literature, Postmigration literature, Cognitive mapping
Bibliographic citation
Congreso Internacional Interdisciplinar: La ciudad: imágenes e imaginarios. (2018, Getafe). Ana Mejón, Farshad Zahedi, David Conte Imbert (eds.). Getafe: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 2019, pp. 663-670