Planet Earth Strikes Back: Landscapes of Toxicity in Latin American Fiction

This essay discusses how contemporary Latin American literature (Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia) employs the discourse of toxicity—condensed in the metaphor of bio-engineering and mutation—to process and interrogate what Jason Moore has called the “Capitolecene.” Moore proposes to understand the “accumulation of capital, the pursuit of power, and the co-production of nature in dialectical unity.” This essay considers how the co-production of nature, impelled by greed (a recurring allegory of capitalism) goes terribly wrong by generating toxic biomes. As such, these texts function as ecocritical allegories of the Capitolecene (specifically in its iteration as biocapitalism) and its human and environmental consequences.

History, Mythology, and 20th Century Latin American Fiction

The history of the Americas from the colonial period is marked by a large influx of persons from Europe and Africa. Fiction in 20th Century Latin America is marked by ties to the Chronicles and the history of human melding in the Americas, with a natural flow of social and religious syncretism that shapes the unique literary aesthetics of its literatures as may be witnessed in representative authors of genuine merit from different regions of Latin America.

The Science of Reading Fiction

This chapter explores the relationship between fiction and science outlined in the theories of reading developed by Jorge Volpi and Marcelo Cohen, in which cognitive philosophies and neuroscience are used to support claims of the unique role played by literature in the operations of intersubjectivity that underpin the development of human society and culture. In their narrative projects (fiction and essays), Volpi and Cohen develop theories of reading that intersect with recent advances in cognitive science and revisions to Darwin models of evolution. Reflecting on Catherine Malabou’s work on the relationship between neuroplasticity and late capitalism, this chapter also questions the extent to which these new theories of reading align themselves with, or challenge, those neoliberal ideals of flexibility and self-development are often subjected to critique in recent Latin American fiction.

Pós-modernidade e pós-colonialidade na literatura latino-americana: o trágico na Crônica de uma morte anunciada, de Gabriel García Márquez

Resumo: Este ensaio tem por objetivo utilizar perspectivas discutidas em torno das teorias pós-modernas e pós-coloniais como aporte para estabelecer aproximações com a literatura latino-americana, especificamente, com a obra Crônica de uma morte anunciada, do colombiano Gabriel García Márquez. Essa proposta de aproximação surge da impressão causada pela obra no leitor, denotando traços do que poderia ser visto como uma perspectiva pós-moderna e pós-colonial sobre a história e sobre a própria escrita literária. Esses caminhos da questão “pós” podem ser percebidos em uma sensibilidade trágica, que alinha o texto aos debates pós-modernos, bem como na forma como o autor hibridiza a narrativa ao colocar na mesma “persona”, narrador, personagem e autor. As chamadas “histórias menores”, isto é, discussões acerca de temas importantes da crítica pós-colonial também estão presentes, em referências tangenciais à raça, territorialidade e gênero. Além dessas circunscrições mais visíveis sobre o “pós” na estrutura da crônica, este texto é uma tentativa de decodificar alguns símbolos utilizados pelo autor para ressignificar e deslocar certos pontos fixos da ficção e da história latino-americana.Palavras-chave: literatura latino-americana; trágico; pós-modernidade e pós-colonialidade.Abstract: This essay aims to use perspectives discussed on postmodern and postcolonial theories as a contribution to establish approximations with the Latin American literature, specifically with the Chronicle of a Death Foretold by the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez. This proposal of approximation arises from the impression that the García Márquez’ work provokes in the reader, denoting traces of what could be seen as a postmodern and postcolonial perspective on history and on literary writing itself. These paths of the “post” theory can be perceived in a tragic sensibility, which aligns the text to postmodern debates, as well as in the way the author hybridizes the narrative by placing the narrator, character and author in the same person. Also present in the book are the so-called “minor stories,” that is, discussions about the central postcolonial critique matters, such as issues about race, territoriality, and gender. In addition to these more visible circumscriptions about the “post” in the structure of the Chronicle, this text is an attempt to decode some symbols used by the author to resignify and dislocate certain fixed points of Latin American fiction and history.Keywords: Latin American literature; tragic; post-modernity and post-coloniality.