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Papers by Adrián Menéndez de la Cuesta

Dicenda: Estudios de lengua y literatura españolas, 2016

by MIRIAM LLAMAS UBIETO, Cañadas, Teresa, Menéndez de la Cuesta, Adrián, María Robles Pérez, Vidal Sanz, Rafael, Yoursi, Mohamed, and Adrián Menéndez de la Cuesta

e-prints ucm, 2022

Presentamos el corpus de narrativa actual en alemán, catalán, español, francés, inglés y neerland... more Presentamos el corpus de narrativa actual en alemán, catalán, español, francés, inglés y neerlandés, que ha sido utilizado para el estudio de características postdigitales en el marco del Proyecto de Investigación REC-LIT. Reciclajes culturales: transliteraturas en la era postdigital (2018-2022). Es una compilación abierta a la incorporación de obras aún no localizadas o que emerjan en la actualidad. No pretende ser, por tanto, exhaustivo, pero sí incorporar ejemplos de lo que llamamos narrativa postdigital, porque se compromete en su forma y/o contenido con la expresión de la condición postdigital en la que estamos inmersos, incluyendo también obras en las que solo algunos fragmentos o aspectos se corresponden con esta definición.
Entendemos por postdigital una condición que surge ‘después de’ la ruptura que supuso la revolución digital en la década de los 90 y en torno a la primera década del siglo XXI, debido a la expansión masiva de varias tecnologías digitales. Esta condición postdigital actual está caracterizada por una presencia cotidiana de lo digital y de la computerización, por su ubicuidad (integrada en el entorno y en los sujetos), así como por la conectividad permanente y las nuevas continuidades analógico-digitales. [Véanse: Glosario (https://www.ucm.es/rec-lit_observatorio_postdigital/conceptos-clave-glosario-y-cuadernos-del-ahora) y Cuadernos del ahora: Postdigital (https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/61054/13/Llamas%20Ubieto.%20Postdigital%20ahora_Cuadernos%20del%20ahora.pdf)].
Por ello, los criterios de selección de las obras han seguido varias coordenadas y formas de acotación:

1. lingüística: en función de las lenguas en que trabajamos los miembros del proyecto, con la limitación que ello supone para alcanzar una escala global.
2. temporal: desde aproximadamente 2003-2006, esto es, a partir de la conectividad permanente y de la incorporación integrada y cotidiana de lo digital (por la plataformización, la masificación de redes sociales y el smartphone), con especial atención a la última década. Nos preguntamos qué no podría haber sido narrado, o no así, antes de esas fechas. De forma aislada, algunas obras de esta condición surgieron avant la lettre y, por ello, las hemos incluido a pesar de ser de fecha anterior. Notemos también que, en diferentes espacios, lenguas y literaturas, el proceso hacia la condición postdigital se ha llevado a cabo en momentos distintos en función de la permeabilidad tecnológica, por lo que las fechas no siempre coindicen.
3. temática, representacional y estética: obras en las que, de forma explícita o implícita, hay una presencia (o ausencia sospechosa) de tecnología y de prácticas postdigitales, sea en el contenido y su configuración, en aspectos formales o en la dimensión estética. Así buscamos huellas postdigitales en los marcos cognitivos e imaginarios que se emplean, en la concepción del espacio, de la memoria, del tiempo o del sujeto que subyacen, así como su función en la composición escénica y en la construcción narrativa. Interesan en particular aquellas que plantean una reflexión sobre lo postdigital y sus consecuencias o incluso una reflexividad tecnológica explícita.
4. calidad literaria: son obras que ofrecen respuestas a la pregunta de cómo se está narrando lo postdigital, independientemente de un posible juicio de valor literario.
5. genérica: son obras literarias (entendida la literariedad en sentido laxo) con un componente narrativo que puede ser híbrido y mezclarse con lírica o cómic.
   Así pues, hemos indagado en manifestaciones que, por su recepción, pudieran estarse adaptando a prácticas generalizadas en el medio postdigital dentro de la literatura infantil y juvenil, los posibles bestsellers, las obras premiadas, las publicaciones de autores jóvenes, las obras de autores abiertamente comprometidos con la contemporaneidad tecnológica y también en el campo de la literatura electrónica para verificar si, dada su continua experimentación con las posibilidades tecnológicas, se tematizan particularmente las marcas postdigitales.
   Las obras de este corpus han servido, pues, de base para el estudio (cualitativo y cuantitativo) de marcas postdigitales en la narrativa contemporánea y para la configuración de una taxonomía de características postdigitales.

Journal of Global Diaspora

Since Gopinath coined the term ‘queer diaspora’ in 2002, many studies have reconsidered diaspora ... more Since Gopinath coined the term ‘queer diaspora’ in 2002, many studies have reconsidered diaspora studies from sexual and gender perspectives. These approaches usually leverage the concept of ‘digital diaspora’, first developed by Brinkerhoff in 2009. This proves the relevance of online spaces for these queer communities. However, several scholars suggest that queer diasporans relate to their culture of origin in rather ambiguous terms. Apparently, estrangement and uprooting are frequent, even if these features would exclude queer individuals from orthodox definitions of diaspora. This calls for a re-contextualization of queer diaspora. The goal is to provide an analytic tool for understanding how founding narratives often conceptualize queer communities under the imagery of diaspora. To support this claim, this article goes back to the reflections on community, nostalgia and futurity by Marcel Proust, Jacquelyn Fields, José Esteban Muñoz, Wen Lui and Lidia García, among others. The ...

Dicenda. Cuadernos de Filología Hispánica, Nov 16, 2016

Tragic features have traditionally been exported from tragedy to the novel. One of these is tragi... more Tragic features have traditionally been exported from tragedy to the novel. One of these is tragic fate, which explores the limitations of human agency by mightier forces. The nature of this fate has varied throughout tragic tradition, generally moving from metaphysical or theological to historical or contingent stances. This shows that the tragic adapts to reflect the peculiarities of the times; therefore, not only is the tragic still operative nowadays, but it conveys views intrinsically grounded on the context of the authors, serving both as a depiction and reaction for modern issues.
Modern representations of tragic fate present some recurrent features. The dichotomy between human agency and fatalistic forces is blurred, triggering tensions that make heroes reconsider the roles they play in their lives. Fulfilled or frustrated anagnorises may then take place. This conflict also implies a reconsideration of perspectives: humanity gets overridden by social or cosmic forces that are beyond characters’ understanding. Nevertheless, they usually are well aware of destiny’s presence and they rationalize it by using ancient narratives. The tragic tone comes from the tension between the expectations created by these narratives, proven either false or unable to explain the whole picture. In this sense, modern tragic looks back at previous conceptualizations of fate: rather than deny destiny, it actualizes it and emphasizes its tragic dimension. In parallel, the texts deploy this fate by means of formal devices. I propose that authors emphasize internal coherence to evoke in the reader the feeling that all events are inevitably connected. As formal integrity is not necessarily connected with tragedy, it can help to express fate in the novel. Nevertheless, the expectations that it creates can be misleading, either by not being fulfilled or by being fulfilled in devious ways.
The corpus to which I apply these ideas is composed of three novels: Zola’s La Curée, which serves to introduce the dynamics that will be found later, and two contemporary works from the 1990s, Murakami’s The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and Matute’s Olvidado Rey Gudú. This implies dealing with three apparently unconnected texts: the fact that the same pattern emerges in such different contexts to express tragic fate suggests that the phenomenon with which I am dealing may be more spread than expected and keep a close relation with the grounds of modernity, as it appears dissociated from specific traditions and restricted backgrounds.
The pattern to which I am referring consists in confrontations between different conceptualizations of destiny: a first one is detected by the characters and creates in them expectations that are betrayed by the emergence of the second one, which appears as more ominous and threatening. The tension thus created constitutes the tragic tone of the novels. La Curée recreates the Greek myth of Phaedra, which serves to evoke a classical version of fate, linked with the goddess Venus and the passions she arouses; the appearance of such forces in a naturalist environment, which is driven by determinism, provokes the tragic conflict. In The Wind-up Bird Chronicle the hero conceptualizes the forces that act beyond his control as the destiny that helps the romance knight to fulfill his quest; however, the outcome of his adventure does not live up to his expectations, suggesting the presence of a more sinister, unknown fate which works at a cosmic instead of a human level. Finally, in Olvidado Rey Gudú characters conceive destiny as a performative act to justify their actions before others and construct for themselves a prospect of glory; this projects are nonetheless derailed by cosmic forces that impose oblivion over humankind.
As a conclusion, I propose that this re-conceptualization of fate may serve as a response to the discourse on unrestricted freedom evoked by sentimental humanism and a certain brand of liberalism. As means of closure, I consider how tragic fate raises the questions of guilt and accountability.

Drafts by Adrián Menéndez de la Cuesta

El público (The audience) may be one of the most unknown plays of the Spanish playwright Federico... more El público (The audience) may be one of the most unknown plays of the Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca yet it constitutes an indispensable testimony to his understanding of theatre. In this metatheatrical experiment, the mask plays a core yet ambiguous role in defining what the new theatre is to be. In order to comprehend it, it is my intention to regard Lorca’s play through the lens of Artaud’s and Butler’s theories.
The salvific violence that is inherent to the mask will be compared to Artaud’s pest. In both cases, theatre is conceived as a primitive, sometimes even gruesome ritual that is nonetheless necessary to restore society’s health. In parallel, I will borrow the notions of masquerade and performativity from gender and queer studies (mostly Riviere, Butler and Sedgwick) to explain the intimate links between performance and sexuality/gender in the play.

Dicenda: Estudios de lengua y literatura españolas, 2016

by MIRIAM LLAMAS UBIETO, Cañadas, Teresa, Menéndez de la Cuesta, Adrián, María Robles Pérez, Vidal Sanz, Rafael, Yoursi, Mohamed, and Adrián Menéndez de la Cuesta

e-prints ucm, 2022

Presentamos el corpus de narrativa actual en alemán, catalán, español, francés, inglés y neerland... more Presentamos el corpus de narrativa actual en alemán, catalán, español, francés, inglés y neerlandés, que ha sido utilizado para el estudio de características postdigitales en el marco del Proyecto de Investigación REC-LIT. Reciclajes culturales: transliteraturas en la era postdigital (2018-2022). Es una compilación abierta a la incorporación de obras aún no localizadas o que emerjan en la actualidad. No pretende ser, por tanto, exhaustivo, pero sí incorporar ejemplos de lo que llamamos narrativa postdigital, porque se compromete en su forma y/o contenido con la expresión de la condición postdigital en la que estamos inmersos, incluyendo también obras en las que solo algunos fragmentos o aspectos se corresponden con esta definición.
Entendemos por postdigital una condición que surge ‘después de’ la ruptura que supuso la revolución digital en la década de los 90 y en torno a la primera década del siglo XXI, debido a la expansión masiva de varias tecnologías digitales. Esta condición postdigital actual está caracterizada por una presencia cotidiana de lo digital y de la computerización, por su ubicuidad (integrada en el entorno y en los sujetos), así como por la conectividad permanente y las nuevas continuidades analógico-digitales. [Véanse: Glosario (https://www.ucm.es/rec-lit_observatorio_postdigital/conceptos-clave-glosario-y-cuadernos-del-ahora) y Cuadernos del ahora: Postdigital (https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/61054/13/Llamas%20Ubieto.%20Postdigital%20ahora_Cuadernos%20del%20ahora.pdf)].
Por ello, los criterios de selección de las obras han seguido varias coordenadas y formas de acotación:

1. lingüística: en función de las lenguas en que trabajamos los miembros del proyecto, con la limitación que ello supone para alcanzar una escala global.
2. temporal: desde aproximadamente 2003-2006, esto es, a partir de la conectividad permanente y de la incorporación integrada y cotidiana de lo digital (por la plataformización, la masificación de redes sociales y el smartphone), con especial atención a la última década. Nos preguntamos qué no podría haber sido narrado, o no así, antes de esas fechas. De forma aislada, algunas obras de esta condición surgieron avant la lettre y, por ello, las hemos incluido a pesar de ser de fecha anterior. Notemos también que, en diferentes espacios, lenguas y literaturas, el proceso hacia la condición postdigital se ha llevado a cabo en momentos distintos en función de la permeabilidad tecnológica, por lo que las fechas no siempre coindicen.
3. temática, representacional y estética: obras en las que, de forma explícita o implícita, hay una presencia (o ausencia sospechosa) de tecnología y de prácticas postdigitales, sea en el contenido y su configuración, en aspectos formales o en la dimensión estética. Así buscamos huellas postdigitales en los marcos cognitivos e imaginarios que se emplean, en la concepción del espacio, de la memoria, del tiempo o del sujeto que subyacen, así como su función en la composición escénica y en la construcción narrativa. Interesan en particular aquellas que plantean una reflexión sobre lo postdigital y sus consecuencias o incluso una reflexividad tecnológica explícita.
4. calidad literaria: son obras que ofrecen respuestas a la pregunta de cómo se está narrando lo postdigital, independientemente de un posible juicio de valor literario.
5. genérica: son obras literarias (entendida la literariedad en sentido laxo) con un componente narrativo que puede ser híbrido y mezclarse con lírica o cómic.
   Así pues, hemos indagado en manifestaciones que, por su recepción, pudieran estarse adaptando a prácticas generalizadas en el medio postdigital dentro de la literatura infantil y juvenil, los posibles bestsellers, las obras premiadas, las publicaciones de autores jóvenes, las obras de autores abiertamente comprometidos con la contemporaneidad tecnológica y también en el campo de la literatura electrónica para verificar si, dada su continua experimentación con las posibilidades tecnológicas, se tematizan particularmente las marcas postdigitales.
   Las obras de este corpus han servido, pues, de base para el estudio (cualitativo y cuantitativo) de marcas postdigitales en la narrativa contemporánea y para la configuración de una taxonomía de características postdigitales.

Journal of Global Diaspora

Since Gopinath coined the term ‘queer diaspora’ in 2002, many studies have reconsidered diaspora ... more Since Gopinath coined the term ‘queer diaspora’ in 2002, many studies have reconsidered diaspora studies from sexual and gender perspectives. These approaches usually leverage the concept of ‘digital diaspora’, first developed by Brinkerhoff in 2009. This proves the relevance of online spaces for these queer communities. However, several scholars suggest that queer diasporans relate to their culture of origin in rather ambiguous terms. Apparently, estrangement and uprooting are frequent, even if these features would exclude queer individuals from orthodox definitions of diaspora. This calls for a re-contextualization of queer diaspora. The goal is to provide an analytic tool for understanding how founding narratives often conceptualize queer communities under the imagery of diaspora. To support this claim, this article goes back to the reflections on community, nostalgia and futurity by Marcel Proust, Jacquelyn Fields, José Esteban Muñoz, Wen Lui and Lidia García, among others. The ...

Dicenda. Cuadernos de Filología Hispánica, Nov 16, 2016

Tragic features have traditionally been exported from tragedy to the novel. One of these is tragi... more Tragic features have traditionally been exported from tragedy to the novel. One of these is tragic fate, which explores the limitations of human agency by mightier forces. The nature of this fate has varied throughout tragic tradition, generally moving from metaphysical or theological to historical or contingent stances. This shows that the tragic adapts to reflect the peculiarities of the times; therefore, not only is the tragic still operative nowadays, but it conveys views intrinsically grounded on the context of the authors, serving both as a depiction and reaction for modern issues.
Modern representations of tragic fate present some recurrent features. The dichotomy between human agency and fatalistic forces is blurred, triggering tensions that make heroes reconsider the roles they play in their lives. Fulfilled or frustrated anagnorises may then take place. This conflict also implies a reconsideration of perspectives: humanity gets overridden by social or cosmic forces that are beyond characters’ understanding. Nevertheless, they usually are well aware of destiny’s presence and they rationalize it by using ancient narratives. The tragic tone comes from the tension between the expectations created by these narratives, proven either false or unable to explain the whole picture. In this sense, modern tragic looks back at previous conceptualizations of fate: rather than deny destiny, it actualizes it and emphasizes its tragic dimension. In parallel, the texts deploy this fate by means of formal devices. I propose that authors emphasize internal coherence to evoke in the reader the feeling that all events are inevitably connected. As formal integrity is not necessarily connected with tragedy, it can help to express fate in the novel. Nevertheless, the expectations that it creates can be misleading, either by not being fulfilled or by being fulfilled in devious ways.
The corpus to which I apply these ideas is composed of three novels: Zola’s La Curée, which serves to introduce the dynamics that will be found later, and two contemporary works from the 1990s, Murakami’s The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and Matute’s Olvidado Rey Gudú. This implies dealing with three apparently unconnected texts: the fact that the same pattern emerges in such different contexts to express tragic fate suggests that the phenomenon with which I am dealing may be more spread than expected and keep a close relation with the grounds of modernity, as it appears dissociated from specific traditions and restricted backgrounds.
The pattern to which I am referring consists in confrontations between different conceptualizations of destiny: a first one is detected by the characters and creates in them expectations that are betrayed by the emergence of the second one, which appears as more ominous and threatening. The tension thus created constitutes the tragic tone of the novels. La Curée recreates the Greek myth of Phaedra, which serves to evoke a classical version of fate, linked with the goddess Venus and the passions she arouses; the appearance of such forces in a naturalist environment, which is driven by determinism, provokes the tragic conflict. In The Wind-up Bird Chronicle the hero conceptualizes the forces that act beyond his control as the destiny that helps the romance knight to fulfill his quest; however, the outcome of his adventure does not live up to his expectations, suggesting the presence of a more sinister, unknown fate which works at a cosmic instead of a human level. Finally, in Olvidado Rey Gudú characters conceive destiny as a performative act to justify their actions before others and construct for themselves a prospect of glory; this projects are nonetheless derailed by cosmic forces that impose oblivion over humankind.
As a conclusion, I propose that this re-conceptualization of fate may serve as a response to the discourse on unrestricted freedom evoked by sentimental humanism and a certain brand of liberalism. As means of closure, I consider how tragic fate raises the questions of guilt and accountability.

El público (The audience) may be one of the most unknown plays of the Spanish playwright Federico... more El público (The audience) may be one of the most unknown plays of the Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca yet it constitutes an indispensable testimony to his understanding of theatre. In this metatheatrical experiment, the mask plays a core yet ambiguous role in defining what the new theatre is to be. In order to comprehend it, it is my intention to regard Lorca’s play through the lens of Artaud’s and Butler’s theories.
The salvific violence that is inherent to the mask will be compared to Artaud’s pest. In both cases, theatre is conceived as a primitive, sometimes even gruesome ritual that is nonetheless necessary to restore society’s health. In parallel, I will borrow the notions of masquerade and performativity from gender and queer studies (mostly Riviere, Butler and Sedgwick) to explain the intimate links between performance and sexuality/gender in the play.