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Articles by Maximiliano Jiménez

Nuevas Poligrafías. Revista de Teoría Literaria y Literatura Comparada, Feb 2024

This paper analyzes David Peace’s novel Nineteen Seventy Four (1999), first part of his Red Ridin... more This paper analyzes David Peace’s novel Nineteen Seventy Four (1999), first part of his Red Riding Quartet, to revise how the author uses the dynamics and conceptions of journalism and noir fiction to problematize the concepts of truth and fiction within the genre, on the one hand, and to reflect on the notion of historical past in relation to the present, also subordinated to the crossings between truth and fiction, on the other. By constructing a detective that in this case is embodied by an ambitious journalist in the Yorkshire County of 1974 and exploiting his sordid narrative style, the novel demands comparisons between the contemporary context and the past he fictionalizes through the presence of real-life events. Taking meticulous advantage of the precepts and expectations of noir fiction, the novel leads to a conscientious reading that exacerbates the growing instability of the boundaries between the discourses of reality and fiction in the 21st century. This analysis focuses first on the characterization of the protagonist since the construction of a reporter as the detective and narrator of a noir novel emphasizes the thematization of journalism when seen in relation to the search for truth for profit. Then, it turns to the importance of the journalistic style of the narrator and protagonist, since the narrative characteristics of the text outline very peculiar ways of reading that lead to questioning hegemonic discourses.

Nuevas Poligrafías. Revista de Teoría Literaria y Literatura Comparada, 2020

This article proposes a reading of Hamid's novel «Exit West» (2017) that pays attention to the tr... more This article proposes a reading of Hamid's novel «Exit West» (2017) that pays attention to the tropes and formulas of fantasy and science fiction used to frame an account of the so-called refugee crisis. Although the novel portrays situations rooted in the global concern regarding migrants, Hamid structures his story through associations with non-mimetic genres employing the trope of magical doors that provide escape to those desperate to flee their surroundings. I argue that replacing the hardships of travel with such a magical means of transport helps to relativize our perception of the situation in terms of science-fictional and fantasy scenarios. At the same time, the "unrealistic" depiction of the real sociopolitical problem leads to thematic reflections that are not grounded in the pity raised by the excessive attention paid to the dangers of migration, but that rather invite to a critical, positive engagement with the concept of hybridity, dramatized by Hamid in both the form and the content of his novel. Since what provides SF its generic cohesion is its use of ideology rather than specific structures or themes (Moreno, 2014), and since fantasy can be read underlying the political potential of its affective dimension (Clúa, 2017), the critical consideration of these two genres gives «Exit West» easy passage into a committed discussion about its context.

Impossibilia. Revista Internacional de Estudios Literarios. "La novela experimental", Apr 30, 2014

En 1962, Vladimir Nabokov publicó «Pale Fire», su segunda obra más importante. Desde entonces, és... more En 1962, Vladimir Nabokov publicó «Pale Fire», su segunda obra más importante. Desde
entonces, ésta ha sido objeto de interminables discusiones respecto a su interpretación, pero aunque nunca se ha cuestionado su pertenencia al género novelesco, es claro que el grado de experimentación que aquí denota el autor tiene alcances que, además, se han imitado y recuperado a lo largo de la segunda mitad del siglo XX y hasta la fecha. Es por eso que en este artículo se propone una revisión de lo que hace de «Pale Fire» una novela innovadora y, asimismo, se sugiere un modo específico de texto literario, la novela mimética en cuanto a disfrazamiento material (en el sentido de mimetismo natural), inaugurado en cierta manera con «Pale Fire» y vigente desde entonces.

Book Chapters by Maximiliano Jiménez

Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives. Palgrave Studies in Life Writing, 2020

This chapter focuses on Michael Cunningham’s engagement with Virginia Woolf’s life and work in hi... more This chapter focuses on Michael Cunningham’s engagement with Virginia Woolf’s life and work in his novel «The Hours» (1998). Through an analysis of Cunningham’s transnational transposition of the plot of «Mrs Dalloway» (1925) and the fictionalisation of Woolf herself, this chapter proposes that «The Hours» presents certain thematic concerns that are integral to Cunningham’s identity as an American writer, namely the smudging of the boundaries between fiction and reality and the conceptualisation of world-building in extratextual terms. Moreover, this chapter argues that world-building is a key motif for the critical reading of American identity grounded in the artificial discourses of a world created by real-life narratives towards the end of the twentieth century, very much as Woolf had suggested in 1925, when «Mrs Dalloway» was published.

Canon sin fronteras: estudios críticos sobre géneros populares, 2020

Este artículo revisa la novela negra «Nineteen Seventy Four» (2000), del inglés David Peace, en t... more Este artículo revisa la novela negra «Nineteen Seventy Four» (2000), del inglés David Peace, en términos de su innovación genérica. Se analizan las implicaciones formales y temáticas que surgen de la construcción de un detective-reportero que investiga un crimen ficcional en la Inglaterra del año 1974. Dado que la construcción de este tiempo y espacio se vale en gran parte de referencias al periodismo "real" de ese momento, se explora la inestabilidad de la línea que separa realidad y ficción en relación con el concepto de verdad y lo que la novela sugiere al respecto desde su contexto postdigital.

Conference presentations by Maximiliano Jiménez

SFRA Review 327, 2019

This paper explores HBO's «Westworld» as a work that dramatizes the increasingly unstable boundar... more This paper explores HBO's «Westworld» as a work that dramatizes the increasingly unstable boundary between reality and fiction based on the literal, tangible worlding of the fictional space constituted by the theme park and its artificial, fictional inhabitants. Included as part of the symposium of the Worlding SF: Building, Inhabiting, and Understanding Science Fiction Universes conference (December 2018, University of Graz, Austria).

Through an analysis of David Peace’s noir-fiction novel «Nineteen Seventy Four» (1999), I intend ... more Through an analysis of David Peace’s noir-fiction novel «Nineteen Seventy Four» (1999), I intend to explore how the author addresses a complex notion of the boundaries between empathy and rejection in relation to violence. Taking as a starting point Judith Butler’s idea of the body as a site where vulnerability and identity converge, I would like to approach how Peace uses the generic conventions of crime fiction to present a more ambiguous and uncomfortable idea of sympathy, for even the protagonist—the young crime correspondent of the Yorkshire Post in the year 1974—goes through different stages in terms of his likeability and vulnerability: while at first he hopes missing ten-year-old Clare Kempley be found dead so that he can cover a good story, he experiences a shocking change when confronted with the gruesome details and images of the torture and painful end that the little girl had to endure; furthermore, when he decides to try and, ironically, uncover the truth for the sake of justice, his own body becomes a tool to exert violence on others, at the same time that it makes him the object of torture and abuse. In this sense, by paying attention to how the novel revolves around the motif of the limits between “justified” and “unjust” violence, “crimes” and “pranks,” I will also aim at exploring how Peace takes advantage of a very political and graphic genre to venture wider thematic reaches that go beyond the microcosms of 1974 Leeds.

1er Congreso Nacional de Metaficción e Intertextualidad. Facultad de Estudios Superiores Acatlán, UNAM. México D.F.

Book Reviews by Maximiliano Jiménez

Impossibilia: Revista Internacional de Estudios Literarios, 2017

It is not uncommon to find discussions regarding the current status of print materials and the im... more It is not uncommon to find discussions regarding the current status of print materials and the impending end of the book as a literary support overshadowed by the increasing rise of digital literacy. Nevertheless, what about all those novels that are decidedly experimenting not only with their themes and narrative techniques but also with their visual presentations and tangible supports? To what extent are those precise digital developments pushing writers and readers to come up with new ways of reading and writing—be it as a rejection of the end of the book or merely as a creative exploration of the limits of storytelling? These are some of the questions that guide Ruiz Espinosa's revision of contemporary narrative and which establish her book as a helpful starting point that contributes to the pertinent discussions developing around the notions that, in general, literary academia seems to have been taking for granted for a while.

Theses by Maximiliano Jiménez

Nuevas Poligrafías. Revista de Teoría Literaria y Literatura Comparada, Feb 2024

This paper analyzes David Peace’s novel Nineteen Seventy Four (1999), first part of his Red Ridin... more This paper analyzes David Peace’s novel Nineteen Seventy Four (1999), first part of his Red Riding Quartet, to revise how the author uses the dynamics and conceptions of journalism and noir fiction to problematize the concepts of truth and fiction within the genre, on the one hand, and to reflect on the notion of historical past in relation to the present, also subordinated to the crossings between truth and fiction, on the other. By constructing a detective that in this case is embodied by an ambitious journalist in the Yorkshire County of 1974 and exploiting his sordid narrative style, the novel demands comparisons between the contemporary context and the past he fictionalizes through the presence of real-life events. Taking meticulous advantage of the precepts and expectations of noir fiction, the novel leads to a conscientious reading that exacerbates the growing instability of the boundaries between the discourses of reality and fiction in the 21st century. This analysis focuses first on the characterization of the protagonist since the construction of a reporter as the detective and narrator of a noir novel emphasizes the thematization of journalism when seen in relation to the search for truth for profit. Then, it turns to the importance of the journalistic style of the narrator and protagonist, since the narrative characteristics of the text outline very peculiar ways of reading that lead to questioning hegemonic discourses.

Nuevas Poligrafías. Revista de Teoría Literaria y Literatura Comparada, 2020

This article proposes a reading of Hamid's novel «Exit West» (2017) that pays attention to the tr... more This article proposes a reading of Hamid's novel «Exit West» (2017) that pays attention to the tropes and formulas of fantasy and science fiction used to frame an account of the so-called refugee crisis. Although the novel portrays situations rooted in the global concern regarding migrants, Hamid structures his story through associations with non-mimetic genres employing the trope of magical doors that provide escape to those desperate to flee their surroundings. I argue that replacing the hardships of travel with such a magical means of transport helps to relativize our perception of the situation in terms of science-fictional and fantasy scenarios. At the same time, the "unrealistic" depiction of the real sociopolitical problem leads to thematic reflections that are not grounded in the pity raised by the excessive attention paid to the dangers of migration, but that rather invite to a critical, positive engagement with the concept of hybridity, dramatized by Hamid in both the form and the content of his novel. Since what provides SF its generic cohesion is its use of ideology rather than specific structures or themes (Moreno, 2014), and since fantasy can be read underlying the political potential of its affective dimension (Clúa, 2017), the critical consideration of these two genres gives «Exit West» easy passage into a committed discussion about its context.

Impossibilia. Revista Internacional de Estudios Literarios. "La novela experimental", Apr 30, 2014

En 1962, Vladimir Nabokov publicó «Pale Fire», su segunda obra más importante. Desde entonces, és... more En 1962, Vladimir Nabokov publicó «Pale Fire», su segunda obra más importante. Desde
entonces, ésta ha sido objeto de interminables discusiones respecto a su interpretación, pero aunque nunca se ha cuestionado su pertenencia al género novelesco, es claro que el grado de experimentación que aquí denota el autor tiene alcances que, además, se han imitado y recuperado a lo largo de la segunda mitad del siglo XX y hasta la fecha. Es por eso que en este artículo se propone una revisión de lo que hace de «Pale Fire» una novela innovadora y, asimismo, se sugiere un modo específico de texto literario, la novela mimética en cuanto a disfrazamiento material (en el sentido de mimetismo natural), inaugurado en cierta manera con «Pale Fire» y vigente desde entonces.

Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives. Palgrave Studies in Life Writing, 2020

This chapter focuses on Michael Cunningham’s engagement with Virginia Woolf’s life and work in hi... more This chapter focuses on Michael Cunningham’s engagement with Virginia Woolf’s life and work in his novel «The Hours» (1998). Through an analysis of Cunningham’s transnational transposition of the plot of «Mrs Dalloway» (1925) and the fictionalisation of Woolf herself, this chapter proposes that «The Hours» presents certain thematic concerns that are integral to Cunningham’s identity as an American writer, namely the smudging of the boundaries between fiction and reality and the conceptualisation of world-building in extratextual terms. Moreover, this chapter argues that world-building is a key motif for the critical reading of American identity grounded in the artificial discourses of a world created by real-life narratives towards the end of the twentieth century, very much as Woolf had suggested in 1925, when «Mrs Dalloway» was published.

Canon sin fronteras: estudios críticos sobre géneros populares, 2020

Este artículo revisa la novela negra «Nineteen Seventy Four» (2000), del inglés David Peace, en t... more Este artículo revisa la novela negra «Nineteen Seventy Four» (2000), del inglés David Peace, en términos de su innovación genérica. Se analizan las implicaciones formales y temáticas que surgen de la construcción de un detective-reportero que investiga un crimen ficcional en la Inglaterra del año 1974. Dado que la construcción de este tiempo y espacio se vale en gran parte de referencias al periodismo "real" de ese momento, se explora la inestabilidad de la línea que separa realidad y ficción en relación con el concepto de verdad y lo que la novela sugiere al respecto desde su contexto postdigital.

SFRA Review 327, 2019

This paper explores HBO's «Westworld» as a work that dramatizes the increasingly unstable boundar... more This paper explores HBO's «Westworld» as a work that dramatizes the increasingly unstable boundary between reality and fiction based on the literal, tangible worlding of the fictional space constituted by the theme park and its artificial, fictional inhabitants. Included as part of the symposium of the Worlding SF: Building, Inhabiting, and Understanding Science Fiction Universes conference (December 2018, University of Graz, Austria).

Through an analysis of David Peace’s noir-fiction novel «Nineteen Seventy Four» (1999), I intend ... more Through an analysis of David Peace’s noir-fiction novel «Nineteen Seventy Four» (1999), I intend to explore how the author addresses a complex notion of the boundaries between empathy and rejection in relation to violence. Taking as a starting point Judith Butler’s idea of the body as a site where vulnerability and identity converge, I would like to approach how Peace uses the generic conventions of crime fiction to present a more ambiguous and uncomfortable idea of sympathy, for even the protagonist—the young crime correspondent of the Yorkshire Post in the year 1974—goes through different stages in terms of his likeability and vulnerability: while at first he hopes missing ten-year-old Clare Kempley be found dead so that he can cover a good story, he experiences a shocking change when confronted with the gruesome details and images of the torture and painful end that the little girl had to endure; furthermore, when he decides to try and, ironically, uncover the truth for the sake of justice, his own body becomes a tool to exert violence on others, at the same time that it makes him the object of torture and abuse. In this sense, by paying attention to how the novel revolves around the motif of the limits between “justified” and “unjust” violence, “crimes” and “pranks,” I will also aim at exploring how Peace takes advantage of a very political and graphic genre to venture wider thematic reaches that go beyond the microcosms of 1974 Leeds.

1er Congreso Nacional de Metaficción e Intertextualidad. Facultad de Estudios Superiores Acatlán, UNAM. México D.F.

Impossibilia: Revista Internacional de Estudios Literarios, 2017

It is not uncommon to find discussions regarding the current status of print materials and the im... more It is not uncommon to find discussions regarding the current status of print materials and the impending end of the book as a literary support overshadowed by the increasing rise of digital literacy. Nevertheless, what about all those novels that are decidedly experimenting not only with their themes and narrative techniques but also with their visual presentations and tangible supports? To what extent are those precise digital developments pushing writers and readers to come up with new ways of reading and writing—be it as a rejection of the end of the book or merely as a creative exploration of the limits of storytelling? These are some of the questions that guide Ruiz Espinosa's revision of contemporary narrative and which establish her book as a helpful starting point that contributes to the pertinent discussions developing around the notions that, in general, literary academia seems to have been taking for granted for a while.