Technology, Mass Media, and the Legacy of the Modern Latin American Novel: Rodrigo Fresán’s Mantra (Chasqui, Vol. 40, 1, May 2011) (original) (raw)

2011, Chasqui: Revista de Literatura Latinoamericana

"This paper argues that Mantra makes innovative micro-political and rhetorical moves, which rest on (or are enabled by) a blend of typical features and procedures of the modern Latin American novel *and* technology-related features and procedures that are more widely associated with Fresan's piece. Both this blend and its related discursive operations -- I argue -- have been obscured (mostly) by the excessive emphasis placed on the more salient, more widely discussed traits of Fresan's piece: fragmentation; technology and mass-media regarded both as central themes, and as sources of formal procedures and tropes, etc.. Therefore, I articulate an interpretive framework that gives visibility to these neglected micro-political and rhetorical operations -- a framework that yields at the same time a view of Mantra that proves it to be a textual artifact refractory to overarching, settled interpretations, but which also stimulates (and challenges and pushes) interpretive activity. The upshot of this activity is a proliferation of simultaneous yet distinct "worlds" that at times overlap or cross their own boundaries -- an "aleph-swimming-pool," as one of the narrator says. These "worlds" are the scenario where micro-political moves are played out. Lastly, and contrary to the widespread view that Fresan's generation rejects engaging with political and historical issues, these scenarios are also the space of political struggles, often presented in brief, frequently elliptical or allusive -- almost elusive -- ways, which render them singularly disquieting. If our interpretive framework and its resulting reading are accepted, Mantra could be read as enacting subtle power-related, political tensions running across a variety of spaces: from the "private sphere" of a shared bedroom (pace Deleuze) to others carved out in recent history: from Sub-Comandante Marcos' Chiapas in the late 1990s to Peron's return to Buenos Aires in the 1970s and the ensuing prelude to the Dirty War. By the same token, the aforementioned blend allows Mantra to present new ways -- new narrative and linguistic devices -- to address the thorny issues of identity and agency, both at the collective and the individual levels (e.g., self-description and its implications for the subject's agency and capabilities)."