From Orientalism to Plurality in Contemporary Spanish Literature: Exotic Imagery of Moroccan Immigrants in Háblame, musa, de aquel varón by Dulce Chacón and Cosmofobia by Lucía Etxebarria
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Spanish contemporary fiction engaged in the political dialogue about immigration when it integrated different perspectives on the spaces inhabited by Moroccan immigrants in its narrative.I argue that the imagery related to Moroccan immigrants is based on myths and metaphors that come from Western literary tradition, introducing the perspective of the otherness that inhabits ghostly, undefined spaces, both geographical and symbolic.What is perceived as Moroccan otherness is constructed on the basis of exotic, sensorial images that arise from nineteenth century Orientalist tradition, in response to what is perceived as the other's non-linguistic nature.Hence we can affirm that within the Spanish artistic consciousness, battles of dualistic essentialism are still being fought, but they are re-written in the transnational movements metaphor.Within a span of ten years, we can observe a shift in narrative attitudes that range from violent responses to the Moroccan immigrants as seen in Háblame, musa, de aquel varón (1998) by Dulce Chacón, to progressive acceptance as seen in Cosmofobia (2007) by Lucía Etxebarria, where the subaltern subject is granted voice.The result of the interaction between the local and the immigrant population in these two novels is an updated identity of both the subject and the other.
Source: Theory in Action
Author: Bronislava Greskovicova-Chang
Institutions: Harvard University, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3019849256