Publication: Gótico y espacios suburbanos en la literatura posmoderna estadounidense
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2014
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Abstract
Tras más de dos siglos encendiendo las imaginaciones más impresionables, el género gótico se actualizó (y ubicó) a mediados del siglo XX en lo que se ha dado en llamar “gótico suburbano”. A partir de 1950 un gran número de novelas, historias, películas y series de televisión estadounidenses se han preocupado por mostrar cómo la engañosa tranquilidad y monotonía domésticas que parecían ser señal distintiva de los suburbios no eran sino un tenue velo que cubría los secretos macabros y sobrenaturales que acechaban en el interior de los hogares, fueran aquéllos muertos vivientes, extraterrestres, vampiros, brujas, asesinos en serie, o mujeres desesperadas. Más recientemente, el género se ha visto revitalizado por la publicación de dos novelas postmodernas que siguen los cánones temáticos del género: House of Leaves (2000) de Mark Z. Danielewski, y There Is No Year (2011) de Blake Butler. En ambas, la casa suburbana sirve como locus para lo ominoso: la familia Navidson y la familia sin nombre de la novela de Butler habitan espacios que no sienten como hogar, sino como lugares amenazantes, peligrosos, poseídos. Pero además, más allá de su temática de género, estos textos utilizan lenguaje, tipografía, maquetación y la materialidad misma del libro (las páginas como espacio físico) para desfamiliarizar el texto y convertirlo en siniestro. El medio se convierte, pues, en parte de lo que hace que estos textos pertenezcan al gótico suburbano, un género que se ha basado tradicionalmente más en convenciones de caracterización y narrativa que en aspectos relacionados con la materialidad del texto
After more than two centuries the most impressionable imaginations lighting, the Gothic genre is updated (and placed) in the mid-twentieth century in what has been called "Suburban Gothic". Since 1950 a large number of novels, stories, movies and American television viewing have been concerned to show how misleading monotony and domestic tranquility appeared to be distinguishing mark of the suburbs were but a thin veil covering the secret macabre and supernatural lurking inside homes, were those undead, aliens, vampires, witches, serial murderers, or desperate women. More recently, the genre has been revitalized by the publication of two novels that follow the postmodern thematic canons of the genre: House of Leaves (2000) by Mark Z. Danielewski, and There Is No Year (2011) by Blake Butler. In both suburban house it serves as locus for the uncanny: the family and the family Navidson unnamed Butler's novel inhabit spaces that feel like home, but as threatening, dangerous, owned places. But also beyond its gender issues, these texts use language, typography, layout and the very materiality of the book (pages as physical space) to defamiliarize the text and make it crash. The medium becomes therefore part of what makes these texts belong to suburban Gothic, a genre that has been based traditionally on characterization and narrative conventions in the material aspects of the text
After more than two centuries the most impressionable imaginations lighting, the Gothic genre is updated (and placed) in the mid-twentieth century in what has been called "Suburban Gothic". Since 1950 a large number of novels, stories, movies and American television viewing have been concerned to show how misleading monotony and domestic tranquility appeared to be distinguishing mark of the suburbs were but a thin veil covering the secret macabre and supernatural lurking inside homes, were those undead, aliens, vampires, witches, serial murderers, or desperate women. More recently, the genre has been revitalized by the publication of two novels that follow the postmodern thematic canons of the genre: House of Leaves (2000) by Mark Z. Danielewski, and There Is No Year (2011) by Blake Butler. In both suburban house it serves as locus for the uncanny: the family and the family Navidson unnamed Butler's novel inhabit spaces that feel like home, but as threatening, dangerous, owned places. But also beyond its gender issues, these texts use language, typography, layout and the very materiality of the book (pages as physical space) to defamiliarize the text and make it crash. The medium becomes therefore part of what makes these texts belong to suburban Gothic, a genre that has been based traditionally on characterization and narrative conventions in the material aspects of the text
Description
Recoge los trabajos presentados en el II Congreso sobre arte, literatura y cultura gótica urbana, celebrado en mayo 2013 en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid