The presence of the archive in contemporary Latin American literary practices

Abstract

Following the recurring emergence of literary works in the contemporary Latin American literary field in which the presence of the archive is observed –either as an integral part or as the very structure of the work– this article analyses La Compañía (2018) by Verónica Gerber Bicecci; Autobiografía del algodón (2020) by Cristina Rivera Garza; and Lost Children Archive (2019), by Valeria Luiselli (in its Spanish version). Through the association of these literary works with other writings by the same authors and with critical debates, we examine the operations and intentions embedded in their writing gestures. In addition to the specific critical analysis of each literary work, we engage with archival theories proposed by Hal Foster (2004), Arlette Farge (1989), and Diana Taylor (2003), as well as with the concepts of “disappropriation” (desapropiación) and “geological writing” (escritura geológica) coined by Cristina Rivera Garza. This critical discussion suggests that these works successfully inscribe relevant discourses about historical events in Mexican territory –from the 1940s through the 1970s, and the present–, particularly when the official discourse of History falls short. This achievement is largely made possible through the way each of these works handles archival materials.