The fractured present. Narrative temporality and the production of meaning about the past in Crematorio (Chirbes, 2007) and Simón (Otero, 2020)

Authors

  • Violeta Ros Ferrer Universitat de València

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/KAM.22.27493

Keywords:

Spanish Contemporary Fiction, Narrative Temporality, Rafael Chirbes, Miqui Otero, Post-Transition, Crisis, Nostalgia

Abstract

This paper presents a dialogue between the novels Crematorio (Chirbes, 2007) and Simón (Otero, 2020) based on the analysis of the evocation that each of them proposes of a specific historical time: the end of the transitional process and the consolidation of neoliberalism in Spain. Considering the time that has elapsed between the publication of both novels (2007-2020) and the way in which each of them articulates its narrative temporality, this dialogue will help us to read a significant change in the way of perceiving and narrating the recent past concerning the present from which each of them is represented.

 The analysis presented will focus on the aspects that both novels have in common to propose an interpretation of their differences. Although in both novels, real estate speculation and its crisis will be the central motif that will catalyze the narrative exercise that explores the echoes of a near past from two different temporal poetics, the comparison between both readings reveals the literary articulation of two different generational sensibilities regarding the perception of the same historical time. Each in its way, both novels will share a nostalgic texture that will produce divergent senses about the past they both summon.

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References

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Published

2023-12-22

How to Cite

Ros Ferrer, V. (2023). The fractured present. Narrative temporality and the production of meaning about the past in Crematorio (Chirbes, 2007) and Simón (Otero, 2020). Kamchatka. Revista De análisis Cultural., (22), 713–728. https://doi.org/10.7203/KAM.22.27493
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Issue

No. 22 (2023): Futurismo afrolatinoamericano, ciencia ficción neoindigenista y postindigenismo latinoamericano

Section

Miscellany: topics, poetics and issues of contemporary culture

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