Abstract

MACKEY, Allison. Ambiguous Waters: Embodying Anthropocene Awareness through Río de la Plata's Ecogothic. CS [online]. 2022, n.36, pp.247-287.  Epub May 31, 2022. ISSN 2011-0324.  https://doi.org/10.18046/recs.i36.4773.

This article examines regional engagements with the gothic mode by contemporary writers on either side of the Río de la Plata. The short story "Bajo el Agua Negra" (Mariana Enríquez, 2016) and the novel Mugre Rosa (Fernanda Trías, 2020) both feature figures of monstrous children, toxic rivers, and mutated bodies not only to criticize historical and contemporary social injustices and dominant models of production, but also to imagine a multispecies ethics of care. Through liminal protagonists who simultaneously represent and challenge anthropocentric models, Enríquez and Trías demonstrate a nascent Anthropocene awareness. In both texts, the emergence of non-human storied matter as embodied agency is impossible to ignore, resonating with feminist ecocritical and materialist posthumanist thinkers. However, far from awakening a horror that overwhelms and immobilizes the reader, these ambiguous and open-ended speculative visions indicate that something more hopeful might emerge from the destruction of old models.

Keywords : Literature from Río de la Plata; Gothic Mode; Ecocriticism; Ecofeminism; Vibrant Matter.

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