Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Spanish

Title: El género detectivesco y su representación en la novela mexicana del siglo XXI

Committee:
Dr. Irma López, Chair
Dr. John Benson
Dr. Mayra Fortes
Dr. Benjamin Torres

Date: Thursday, May 19, 2011 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
3025 Brown Hall

Abstract:
This dissertation analyzes the resurgence of detective fiction in Mexican novels of the twenty-first century and focuses on the writers’ artistic intentions in creating complex texts that contrast the less experimental literature of the Post-Boom. The revival in the popularity of the crime novel in Mexico has emerged, in part, because of the deep societal problems the country faces (such as political corruption, drug cartels, and economic crises), and the sense of powerlessness often experienced by its citizens when confronting such problems. From an aesthetic standpoint, a renewed approach to this genre springs from the novelists’ constant quest to represent their topics of interest with literary novelty. The authors studied in this dissertation search for new narrative devices to approach old themes and follow current novelistic trends, such as those initiated and practiced by Mexican writers associated with the literary movement known as the Crack.
The four Mexican novels studied in this dissertation are: Rogelio Guedea’s Conducir un tráiler (2008); Mónica Lavín’s Café cortado (2008); Ignacio Padilla’s Amphitryon (2000); and Susana Pagano’s Trajinar de un muerto (2001). Through these works, the detective novel in Mexico has lost its stigma as mere escapist literature. Its artistic form, bursting with experimentation and plots that are both intellectual and involving, attests that the genre is a means to engage the authors and their readers in the aesthetic and cultural dialogue of present-day Mexico.

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