• body
• corpo
• corporality
• corporeità
• desaparecidos
• desaparecidos.
• Gothic literature
• letteratura gotica
• Mariana Enriquez
• Mariana Enriquez
• perturbante
• the uncanny
• violence
• violenza

La tesi indaga l’evoluzione del gotico nella letteratura argentina contemporanea, focalizzandosi sull’opera di Mariana Enriquez. Attraverso un’analisi critica e storica, mostra come il gotico, nato come genere europeo, venga rielaborato dall’autrice per raccontare storie radicate nella realtà argentina. Enriquez rielabora gli elementi tipici del gotico — il perturbante, il soprannaturale, la trasgressione — per affrontare paure concrete come l’emarginazione, la violenza e il trauma storico. Centrale nei suoi testi è il corpo: ferito e mutilato, luogo simbolico di dolore, ma anche di resistenza e identità spezzate. L’autrice costruisce un immaginario gotico urbano e corporeo, in cui l’orrore emerge non dalla presenza di mostri fantastici, ma da corpi reali segnati dalla storia e dalla società. La corporeità si intreccia al soprannaturale per generare un effetto perturbante che destabilizza il lettore, come evidenziato nei racconti analizzati, tratti dalle raccolte Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego, Los peligros de fumar en la cama, Un lugar soleado para gente sombría. La tesi mette in luce l’abilità di Enriquez nel trasformare il gotico in un dispositivo di denuncia sociale, fondendo memoria politica e dimensione sensoriale in una scrittura cruda e viscerale.



The thesis investigates the evolution of the Gothic in contemporary Argentine literature, focusing on the work of Mariana Enriquez. Through a critical and historical analysis, it shows how the Gothic, originally a European genre, is reworked by the author to tell stories rooted in Argentine reality. Enriquez reinterprets the typical elements of the Gothic—the uncanny, the supernatural, and transgression—to address concrete fears such as marginalization, violence, and historical trauma. Central to her texts is the body: wounded and mutilated, a symbolic site of pain but also of resistance and fractured identity. The author constructs an urban and corporeal Gothic imaginary, where horror arises not from the presence of fantastic monsters but from real bodies marked by history and society. Corporality intertwines with the supernatural to create an unsettling effect that destabilizes the reader, as evidenced in the analyzed stories, drawn from the collections Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego, Los peligros de fumar en la cama, and Un lugar soleado para gente sombría. The thesis highlights Enriquez’s ability to transform the Gothic into a tool of social critique, merging political memory and sensory dimension in a raw and visceral writing style.

The thesis investigates the evolution of the Gothic in contemporary Argentine literature, focusing on the work of Mariana Enriquez. Through a critical and historical analysis, it shows how the Gothic, originally a European genre, is reworked by the author to tell stories rooted in Argentine reality. Enriquez reinterprets the typical elements of the Gothic—the uncanny, the supernatural, and transgression—to address concrete fears such as marginalization, violence, and historical trauma. Central to her texts is the body: wounded and mutilated, a symbolic site of pain but also of resistance and fractured identity. The author constructs an urban and corporeal Gothic imaginary, where horror arises not from the presence of fantastic monsters but from real bodies marked by history and society. Corporality intertwines with the supernatural to create an unsettling effect that destabilizes the reader, as evidenced in the analyzed stories, drawn from the collections Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego, Los peligros de fumar en la cama, and Un lugar soleado para gente sombría. The thesis highlights Enriquez’s ability to transform the Gothic into a tool of social critique, merging political memory and sensory dimension in a raw and visceral writing style.