El chisme como representación histórica de la ausencia en Temporada de huracanes de Fernanda Melchor

Abstract

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor (2017) portrays countless voices coming from stagnant bodies in a liminal state that cannot be represented historically because they are traversed by a paralyzing violence. When traditional History is not enough to explain the connotations of that violence in a small Mexican town, gossip arises among people, mainly because gossip can relativize the facts, challenge institutional imposition, and generate solidarity among those who have lost all hope. The main goal of this article is to analyze gossip as a stylistic resource employed by this female Mexican writer. The transgressive power of gossip is explored in the hands of who has been considered its greatest creator: women. Gossip in Hurricane Season reveals the violent suppression caused by the oligarchic, hegemonic, and scientific historical narrative. Through various studies on gossip, it is established as a feminine literary resource, voice of anomalous bodies and a historical representation of absence.