Espace et langage : La Tour d’amour de Rachilde et la Tour de Babel

In this article I analyze the relationships between space and the main characters in La Tour d’amour, by Rachilde. More specifically I focus on how space has already stunned one of the character’s speech and communicative abilities and it is now in the process of impairing speech in the other. By analyzing the novelist’s use of myths, references to the divinity and, especially, the many instances that offer evidence of widespread corruption in the characters’ language, I show how the lighthouse in which the characters dwell can be interpreted as a decadent Tower of Babel.

Portrait du lecteur en ogre: Sur un passage de Le Roi des Aulnes

Filósofo de vocación, Michel Tournier otorga al problema de la interpretación un papel primordial. Como es sabido, los personajes principales de sus novelas –Robinson, Abel Tiffauges, Alexandre– se caracterizan por una avidez hermenéutica excepcional, que los lleva a examinar sistemáticamente los elementos de la realidad exterior como signos de su propio destino. Sin embargo, el gran mérito del novelista reside en saber transmitir esa misma obsesión al lector, quien, por su parte, y frente al texto de Tournier, se ve obligado a elegir entre la interpretación insuficiente y la interpretación excesiva y, más globalmente, a plantearse la cuestión de los límites de la interpretación.

Performing masculinity, performing the self: Rudolfo Anaya's Bless me, Ultima and Heart of Aztlan

This article explores how Bless Me, Ultima and Heart of Aztlan, the two earliest novels by acclaimed Chicano writer Rudolfo Anaya, problematise and negotiate Chicano masculinity issues. I will focus on the main characters of the novels, who, at different vital moments of their lives, question the meaning of manhood amidst important socio-economic changes and conflicting cultural traditions. Anaya reveals the complexity of being “mestizo” in American society, and exposes how hegemonic standards of masculinity are Manichean, restrictive and reliant on gender inequality. I will finally examine whether the novels challenge hegemonic gender orders, successfully negotiate non-heterosexist ideals of manhood, and ultimately contribute to the advancement of egalitarian gender relations for the Chicana/o community