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Subterranean Space in Contemporary Mexico City Literature

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Covers the most important genres in city literature – the novel, the short story and the crónica – through the texts of more than forty different authors
  • Presents a fresh and original look on the much explored topic of the city in Latin American literature via readings of both renowned and upcoming writers
  • Problematizes the way in which the major presence of European and North-American cities in existing cultural analysis of the underground has shaped the debate by thoroughly examining the contextual differences brought about by the Latin American perspective

Part of the book series: Hispanic Urban Studies (HUS)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
  2. Introduction

    • Liesbeth François
    Pages 1-37
  3. Theorizing the Urban Underground in Latin America

    • Liesbeth François
    Pages 39-71
  4. Subsoil Politics: Rewriting Resistance

    • Liesbeth François
    Pages 73-114
  5. Underground Forces: Being in and of the Earth

    • Liesbeth François
    Pages 115-153
  6. Writing from Below: The Aesthetic Abyss

    • Liesbeth François
    Pages 197-235
  7. Conclusion

    • Liesbeth François
    Pages 237-252
  8. Back Matter

    Pages 253-260

About this book

This book studies the role of subterranean spaces in literary works about Mexico City. It analyzes how underground spaces such as the subway, the sewage system, tunnels, crypts, and the subsoil itself relate to the whole of the city in a body of works published after 1985, the year of the deadliest earthquake in the capital’s history. The texts belong to the most important genres in urban literature (the novel, the short story, and the crónica) and demonstrate the crucial role played by the underground in contemporary imaginings of the megalopolis, as it condenses and confronts the tensions that run through them. This central idea is developed through four analytical chapters focusing on the political, ecological, historical, and aesthetic dimension of subterranean imaginaries.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of Arts, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Liesbeth François

About the author

Liesbeth François is a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven, Belgium, with a scholarship from the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). She has published on contemporary Latin American fiction and literary theory. She is the author of Andares vacilantes. La caminata en la obra narrativa de Sergio Chejfec (2018).

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access