El desierto era parecido a un paraíso: Aventuras posthumanas en una novela de G. Cabezón Cámara

Abstract

In this paper we provide a reading of Gabriela Cabezón Cámara´s Las aventuras de la China Iron (2017) from a post-human materialistic aesthetic perspective, a line of research which considers that, in our post-anthropocentric and post-natural context, it has become essential to revisit the various logics of existence that populate the Earth. In other words, we attempt to think about the post/in-human space that opens up with the interaction, hybridization and co-emergence of everything that exists, a space in which human actors are present but instead of being the center of action inhabit a mix of diverse agencies. From this particular point of view we focus on two issues. Insofar as the narrator is a human animal, on the one hand the novel is understood as a horizontal and non-hierarchical description of the place of humanity on the planet, on the other hand, as the exploration of mutually contaminated powers of acting, thinking and feeling of what exists in general. According to this, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral are no longer taxonomized in kingdoms but mixed in the unwired, ungovernable and fertile compost that the Argentinian desert could be. Considered as a rewriting of Martín Fierro, a foundational book of Argentina´s national identity, Cabezón Cámara´s novel can be read as the fable of a queer and holoentic "matria" that is the home to multiple species and kingdoms creatures.

Este artigo parte da perspectiva do materialismo pós-humano, uma linha de pesquisa que assume o presente como um contexto pós-antropocêntrico e pós-natural no qual se tornou indispensável reconsiderar as diversas lógicas de existência que povoam a Terra. Ou seja, trata-se de pensar sobre o espaço pós/desumano que se abre com a interação, a hibridização e a co-surgimento de todo o existente em que atores humanos estão presentes, mas não mais no centro da ação, senão em uma mistura de agencialidades diversificadas. En esta oportunidad será apresentada uma leitura de Las aventuras de la China Iron, de Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (2017), a partir de uma estética materialista pós-humana. Por um lado, na medida em que o narrador é um animal humano, o romance será entendido como uma descrição horizontal e não hierárquica do lugar da “humanidade” no planeta; e, por outro lado, como a exploração das mutuamente potencias de agir, pensar e sentir do existente em geral: o animal, o vegetal e o mineral não mais taxonomizados em reinos, senão que misturados no “compost” intransigível, ingovernável e fértil que poderia ser o “deserto” argentino. Assim, como reescrita de Martín Fierro, um texto considerado fundacional da identidade nacional argentina, o romance de Cabezón Cámara poderia ser a fabulação de uma “matria” queer e holoentica que abriga criaturas de múltiplas espécies e reinos.

In this paper we provide a reading of Gabriela Cabezón Cámara’s Las aventuras de la China Iron (2017) from a post-human materialistic aesthetic perspective, a line of research which considers that, in our post-anthropocentric and post-natural context, it has become essential to revisit the various logics of existence that populate the Earth. In other words, we attempt to think about the post/in-human space that opens up with the interaction, hybridization and co-emergence of everything that exists, a space in which human actors are present but instead of being the center of action inhabit a mix of diverse agencies. From this particular point of view we focus on two issues. Insofar as the narrator is a human animal, on the one hand the novel is understood as a horizontal and non-hierarchical description of the place of “humanity” on the planet, on the other hand, as the exploration of mutually contaminated powers of acting, thinking and feeling of what exists in general. According to this, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral are no longer taxonomized in kingdoms but mixed in the unwired, ungovernable and fertile “compost” that the Argentinian “desert” could be. Considered as a rewriting of Martín Fierro, a foundational book of Argentina’s national identity, Cabezón Cámara’s novel can be read as the fable of a queer and holoentic “matria” that is the home to multiple species and kingdoms creatures.