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Mitologías de Auschwitz

Authors

  • Carla Alanis Stockholm University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/dl.v31i.134427

Keywords:

Gustavo Nielsen, Auschwitz, Dictatorship, mythology, pervert, immunization paradigm

Abstract

How can we tell the horror of the past? Gustavo Nielsen's novel Auschwitz imagines the unthinkable: What if the horror of concentration camps is nothing more than a catalog of possible tortures, a mockery in the voice of a pervert? I depart from the assumption that the meaning of Auschwitz in the novel is problematic because although it alludes to the historical event, it impoverishes it at the same time. Such operation is analyzed with help of Barthe’s concept of myth (Mythologies,1957). However, given that meaning is denigrated by a pervert, I would also consider the link between the pervert and the society he belongs to since it is this society, after all, the one that names the perversion. Finally, I will also evaluate the relationship that the novel traces between the Nazi State, the Argentinean dictatorship, and the present of the diegesis based on what Esposito (2011) refers as the immunization paradigm.

References

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Published

2022-12-19

Versions

How to Cite

Alanis, C. (2022). Mitologías de Auschwitz. Diálogos Latinoamericanos, 31, 16–28. https://doi.org/10.7146/dl.v31i.134427