HyperCultura (Apr 2023)
A Rupturing of Typecasts through Villoro’s Cynicism and Urrea’s Heroines
Abstract
This article examines two short stories from the compilation Los culpables (The Guilty) (2015), by Juan Villoro and the novel Into the Beautiful North (2009), by Luis Alberto Urrea to demonstrate a reworking of fossilized notions of identity and gender to produce narratives that counter stagnated literary archetypes and promulgate a re-writing of self. An exploration of psychological and emotive aspects of the U.S.-Mexican border as a territorial and ideological space for masculinity, femininity, age, and national-international movement is informed primarily by border and migration studies discourses related to multi-spatiality, the historical instability of tropes, and how such instability is advancing stereotype-challenging narratives. Such a lens is woven through the discussion of each work presented here. Beginning with the short story “Mariachi,” readers will be acquainted with two characters in particular, Julián and Brenda, to focus on themes of identity, loyalty, and gender. Next, the discussion turns towards “Amigos Mexicanos,” where elements of the archetypes of the “ugly American” and U.S. fixations with violence in Mexico are considered against notions of authenticity by examining the characters of Katzenberg and the narrator. Finally, Urrea’s novel Into the Beautiful North illustrates the crafting of a cohort of multi-generational characters that push issues of identity, gender, and belonging into more progressive spheres.
