Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-fwgfc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-13T13:13:02.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

404 Utopia Not Found: Cyberpunk Avatars in Samanta Schweblin's Kentukis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2023

Alexandra Brown
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Science fiction criticism has long attended the relationship between form and utopian thought. However, increased study of Latin American narratives has allowed for a return to foundational science fiction theories with renewed perspective. While critics have recognized the tendency of Latin American science fiction to slip between genres, a trend termed the “slipstream phenomenon,” there has been little analysis of its impact on utopian imagination. As a result, we miss one of the region's most unique contributions to broader science fiction traditions. In response, this article locates Samanta Schweblin's Kentukis (2018) within the legacies of cyberpunk and argues that the novel uses slipstream to establish and dismantle a series of classic utopian horizons by shifting its genre identity. In doing so, this work identifies a turn in recent Latin American science fiction that metacritically questions the ability of science fiction form itself to imagine a utopian horizon beyond global capitalism.

Type
Essay
Information
PMLA , Volume 138 , Issue 2 , March 2023 , pp. 258 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Modern Language Association of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Bell, Andrea. “The Critique of Chilean Industrialization in Hugo Correa's Avatar Stories.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 40, no. 2, July 2013, pp. 301–15. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5621/sciefictstud.40.2.0301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, Andrea, and Molina-Gavilán, Yolanda. Cosmos Latinos: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Latin America and Spain. Wesleyan UP, 2003.Google Scholar
Bould, Mark. “Rough Guide to a Lonely Planet.” Introduction. Bould and Miéville, pp. 1–26.Google Scholar
Bould, Mark, and Miéville, China, editors. Red Planets: Marxism and Science Fiction. Wesleyan UP, 2009.Google Scholar
Brina, Maximiliano, and Yael Natalia Tejero Yosovitch. “El kentuki es el mensaje: La ficción en red de Samanta Schweblin.” Revista Luthor, vol. 10, no. 42, Nov. 2019, pp. 14–39, www.revistaluthor.com.ar/spip.php?article228.Google Scholar
Brindisi, José María. “Reseña: Kentukis, de Samanta Schweblin: Historias para una era de tecnología y exhibicionismo.” La nación, 4 Nov. 2018, www.lanacion.com.ar/opinion/historias-para-una-era-de-tecnologia-y-exhibicionismoresenas-nid2187657/.Google Scholar
Canavan, Gerry. “The Suvin Event.” Introduction. Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre, Yale UP, 1979, pp. x–xxxvii.Google Scholar
Ceron, Lia Cristina. “O perturbador no cotidiano: Uma leitura do conto ‘Hacia la alegre civilización de la capital’ de Samanta Schweblin.” Brumal, vol. 5, no. 2, autumn 2017, pp. 201–20, https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/brumal.335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Mike. “Planet of Slums: Urban Involution and the Informal Proletariat.” New Left Review, no. 26, Mar.–Apr. 2004, pp. 5–34, newleftreview.org/issues/ii26/articles/mike-davis-planet-of-slums.Google Scholar
De Leone, Lucía. “Campos que matan: Espacios, tiempos y narración en Distancia de rescate de Samanta Schweblin.” 452F, no. 16, Jan. 2017, pp. 62–76, revistes.ub.edu/index.php/452f/article/view/16250/31929.Google Scholar
Dillon, Grace L. Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction. U of Arizona P, 2012.Google Scholar
Dürr, Eveline, and Jaffe, Rivke. “Theorizing Slum Tourism: Performing, Negotiating and Transforming Inequality.” European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, vol. 92, 2012, pp. 113–23, https://doi.org/10.18352/erlacs.8367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feuillet, Lucía. “Los dispositivos del complot en Kentukis, de Samanta Schweblin.” Mitología hoy: Revista de pensamiento, crítica y estudios literarios latinoamericanos, vol. 22, Dec. 2020, pp. 318–35, https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/mitologias.745.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forttes Zalaquett, Catalina. “¿Te cuento una historia de horror? Representación de la maternidad en la obra reciente de Mariana Enríquez y de Samanta Schweblin.” Concepción, no. 523, 2021, pp. 287–304, https://doi.org/10.29393/AtAt523-422CFTC10422.Google Scholar
Freedman, Carl H. Critical Theory and Science Fiction. UP of New England, 2000.Google Scholar
Frełik, Pawel. “Of Slipstream and Others: SF and Genre Boundary Discourses.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 38, no. 1, Mar. 2011, pp. 20–45, https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.38.1.0020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García, Patricia. “Introduction: Gender and the Hispanic Fantastic.” Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, vol. 96, no. 6, 2019, pp. 569–74, https://doi.org/10.3828/bhs.2019.33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginway, M. Elizabeth. “Latin America.” The Routledge Companion to Cyberpunk Culture, edited by McFarlane, Anna, et al. , Routledge, 2019, pp. 385–94, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351139885.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginway, M. Elizabeth, and Brown, J. Andrew. Latin American Science Fiction: Theory and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dinamarca, González, Ignacio, Rodrigo. “Los niños monstruosos en El orfanato de Juan Antonio Bayona y Distancia de rescate de Samanta Schweblin.” Brumal, vol. 3, no. 2, autumn 2015, pp. 89–106, https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/brumal.249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, David. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford UP, 2005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haywood Ferreira, Rachel. “A Global Genre in the Periphery.” Conclusion. The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction, Wesleyan UP, 2011, pp. 217–23.Google Scholar
Jameson, Fredric. Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions. Verso, 2005.Google Scholar
Barrera, Jiménez, Lucas, Joaquín. “Del capitalismo de lo somático a la tecnología de la afectividad. Representación de las subjetividades neoliberales en Los cuerpos del verano (2012) y Kentukis (2018).” Mitologías hoy: Revista de pensamiento, crítica y estudios literarios latinoamericanos, vol. 22, Dec. 2020, pp. 87–101, https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/mitologias.700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lohoff, Ernst. “Off Limits, Out of Control: Commodity Society and Resistance in the Age of Deregulation and Denationalization.” Mediations, vol. 27, nos. 1–2, 2009, pp. 151–86, mediationsjournal.org/articles/off-limits-out-of-control.Google Scholar
Maguire, Emily A. “Science Fiction.” The Routledge Companion to Latino/a Literature, edited by Bost, Suzanne and Aparicio, Frances R., Routledge, 2012, pp. 351–60.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Translated by Fowkes, Ben, vol. 1, Penguin Classics, 1992.Google Scholar
McDowell, Megan, translator. Little Eyes, by Schweblin, Samanta, e-book ed., Riverhead Books, 2020.Google Scholar
Miéville, China. “Cognition as Ideology: A Dialectic of SF Theory.” Conclusion. Bould and Miéville, pp. 231–48.Google Scholar
Miranda Huereca, Rafael. “The Age of ‘The Diamond Age’: Cognitive Simulations, Hive Wetwares and Socialized Cyberspaces as the Gist of Postcyberpunk.” Atlantis, vol. 32, no. 1, June 2010, pp. 141–54. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41055387.Google Scholar
Pineda, Yovanna. “The Future of Work in a Historically Volatile Economy: Case Study of Farm Machinery Factories in Argentina.” Journal of International Affairs, vol. 72, no. 1, fall 2018, pp. 159–72. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26588351.Google Scholar
Rollenhagen, Luisa. “Samanta Schweblin's Deliberately Slow, Perfectly Timed Rise to American Fame.” Vulture, 7 May 2019, www.vulture.com/2019/05/samanta-schweblins-perfectly-timed-rise-to-american-fame.html.Google Scholar
Rorato Londero, Rodolfo. “We See Cyborgs Differently: A Comparative Study between North American and Latin American Cyberpunk.” Unveiling the Posthuman, edited by Alves, Artur Matos, Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2012, pp. 133–43.Google Scholar
Salva, José Fernando. Contrapuntos del apocalipsis: Poéticas de la catástrofe en la narrativa argentina del siglo XXI. 2019. Tulane U, PhD dissertation.Google Scholar
Schweblin, Samanta. Distancia de rescate. Literatura Random House, 2015.Google Scholar
Schweblin, Samanta. Kentukis. E-book ed., Vintage Español, Feb. 2019.Google Scholar
Sterling, Bruce. Preface. Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology, edited by Sterling, Arbor House, 1986, pp. vii–xiv.Google Scholar
Suvin, Darko. Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre. Yale UP, 1979.Google Scholar
Suvin, Darko. “On Communism, Science Fiction, and Utopia: The Blagoevgrad Theses.” Mediations, vol. 32, no. 2, spring 2019, pp. 139–60, mediationsjournal.org/articles/communism-science-fiction-utopia.Google Scholar
Vint, Sherryl. Bodies of Tomorrow: Technology, Subjectivity, Science Fiction. U of Toronto P, 2007.Google Scholar
Vint, Sherryl. “Cyberwar: The Convergence of Virtual and Material Battlefields in Cyberpunk Cinema.” Cyberpunk and Visual Culture, edited by Murphy, Graham J. and Schmeink, Lars, Routledge, 2018, pp. 253–75.Google Scholar
Williams, Rhys. “Recognizing Cognition: On Suvin, Miéville, and the Utopian Impulse in the Contemporary Fantastic.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 41, no. 3, Nov. 2014, pp. 617–33, https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.41.3.0617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar