Abstract

ILLESCAS, Raúl Marcelo. «The Congo was not a place, the Congo was us». Literature and otherness in Pandora en el Congo by Albert Sánchez Piñol. Humanidades (Montevideo. En línea) [online]. 2022, n.11, pp.145-172.  Epub June 01, 2022. ISSN 1510-5024.  https://doi.org/10.25185/11.6.

This paper proposes a reading of Pandora in the Congo (2005) by Albert Sánchez Piñol, as an adventure novel. It is based on the hypothesis that the author offers a metaliterary reflection based on a framed structure, where various planes and stories are recognized, that allow reviewing literary procedures and science fiction, romantic and horror narratives. The analysis is also developed considering the colonialist context that this genre entails. In the case of this novel, the context is subverted and this leads to reformulating the concepts of otherness and exoticism. The proposed scenario, the Congo in the African heart, is the propitious space to deliberate on the crystallized binary relations and the cultural asymmetry established by European imperialism.

Keywords : adventure novel; Africa; colonialism; exoticism; otherness; race.

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