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Since the novel El Periquillo Sarniento [The Itching Parrot / The Mangy Parrot] (1816) by José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, readers have walked around Mexico City and its geography, noticing conflicts typical of life in society. However, the urban practices of people who coexist in cities have been little explored by critics. Based on Edward W. Soja's concept of the Thirdspace, this essay analyzes the processes of coexistence in the fictional universe of detective Casasola created by novelist Bernardo Esquinca and identifies the laws that define them. These rules give the representation of Mexico City a totalizing character which resembles the idea of Borges's Aleph. The study of this literary space reveals historical, social, and spatial practices and shows how Esquinca challenges readers to be cocreators of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resumen: Escrita en la cárcel, Se está haciendo tarde (1973) es sin duda la novela más contracultural de la producción de José Agustín. A partir del motivo del viaje, analizamos cómo se atenta contra las convenciones literarias y sociales de la época a través de la inversión de las expectativas del viaje, la recreación de una atmósfera asfixiante y la saturación narrativa. Résumé : Écrit en prison, Se está haciendo tarde (1973) reste sans doute le roman le plus contre-culturel de la production de José Agustín. A partir du motif du voyage, nous analysons comment on y porte atteinte aux conventions littéraires et sociales de l’époque par le biais du retournement des expectatives du voyage, de la recréation d’une atmosphère asphyxiante et de la saturation narrative. Abstract: Written in jail, Se está haciendo tarde (final en laguna) (1973) remains no doubt the most counter cultural novel of José Agustín’s production. Using the journey motif, we analyse how the literary and social conventions of that time are infringed upon through the next items: the reversal of the journey expectations, the recreation of a stifling atmosphere and the storytelling saturation.

Resumen: La presencia del grupo Contemporáneos en la literatura actual es palpable no sólo por sus aportes a la estética nacional, sino también por la mitificación de sus figuras. Tan es así que Pedro Ángel Palou (1966) publica en 1992 En la alcoba de un mundo, novela dedicada a la imagen de Xavier Villaurrutia (1903 – 1950). En ella, el novelista reconstruye la vida del poeta por medio de una falsa autobiografía al mismo tiempo que experimenta con sus preocupaciones líricas. Sin embargo, la imitación de este discurso no será inocente. El objetivo de este artículo será mostrar cómo la deconstrucción de la vida y obra de Xavier Villaurrutia le sirve de pretexto a Pedro Ángel Palou para la exploración de una identidad estética propia. Résumé : De nos jours, la présence du groupe avant-gardiste mexicain Contemporáneos reste importante dans la littérature mexicaine actuelle, non seulement en raison de sa contribution à l’esthétique nationale, mais aussi comme une conséquence de la mythification des auteurs qui le composaient. En effet, l’écrivain Pedro Ángel Palou (1966) publie En la alcoba de un mundo en 1992, un roman consacré à l’image du poète Xavier Villaurrutia (1903-1950), leader de facto du groupe. Dans son roman, Palou reconstitue la vie du poète à travers une fausse autobiographie en même temps qu’il retrace ses préoccupations lyriques. Le procédé de réécriture qui régit ce discours obéit à une double intention. L’objectif de cet article sera de montrer comment la déconstruction de la vie et de l’œuvre de Xavier Villaurrutia sert de prétexte à Pedro Ángel Palou pour l’exploration de sa propre identité esthétique. Abstract: The presence of the Mexican avant-garde group Contemporáneos is, undoubtably, still palpable in current literature; not only because of its contribution to national aesthetics, but because of the mythification of the writers that belonged to said group. This mythification reached a high-point in 1992, when Pedro Ángel Palou (1966) published En la alcoba de un mundo, a novel dedicated to the image of Xavier Villaurrutia (1903 – 1950). In it, the novelist reconstructs the life of the poet by means of a false autobiography while experimenting with his lyrical concerns. The imitation of Villaurutia’s speech, however, serves a hidden agenda. The objective of this article is to demonstrate how the deconstruction of the life and work of Xavier Villaurutia rather works as a pretext for Pedro Ángel Palou to explore his own aesthetic identity.

In Yuri Herrera's La transmigración de los cuerpos, a pandemic confines city dwellers. The protagonist is forced to manage the exchange of two corpses in the middle of the quarantine. The character's journey shows a heterogeneous and dynamic space. This paper aims to give an interpretation to the transfer between smooth and striated spaces, the inside and the outside, the private and the public in the novel. The dynamic that is established between these conceptions highlights two fundamental aspects: a discipline for the sake of a subjectivation that is based on the modeling of docile bodies and the predominance of some state of emergency conditions, manifested in authoritarian control. From a geocritical perspective, the conflictive relationships between the discourse of a hegemonic center, which tends to homogenize, and one of the peripheries located around the latter are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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El arte de la fuga (1996) by Sergio Pitol (Mexico 1933) radicalizes autobiographical writing published in Mexico during the 20th century, especially after the works of José Vasconcelos and his Ulises criollo (1935). Subverting the theoretical panorama of what is known as “world literature" in the context of modernity and postcolonial studies, El arte de la fuga elevates what in Mexico had been understood until then as strictly its Western heritage to the category of universal. Alfonso Reyes' Latin Americanism is taken here to a new extreme: Pitol travels, translates, admires, judges, gets lost, attacks, makes himself heard, understands, communicates poorly, and in his journey of over 20 years, his criollo condition vanishes as well as that of his interlocutors. Pitol's synthesis of Western culture transcends the sum of its parts. Everything becomes an other emanating from this peculiar Mexican outlook on the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]