Science Fiction in 21st-century Argentine Literature: The Trauma of the Past, the Future as Regression

We can see that in many cases, the “New Argentinian Narrative” (NAN, or Nueva Narrativa Argentina in Spanish), has a particular way of utilizing the incorrectly dubbed “lesser” genres, such as science fiction. We believe that NAN “uses” this genre with specific characteristics. First, it is operated through a mechanism of regression, as past trauma colors tints imagined futures. Here we analyze future-building in four novels: El año del desierto by Pedro Mairal (2005); Plop by Rafael Pinedo (2004); Berazachussetts by Leandro Ávalos Blacha (2007); and Gongue by Marcelo Cohen (2012). In these novels, the future is regressive and constitutes a return to the past. The configuration of time also defines that of space, and a unique new chronotopes is are created: regressive deserts and rivers. These are two significant spaces in the collective national imagination, associated with the civilization-barbarism dichotomy that is a common thread in is a constant topic in Argentine literature as a whole. These works make use of elements from science fiction in order to consider their own present, which is the consequence of a traumatic past.