En la intersección de lo fantástico y la enfermedad: una lectura de"El Hombre de la Pierna" de Giovanna Rivero y "La respiración cavernaria" de Samanta Schweblin

Among the different representations of illness in literature – a real universal topic because of its incredible power as a source of metaphors – the role played by illness in contemporary Latin American fantastic and uncommon fiction requires a special consideration. The key notions of illness as an experience of Otherness and a subversion of a norm (in this case, the ideal transparency of the healthy body) partially explain the connection between illness and the fantastic discourse, which are both based on a comparison with Alterity and a transgression of the limits as a way to redefine the paradigms of reality. The rational scandal typically related to fantastic fiction and the one provoked by illness –both trespassing the borders of abjection and monstrosity– significantly overlap, producing a powerfully alienated representation of reality. On these bases we will establish a dialogue between the two short stories "El Hombre de la Pierna" (2016), by the Bolivian writer Giovanna Rivero, and "La respiración cavernaria" (2015), by the Argentinean writer Samanta Schweblin. Despite their different outcomes, illness works in both as a detonator for perturbing and abject identities that illuminate the uncertain condition of the subject in the post-industrial era.