Towards the Narrative poetics of Fernanda Melchor

Abstract

This article is intended to provide a brief approach to the narrative themes of Fernanda Melchor, a Veracruz native writer who has strongly infl uenced contemporary Mexican literature. Most of her stories are set in the portuary city of Veracruz and highlight the grotesque aspects of the city, which in recent times has given much to talk about, not so much for its characteristic warmth in the tourist and commercial service, but for being one of the epicenters of organized crime in Mexico. Throughout the text, some of the characteristics of the grotesque aesthetic are revealed in the characters and situations of Melchor’s stories or chronicles. There is also an approach to the image of women, such as that of the woman-mother, crossed by machismo and the violence of men, who fi nd themselves in extreme situations, of which the grotesque is a part. In short, we propose an exploration of Melchor’s aesthetics, highlighting one of the most striking features.