The monster within us: an approach to the concept of fatherhood in the work of Rita Indiana Hernández and María Fernanda Ampuero

Abstract

This work analyses the deconstructed concept of fatherhood as it appears in a selection of works by the Ecuadorian writer María Fernanda Ampuero and the Dominican writer Rita Indiana Hernández, both promoters of new literary styles through short stories, novels and hybrid texts with different aesthetics. It also addresses the demystified perception of the family institution in these authors’ narratives and contrasts it with the idealized images of these concepts in canonical literature prior to the most recent emergence of feminisms in Latin America. The renewed perspective of the works analyzed points to a necessary and important epistemological shift in different fields of knowledge. Drawing on philosophy, psychoanalysis and gender studies, this article discusses and critically questions the move towards new epistemological paradigms around fatherhood, whose strength and relevance have stood out, leaving a clear message of innovation and a transformative view of culture.