Regional literature as an object of study: local literary memories

Abstract

The following essay synthesizes different definitions of regional literature from three perspectives: sociocultural location, the use of specific language codes and reference to a specific cultural heritage. On the other hand, by linking a spatial variable and another historical-temporal variable in the definition of literature (for example, if a regional literary history is conceptualized, which is the orientation that the essay follows), the epistemological problem refers to theoretical-methodological reflections from literary studies. , language sciences and social sciences, to generate complex definitions of regional literature, which at the same time transcend the center versus margin paradigm typical of sociocultural histories. Thus, by reviewing different theoretical propositions (coming from the aforementioned fields: literary studies, language sciences and social sciences), the use of the term literary memory is proposed as a category that would allow the understanding of literary expressions, in addition to the speeches and textual archives of a region, without depending on the institutional control of their interpretation, or on aesthetic value judgments about these expressions, but which participate in the development of the heritage and cultural memory of a community.