Literary language and identity: Imbalance factors in the conformation of the Argentine tradition. Case studies of Gombrowicz and Molloy

Abstract

This article examines the role of language within the process of identity construction, explaining and elucidating its identity presence in Argentine literary tradition. For this, it focuses on the analysis of the article ¿Existe la novela argentina?, by the Argentine writer Ricardo Pilgia, published in 1990, and on the work Vivir entre lengua by the Argentine writer Silvia Molloy from 2016. The hypothesis of how in the literary language forms of imbalance are established that provide new perspectives to rethink the conformation of the cultural identity of a nation-state and that of a narrative subject, highlighting and interpreting the classic theories of Klaus Zimmerman, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, as well as the most recent ones from Kirsten Süselbeck and Ulrike Mühlschlegel. The work is divided into three sections. In the first, a series of historical antecedents are approached that function as a basis for the understanding of certain elements and processes that encompass Argentine literature. In the second, the correlation of the foreign language with the literary identity of a nation-state is studied, analyzing the case of the Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz, based on the proposals of Ricardo Piglia. Finally, the last section examines the identity proposals in Silvia Molloy's text.