Body Mutation: Animality in Honduran Narrative

Abstract

This study proposes a series of fictional elements to characterize the “unnatural” or animality narrative and extends its analysis to categories such as brevity and metamorphosis. It focuses on the transformations experienced by the characters as part of the representation of the shift from the human to the animal. As units of analysis, only Honduran short stories that address animality were considered: “El novio” by Óscar Acosta, “Una elfina” and “La calle prohibida” by Pompeyo del Valle, and “El hombre reptil” by Mimí Díaz Lozano. In the textual analysis, the object of examination was: the mechanisms employed by the authors to construct their narratives, based on the three processes of transformation proposed by Jossa: imposed, intentional, and casual. Additionally, other analytical categories are incorporated, such as desubjectivation (Agamben), symbolism (Cirlot), and deterritorialization (Hernández, Leal, and Monroy). None of the characters transformed into animals showed awareness of their new bodies; therefore, the metamorphosis is presented as a violent and passive imposition.