Carnival and iustitium in Ana María Shua’s ‘Fiestita con animación’
Abstract
Rejected by the publisher when originally written, the short story ‘Fiestita con animación’, by Ana María Shua provides an allegory of the last Argentine military dictatorship (1976–1983), relating Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the carnival or carnivalesque with the legal concept known as the state of exception, as developed by Giorgio Agamben. Specifically, the text offers a subtle representation of enforced disappearance (‘desaparición forzada’) to be interpreted in line with Agamben’s readings on the homo sacer (the sacred man). Consequently, carnival and the state of siege – namely, martial law – are equivalent as a temporary stop on rights or on the law.
Publication Title
Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
Recommended Citation
Barraza, V. (2022). Carnival and iustitium in Ana María Shua’s ‘Fiestita con animación’. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 99 (6), 569-578. https://doi.org/10.3828/BHS.2022.35
