Feminist Horror in Latin American Literature

In this reading group, we will explore the engrossing world of feminist Latin American literature. We will read translated short stories and novellas by some of the most exciting contemporary Latin American writers working with horror, such as Mariana Enríquez, Samanta Schweblin and Mónica Ojeda. In our reading and discussions, we will examine how these writers use different types of horror to articulate gender violence and state impunity. The reading group will also place the stories in conversation with more recent feminist movements such as Ni Una Menos and La Marea Verde, as well as the longer histories of political violence in Latin America.

The reading group is open to both newcomers and longtime readers of these writers. Through close reading and discussion, we will think together about why this particular boom in Latin American fiction is striking a nerve. 

Oct. 9: Horror and Domestic Confinement

There are many Latin American women writing terrifying fiction. But is it a new phenomenon? During the first meeting, we will have a brief overview of the long and rich tradition of horror writing in Latin American literature, looking at the Gothic influence from Europe, as well as horror rooted in Indigenous mythology. We will then begin by reading and discussing writers from the mid-twentieth century who used horror to express the everyday terrors of being a woman and a wife. 

Oct. 16: The Monstrous-Feminine and Body Horror

How do women become monsters in the horror genre? For this session, we will read stories about women who have been deformed, burned or re-imagined as non-human creatures. We will discuss the ways these representations of women are subversive and allow them to take control of the violence typically used against them.

Oct. 23: Reproductive Horror and Motherhood

Pregnancy and motherhood are fertile ground for horror stories, as controlling women’s bodies has always been a means of social control. This session will present a brief overview of the representation of motherhood in Latin American literature. We will read and discuss horror stories that use these topics to address political injustices around bodily autonomy.

Oct. 30: Gender Violence and Femicide

For many Latin American women writers, the horror in their work stems from the very real and immediate fear of gender violence and femicide. Recent literature has been one way of exposing violence that has too often been normalized, silenced, and ignored. During this session, we will read and reflect upon a novella that offers a political critique of this epidemic of violence.

Nov. 6: Horror and Indigenous Mythology

This session will explore how contemporary writers draw on Indigenous mythology and folklore to reimagine horror. We will especially look at writers working in the “Andean Gothic,” a genre of horror that explores the tension between Indigenous cosmologies and of the modern world.

Nov. 13: Feminist Ecohorror

For our final reading group, we will connect our previous readings to the topic of ecohorror. We will talk about the ways in which gender violence, capitalism, and environmental destruction are all connected and how they are represented in recent horror literature from Latin America.