The Art of Ana Clavel
Ghosts, Urinals, Dolls, Shadows and Outlaw Desires

Jane Elizabeth Lavery

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Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 6

Legenda

16 March 2015  •  288pp

ISBN: 978-1-907975-65-3 (hardback)  •  RRP £80, $110, €95

ContemporarySpanishArtFiction

Ana Clavel is a remarkable contemporary Mexican writer whose literary and multimedia oeuvre is marked by its transgressive thrust and its queerness. That which steps beyond conventionally determined boundaries or the queer is evinced in the manner in which the author disturbs conceptions of the normal not only by representing ‘outlaw’ sexualities and ‘dark’ desires but also by incorporating into her fictive and multimedia worlds that which is at odds with normalcy as evinced in the presence of the fantastical, the shadow, ghosts, dolls, golems and even urinals.

Clavel’s literary trajectory follows a queer path in the sense that she has moved from singular modes of creative expression in the form of literary writing, a traditional print medium, towards other non-literary forms. Some of Clavel’s works have formed the basis of wider multimedia projects involving collaboration with various artists, photographers, performers and IT experts. Her works embrace an array of hybrid forms including the audiovisual, internet-enabled technology, art installation, (video) performance and photography. By foregrounding the outlaw heterogeneous narrative themes, techniques and multimedia dimension of Clavel’s oeuvre, the aim of this monograph is to attest to her particular contribution to Hispanic letters, which arguably is as significant as that of more established Spanish American boom femenino women writers.

Jane Elizabeth Lavery is a lecturer in Latin American Studies at the University of Southampton.

Reviews:

  • ‘El libro de Lavery es una obra necesaria y de actualidad para entender también el pulso de los movimientos literarios en la América de habla hispana. Es un aporte que resarce a la literatura en general y a la visibilidad de las escritoras en particular... En la narrativa de Clavel—según Lavery—, realidad, identidad y cuerpo diluyen sus fronteras dentro y fuera de la ficción, excediendo la literatura para señalar lo propio de la condición humana. Así, el trabajo de Lavery contribuye a establecer un marco teórico, o si se prefiere, el canon del acontecer de la literatura emergente no solo de México, sino de América Latina.’ — Rita Vega Baeza, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 94.10, December 2017, 1830-31

Bibliography entry:

Lavery, Jane Elizabeth, The Art of Ana Clavel: Ghosts, Urinals, Dolls, Shadows and Outlaw Desires, Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures, 6 (Legenda, 2015)

First footnote reference: 35 Jane Elizabeth Lavery, The Art of Ana Clavel: Ghosts, Urinals, Dolls, Shadows and Outlaw Desires, Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures, 6 (Legenda, 2015), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Lavery, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Lavery, Jane Elizabeth. 2015. The Art of Ana Clavel: Ghosts, Urinals, Dolls, Shadows and Outlaw Desires, Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures, 6 (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Lavery 2015: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Lavery 2015: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

This Legenda title was first published by Modern Humanities Research Association and Maney Publishing but rights to it are now held by Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge.

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Permanent link to this title:

www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Art-Ana-Clavel
www.mhra.org.uk/publications/shlc-6