Contemporary Spanish-American Essayistic Discourse, Between the National and the Transnational

Abstract

Any reflection on the current-day Spanish-American essayistic discourse entails a rethinking of the literary historiography and a questioning of the critical and theoretical framework used in order to analyze national literatures. My reflection sets out from the idea that the essay in Spanish America is more a discursive strategy than a literary genre. The essayistic discourse can be seen as an opportunity to cross methodological, disciplinary and geographical boundaries (a discursive manifestation of the transnational), but without losing rigor nor creativity. I argue that this discourse enables us to pass from the strictly academic to the public realm, to recuperate spaces in the public opinion, to revitalize the critique in the media, and to establish new discursive relations between the national and the transnational.