Una región para el terror. Una casa junto al tragadero de Mariano Quirós

Abstract

This article initially explores some fundamental features of what it proposes to call "argentine regional gothic" and then unfolds a reading of Mariano Quirós’ Una casa junto al Tragadero (2017) within the framework of this subgroup or contemporary narrative trend. These gothic-regional fictions incorporate territorial and geographical features as well as local traditions and beliefs to reinvent them at a crossroads with the gothic literary tradition. This operation makes these texts enter into dialogue and tension with the historical poetics of regionalism because they draw on the regional while at the same time problematizing it. In addition to analyzing the way in which Quirós's novel feeds on motifs from the Argentine and foreign literary tradition, it will be established the link of deviation and continuity that his narration presents with the unavoidable antecedent of the Quiroguian story. Finally, it will be verified how the conception of nature the text presents impacts on the form and temporality of the novel.