Resumen

MATTHEWS, Kyle James. The Two Maximilians in Noticias del Imperio by Fernando del Paso. Lit. mex [online]. 2019, vol.30, n.2, pp.85-108. ISSN 2448-8216.  https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.litmex.30.2.2019.1183.

This article analyzes the splitting of Emperor Maximillian into his historic and imaginary forms in Fernando del Paso’s Noticias del Imperio. I approach this topic by viewing the body of the protagonist of the Second Mexican Empire according to Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories regarding grotesque realism. By reading the body of the historic Maximillian as systematically degraded (“grotesqued”) throughout the novel, I demonstrate how, following Bakhtin, Del Paso imbues him with creative potential that allows Charlotte to reconstruct him, as he was and as he could have been, in her imagination. In this analysis I advance the exploration of a figure often eclipsed in criticism of Del Paso’s novel, while at the same time reexamining established readings from a new perspective.

Palabras llave : Historiographic metafiction; Historical fiction; Second Mexican Empire; Historical Maximillian; Imaginary Maximillian; Grotesque realism.