Biblioteca di Rassegna iberistica

Collana | Biblioteca di Rassegna iberistica
Miscellanea | Narratives of Violence
Capitolo | Dislocated Temporalities

Dislocated Temporalities

Immigration, Sexuality, and Violence in Najat El Hachmi’s L’últim patriarca

Abstract

Recent Catalan criticism has focused on place and space, but has overlooked temporality. Yet migrations are not only a matter of space, but also of time: immigration questions the idea of origins and the possibility of a shared future. Temporality, in fact, is a key axis in the formation of identities and in cultural conflicts, also in relation to the normative uses of the body. The coexistence of asynchronous temporalities provoked by immigration is a factor in both cultural and psychic conflict. Najat El Hachmi’s novel L’últim patriarca (2008) is an excellent example of these phenomena. Through a dialogue with the Catalan literary tradition and a focus on the shattering effects of anal sexuality, the novel problematizes biological reproduction and gender subordination, and challenges patriarchal temporality, understood as a succession of generations. This essay offers an integrated analysis of these issues by reference to psychoanalysis.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Presentato: 05 Febbraio 2021 | Accettato: 29 Aprile 2021 | Pubblicato 21 Ottobre 2021 | Lingua: en

Keywords Anal sexNajat El HachmiJean LaplancheTemporalityImmigrationPsychoanalysisCatalan literature


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