Los conceptos de no-lugar y heteropatía en el análisis literario: Propuesta de relectura de Los autonautas de la cosmopista de Julio Cortázar

Abstract

Many approaches to contemporary literature currently employ French anthropologist Marc Augé’s theory of nonplaces, as set out in his book Non-lieux: Introduction à une anthropologie de la surmodernité (1992). It is, however, important to note that the concept quite often loses an important part of its theoretical value when being applied in too broad a sense. In this article, we want to demonstrate the productivity of a more rigorous use of Augé’s theory, and of its combination with Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia. Our touchstone is Los autonautas de la cosmopista (1983), the last book of Julio Cortázar, in which we will analyze the construction of the image of the highway as a “heterotopic nonplace”, as well as its gradual deconstruction. This way, we hope to illustrate the possibility of performing an innovative reading of Cortázar’s writings by means of contemporary theories on space.