Crossing the border in visual arts and literature : a transmedial analysis between an outline of Don't Cross the Bridge Before You Get to the River by Francis Alys and Senales que precederan al fin del mundo by Yuri Herrera

In the huge production of border arts, we propose a transmedial comparison between an outline of Francis Alys' project Don't Cross the Bridge Before You Get to the River (2008) and Yuri Herrera's novel Sings Preceding the End of the World (2009). Based on Deleuzian concepts of re-/deterritorialization, we argue that both artists question the traditional version of the fixed border as well as the more utopian vision of the fluid border. The destabilization of spatial, ontological and linguistic levels presents borders as imaginary constructions that try to impose fixed structures on a dynamic reality

Trans-gresiones fronterizas e identitarias en El verbo J de Claudia Hernández desde una perspectiva narrativo-sensorial = Trans-gressing borders and identities in Claudia Hernández’ El verbo J from a narrative-sensorial perspective

Claudia Hernández (San Salvador, 1975) aborda en El verbo J (2018) la problemática de la migración y de la violencia que caracteriza su país a partir de una perspectiva queer. La incongruencia entre el sexo y el género que experimenta la protagonista desde la niñez complica la sensación de pertenencia al propio cuerpo y, en combinación con el rechazo social y la pobreza, motiva el desplazamiento geográfico a temprana edad. El entorno violento al igual que el conflicto sexual contribuyen a desestabilizar la imagen de la inocencia infantil y la definición de la identidad, una búsqueda que se manifiesta tanto en la complejidad de la estructura narrativa como en el recurso a los sentidos. La temática fronteriza y la identidad queer que experimenta la protagonista desde la infancia permiten a Hernández cuestionar estructuras y conceptualizaciones dominantes, como la familia, la reproducción, y la jerarquía sensorial.In El verbo J (2018) Claudia Hernández addresses from a queer perspective the issue of migration and violence that marks her country. The incongruence between sex and gender experienced by the protagonist from childhood on complicates the feeling of belonging in her own body and, together with social rejection and poverty, motivates the geographical displacement at an early age. The violent environment as well as the sexual conflict contribute to the destabilization of the image of childhood innocence as well as the determination of identity, a search that is expressed both through the complexity of the narrative structure and in the recourse to the senses. The theme of the border and the protagonist’s queer identity allow Hernández to question dominant structures and conceptualizations such as family, reproduction, and sensorial hierarchy

Sounds, violence, and power structures in Among the Lost by Emiliano Monge

This article analyses the auditive dimension in Emiliano Monge's Among the Lost (2018). I argue that the sounds are connected to different forms of violence, and that their use in the novel destabilizes the rigidity of power relations between victims and perpetrators. The representation of sounds and silence concretizes the violence towards the victims and reveals the transient nature of categories and positions within the structure of violence and power. The difference in power is symbolized by the difference in speech volume and access to environmental sounds between criminals and migrants, an allusion to the systemic violence of Monge's border zone. Volume and intensity also refer to concrete subjective violence towards the kidnapped migrants, who are both physically and mentally tortured. The sounds and their connotations illustrate that the violent superstructure is independent of the individuals committing crimes, because they turn out to be disposable pawns, parts of a criminal system that transcends the individual