The dissemination of the “city” symbol in Sueño de lobos by Abdón Ubidia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32719/13900102.2016.40.6Keywords:
Ecuador, novel, city, dissemination, symbol, Abdón Ubidia, Quito, nationAbstract
This essay offers a reading of the city in the Ecuadorian novel Sueño de lobos. Extending Homi Bhabha’s use of the Derrida concept of dissemination, it proposes that the meaning of the city is being disseminated through the text to give a pluralizing image of the city that belies the possibility of reading it as a univocal symbol. Instead of presenting a homogeneous vision of the city as an emblem of the nation, the text offers us a plurality of perspectives and possible “readings” of the city, pointing towards a sometimes chaotic heterogeneity that makes the characters of the novel constantly wander through the streets of Quito without ever reaching any destination.
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