Borderlands of the mind: present, past, and future
Borderlands of the mind: present, past, and future
This chapter discusses two novels and two short stories that address the fragile border relations in Hispaniola: Frank Báez's ‘Ahora es nunca’(2007), Jacques Stephen Alexis's Les arbres musiciens (1957), Carlos Mieses's El día de todos (2008), and Junot Díaz's ‘Monstro’ (2012). The short stories denounce contemporary forms of vilification, mystification, and ‘erasure’ of the borderland which rely on the mobilisation of Gothic paraphernalia while also raising the possibility for renewal. El día de todos focuses on the ‘forever impending’ Haitian ‘invasion’ and anti-Haitian dominant discourses which continue to depict the borderland as the site where the dissolution of an essentialised ‘Dominicanness’ begins. Les arbres musiciens explores transnational local intensity and across-the-border cultural exchanges.
Keywords: novels, short stories, border relations, Hispaniola, Frank Báez, Jacques Stephen Alexis, Carlos Mieses, Junot Díaz, borderland, Haiti
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