Abstract

Recent Dominican literature produced within the island often deals with authoritarianism—not only with the Trujillo-dictatorship, but also the "democratic" regime of Balaguer, Trujillo's ex-minister, and even recent "neo-Trujillist" tendencies. In these works, usually by epigones of the famous Latin American dictator novels, spatial references are subordinated to history and often corroborate traditional and authoritarian structures. However, some female writers, such as Rita Indiana Hernández and Aurora Arias, have broken radically with this emphasis on history. They are considered urban writers (although they not always describe emblematic zones) with an innovative language. Moreover, they address issues and groups hitherto absent in Dominican literature. Arias's short story "Parquecito" (2007) offers a very significant illustration of this subversive approach to history and space. Arias focuses on a series of marginal persons who roam the "Parquecito," which is how young people call Parque Duarte. These marginal characters, now in a central location, question the social, political and generational foundations of Dominican society. Their subtle dialogue with history and hegemonic discourses reveals one of the central issues in contemporary Dominican literature: the struggle with the past and tradition in a postmodern context.

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