El materialismo histérico : Derivados Iberoamericanos Del Neoliberalismo Vistos Por La Lente Narratoria De Xavier Velasco

Abstract

Through his collection of short stories El materialismo histérico (2004) Mexican writer Xavier Velasco presents various narrative depictions of the increasing socioeconomic gap in Mexico between rich and poor in recent years in that has been clearly induced by the global onslaught of neoliberalism. With varying degrees of realism his work decisively and clearly treats the economic, social, and even psychological effects that have been asserted by a select body of scholars as the factual ramifications of the mentioned global phenomenon over essentially the entire planet. With his geographic focus on Spanish America towards the turn of the 21st century and by having as its central theme both the salient and also more esoteric impacts of economic globalization during said time period, the work creatively represents not just the visually discernible repercussions of globalization but it is noteworthy that Velasco delves also into the elusive facets of the human psyche. In this way his writing distinguishes itself for its ambitious attempt to achieve, albeit through the hypothetical lens of narrative fiction, a more comprehensive and thus more realistic depiction. Due to its life-like and inclusive illustrations of the historical issues described above, Velasco's short stories provide an intriguingly vivid and verisimilar representation of a critical era for the population of Latin America, or rather that of the nation of Mexico.