El partido de la incertidumbre y las células combatientes: tonos y políticas del ensayo en la crítica latinoamericana

Abstract

This article tries to define some tendencies of use and conceptualization of the essay in Latin-American literary criticism, more specifically in the intercession between Argentina and Brazil. Through the reading of some seminal texts on the essay as a genre and some Latin-American texts published on the last two decades, we argue that there is an “uncertainty party” that insists on the indetermination as a defining feature of the essay form. We argue, however, that an unlimited potentiality of the essay, when institutionalized, can lead to a loss of political potential for this form. Therefore, we will try to point to some possible relations between essay and politics that reappear even in those discourses that try to push away the essay form from the political dispute.