Formation and Language: Hybrid Subjectivity in the Spanish American Bildungsroman

Abstract

In the multiethnic, multicultural, and multilingual setting of contemporary Spanish America, the Bildungsroman has evolved to incorporate contestatory features necessary to address the tensions inherent in a region where hybridity and plurality are underlying characteristics. The degree to which the individual connects to the dominant society’s expectations varies, and the norm itself may be questioned. Language can thus be a marker of difference, or belonging. It can reveal class, ethnicity, hybridity (through code-switching), as well as the degree of marginalization or integration into local, national, or global communities. Spanish American novels such as Rosa Nissán’s Novia que te vea (México, 1992) and Alberto Fuguet’s Las películas de mi vida (Chile, 2003) afford us opportunities to analyze the complexities of hybrid subjectivity, and its corresponding linguistic diversity, in contemporary, global societies, and to connect with the universal process of formation through the lens of unique cultural and regional variants.