Infrarealist Journalism of Mexican Female Authors: Information Meets Literature in The Sorrows of Mexico

Abstract

This article explores the nature of ‘infrarealist journalism’ through the contributions of female journalists to The Sorrows of Mexico (2016). Terms such as ‘subalternity’, ‘historiographic metafiction’, ‘brutal realism’ and ‘grassroots activism’ emerge naturally from this anthology of short stories and testimonies. The texts under analysis illustrate the state of emergency in which Mexico seems to be trapped due to the increase of violent crimes and the corruption that leaves these unpunished. After a historical and conceptual contextualization to infrarealist journalism, the different sections of this study will centre upon the narrative strategies followed by Anabel Hernández, Marcela Turati, and Lydia Cacho, whose texts suggest that activism is one of the most effective strategies to counteract the violence that emerges from Mexico today.