La narcogentrificación de la ciudad en Trabajos del reino (2004)

Abstract

This study engages Yuri Herrera’s novel Trabajos del reino (2004) to zoom in on the way in which drug lords besiege concrete and symbolic spaces in cities. I argue that drug lord El Rey’s conquering of space closely resembles gentrification due to its operations of spatial displacement, exclusion of marginalized subjects, and substitution of complex realities and intelligibilities for simplistic images to glorify his cartel. The process of gentrification crystallizes when El Rey coopts public space to neutralize the collective right to transform space by erecting a walled castle and monopolizing bars and nightlife to aggrandize his power and image. Furthermore, the novel envisages the gentrification of the library due to fictional narratives about drug cartels supplanting and dislocating previous nonfiction accounts such as biographies and chronicles. Finally, I contend that this novel serves as a kaleidoscope for the reader to recover a lost “right to the city.”