Syntaxes Of The Self: The Neo-Baroque In John Rechy's City Of Night

Abstract

Chicanx literary production has been a respected field of scholarly critique since the early twentieth century, constituting a site of cultural rupture and new articulations of the national. Though frequently associated with Ethnic Studies or English department canons due to the use of the English language, Mexican-American author John Rechy and his breakout novel City of Night (1963) must be conceptualized as a vital link connecting Latin American and U.S.-based literature canons. In order to do so, City of Night should be read as a major contribution to, and historical extension of, the Neo-Baroque aesthetic and cultural tradition. By looking principally to the theories of Mabel Moraña, César Salgado, and Angela Ndalianis, the Neo-Baroque is shown to be a postmodern movement-cum-trope of resistance popularly practiced in Latin America that includes the use of inventive language tricks, emphasizes the role of the performative, taboo, and sexualized body, and is a tactic oft incorporated by "out" gay writers who critically observe from society's margins. Neo-Baroque traits can be seen in City of Night's foray into politico-linguistics, such as the use of neologisms, arbitrary capital letters, lack of apostrophes, and the particular use of colons and em-dashes, but also in the use of narrative fragmentation, abject decadence, and the Bakhtinian nonhierarchical "ordered chaos" of the carnivalesque. Lastly, when read through the lens of Gloria Anzaldúa's concept of mestiza consciousness, City of Night exemplifies how Chicanx identity politics may factor into literature of the Neo-Baroque in the mid to late twentieth century.