“Mourning is the end of solitude”. Death and language in Cristina Rivera Garza’s Los muertos indóciles (2019)

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the theoretical contributions made by Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza in her work Los muertos indóciles. Necroescrituras y desapropiación (2019), particularly those concerning the relationship between writing and death, the notion of “author” and “desapropiación” (disappropriation). These notions propose alternative forms of writing and even an alternative language—that respond to an atrocious reality. First, I examine the relevance of a mode of thought that oscillates between journalism and the essayistic spirit of Rivera Garza’s theoretical project, especially as it entails a stance on the act of speaking. Secondly, I explore the challenges that destabilize conventional understandings of “author” and “literature”, placing emphasis on writings that resist dehumanizing environments. Finally, I argue that, in dialogue with American philosopher Judith Butler, as well as other authors from the critical tradition, Rivera Garza advocates for the articulation of a different language from and for the dead, a language capable of processing grief and collectivizing language.