From the Griffin to the Axolotl: The Resurgence and Reimagining of the Medieval Bestiary in Contemporary Hispanic Literature

The bestiary, derived from the Latin bestiarium, was a medieval genre comprised of animal catalogues, each providing descriptions, anecdotes, and illustrations of real and imaginary beasts. Often plotless, targeting women and children, decorated with lavish imagery, and laden with Catholic allegory, medieval bestiaries exploited animals’ appeal and rhetorical plasticity to educate and enforce conformity in medieval societies. Centuries later, Latin American authors took up the bestiary during the literary avant-garde and Boom periods and remolded it by embracing beasts beyond the European imagination, replacing religious doctrine with diverse ideologies, at times revelling in the nonsensical. Juan José Arreola, Jorge Luis Borges, Augusto Monterroso, and Pablo Neruda adapted the medieval bestiary, each writer infusing his work with his philosophies and idiosyncrasies. These four authors’ works serve as an origin point from which dozens of other authors take inspiration, culminating in a revival of the bestiary in contemporary Hispanic literature. Because the genre is new and can prove elusive, I will use the MITACS Global Link travel grant to hunt bestiaries through Mexico City in the hopes of expanding my current corpus.

Faculty Supervisor:

Rosa Sarabia

Student:

Partner:

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Toronto

Program: