Mapping the SelfLeonora Carrington’s Journey through the Mad Mind in "Down Below"

  1. Laura de la Parra Fernández 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Salamanca
    info

    Universidad de Salamanca

    Salamanca, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02f40zc51

Revista:
Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos

ISSN: 0210-6124

Año de publicación: 2021

Volumen: 43

Número: 2

Páginas: 110-129

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.28914/ATLANTIS-2021-43.2.06 SCOPUS: 2-s2.0-85125641638 WoS: WOS:000736600300007 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDialnet editor

Otras publicaciones en: Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos

Resumen

Este artículo examina el «Map of Down Below» como elemento central para comprender «Down Below» (1944), las memorias sobre la locura de la autora surrealista Leonora Carrington. El texto, primero dictado en francés y luego traducido al inglés y publicado en este idioma, relata la experiencia de cuando Carrington fue internada en un hospital psiquiátrico en los comienzos del franquismo mientras intentaba huir de los nazis en Francia. A menudo, el texto se ha leído como una autobiografía surrealista que pretende refutar la «Nadja» de André Breton (1928). Sin embargo, y sin desacreditar esta lectura, en este artículo argumento que Carrington narra su experiencia de la locura vista como medio para descubrir la realidad y el Yo más allá de las convenciones literarias e institucionales de la época, a saber, la autobiografía y la psiquiatría eugenésica como herramienta del estado autoritario. Por lo tanto, explico cómo «Down Below», en tanto que autobiografía, muestra una forma de verdad que se desvía de la tradición autobiográfica del Yo unitario. La verdad que Carrington encuentra arroja luz sobre otras posibilidades de experimentar —o de crear— el Yo, a la vez que desafía la psiquiatría franquista normativa y la escritura autobiográfica tradicional.

Información de financiación

The research underpinning this article was carried out thanks to a Visiting Fellowship for Doctoral Research Fellows granted by the Spanish Ministry of Education (EST2017/0008) for a short research period at Harvard University. The author also wishes to acknowledge the support of the research project “Gender and Pathography from a Transnational Perspective”, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-113330-GBI00).

Financiadores

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