An Empty Origin: Migration and Mourning in the Catalan Literature of the Argentine Diaspora

As opposed to other migratory experiences in Catalonia, the case of the Argentine diaspora is singular because it was not motivated by the search of a better life in a new country, but by deeply traumatic events: the criminal military dictatorship of the 1970s and the devastating financial crisis of the corralito in 2001. On the basis of the novels La mecànica de l'aigua ("The Mechanics of Water", 2016), by Silvana Vogt, and La néta d'Adam ("Adam's Granddaughter", 2012), by Patrícia Gabancho, and the theatrical trilogy La fragilidad de la memoria ("The Fragility of Memory", 2008), by Victoria Szpunberg, in this lecture we will explore, from a psychoanalytic standpoint, the importance of the social dimension of mourning in terms of the symbolisation of the loss involved in migration.

A talk organized by Instituto Cervantes London, the Centre for Catalan Studies at Queen Mary University of London and the Institut Ramon Llull to celebrate the "Joanot Martorell" Annual Lecture in Catalan Studies.