Female Voice, Transgression of Patriarchal Stereotyoes and New Forms of Identity Through Language in Signs Preceding the End of the World, by Yuri Herrera

Abstract

Yuri Herrera, mexican novelist, has configured a personal universe through a narrative proposal fundamentally based on a very peculiar relationship with language and on the subversion/questioning of pre-assigned stereotypes about violence, identity, gender and narrative spaces. Signs preceding the end of the world (2009) is a circular journey, mythical and real, of a woman, Makina, translator of languages and realities, who crosses the border between two spaces that without naming each other refer to Mexico and the United States in search of her brother. In this initiatory and terrible journey we will have the opportunity to see how the rewriting of pre-Hispanic myths and their reappropriation allow the powerful female character to subvert all the expected stereotypes about a single woman who undertakes such a dangerous journey. Makina is a non-victim who not only empowers, resists and survives, but also delivers an undeniable message upon reaching her destination.