Deslizamientos y fronteras en El libro de las pruebas de J. Banville y Glaxo de H. Ronsino

Abstract

Different settings and times of publication do not hinder the possibility to observe certain outstanding similarities in The Book of Evidence (1989) by John Banville and Glaxo (2009) by Hernán Ronsino: a violent social and historical context, a murder in cold blood, movement and border crossings. By means of the concepts of mobility and border, according to their definition for different disciplines, my aim here is to analyze the movements implied in crossing the limits between epistemologies, psychological states and places, as well as the way in which certain spaces are constructed as borders in the novels, such as the the sea, the train or the home, and the ambiguity implied in this construction. Although present in both texts, mobility stands out in The Book of Evidence, while border crossing is an essential characteristic in Glaxo. Put briefly, in the novels there occur material and symbolic movements that establish, articulate and cross cultural borders. The constant crossing of borderlines exhibits their fluidity and produces changes in the social order as well as in the individuals.