Venn Diagrams and Photographs in (Auto)fiction: The Image as Material-Virtual Intermediation

Abstract

This article analyzes, based on the concept of postautonomy (Ludmer, 2010), the intermediation between image and text, between materiality and virtuality, in the works Conjunto vacío (2015) by Verónica Gerber Bicceci and Óptica sanguínea (2015) by Daniela Bojórquez Vértiz. Both books contest the in-between space by generating their own architectures of representation through the incorporation of visual objects such as Venn diagrams, photographs, and other supports that legitimize, synthesize, or contradict the narrative. I examine the structure of these works composed of traces or hints, which take precedence given the need for sense production in the plot, particularly the inherent political sense. The inclusion of images has led critics to consider them as "artistic pieces" (Rodríguez Blanco, 2019) rather than literature. However, I propose approaching this research from Wolfgang Iser's "Reception Theory" because, as a result of autofiction and intertextuality, I consider a common characteristic is that they reconstruct a horizon of expectations where the visual relativizes (re)appropriation, memory, and the locus of enunciation.