An extensive missive to nothingness: subjectivity, madness and extimacy in Fernando del Paso’s Noticias del Imperio

Abstract

This article seeks to analyze the discourse of madness present in Fernando Del Paso’s novel, Noticias del Imperio. In this work, Del Paso articulates madness as a discourse directly related to Mexican history and the constitution of female subjectivity through the representation of Empress Carlota. Through Carlota’s narration, madness is presented as a critical and demystifying interpellation of the historical becoming of the Mexican nation, as well as a resistance strategy employed by a female narrator subjected to the deprivation of her liberty and dignity. We tackle the discourse of madness to manifest how Carlota employs this particular discursive practices in order to escape from her confinement and physical constraints through an ontological reconsideration that entails the complete reconstruction of Mexican past, present and future history.