HETEROTOPIC SPACE AND THE LIMITS OF NATURALIST DISCOURSE IN FEDERICO GAMBOA'S SANTA

Critics have claimed that Spanish-American naturalist novels such as Federico Gamboa's Santa (1903) simply echo Eurocentric narrative models. In this article, I qualify this assertion by focusing on Gamboa's use of space in Santa. Gamboa's construction of the brothel as a heterotopic space where social condemnation and the hope for spiritual salvation can coexist provides theoretical grounds to question the deterministic and positivist tenets of European naturalist narrative. I explore the consequences of this questioning for Latin American literary historiography, as I contend that Gamboa's use of space begs a reconsideration of his novel as an imitation of European models.