“To have my life organized by others”. Biography and fiction in “Magnetizado” by Carlos Busqued

Abstract

This article approaches Magnetizado as a book in which, in an heterodox way, a life is told; in other words, it is read as a biographical text. In relation to this, it is studied the peculiarity of this book and this supposed quality of the text is related to the peculiar life that is narrated: that of the serial killer Ricardo Melogno. In this sense, the relevance of considering Magnetizado as a book without previous antecedents is discussed: are we facing a odd book, without gender, without tradition? Also, this text is considered in relation to Josefina Ludmer’s proposals on the post-autonomy of certain writings of the present as well as in connection with the notion of non-specificity of contemporary art recently proposed by Florencia Garramuño. Finally, based on Jacques Rancière‘s precisions about fiction understood as construction, and not as lie or falsification, this article speculates about the necessary or obligatory fictional nature of Magnetizado and how Busqued takes a blameful stance on that need of ordering –of fictionalization work– that all biographical text, even the most heterodox, inevitably involves.