Fear, horror and a (de)colonial body in the tale “Lorena”, by María Fernanda Ampuero

Abstract

The theme of this work comprises domestic violence, the post-colonial readings reviewed in decoloniality and how these are approached in literary writing. It is based on the assumption that violence against women in countries that bear the marks of colonization retains the sense of colonial cruelty. The short story “Lorena”, which is part of the collection Human Sacrifices (2022), by Ecuadorian María Fernanda Ampuero (1976), stands out because it tells the story of a Latin American girl who marries a Mexican and from then on is at the mercy of a domestic scenario of horror and fear. The aim is to prove the hypothesis by reading about decoloniality, a concept that goes beyond post-colonial studies because it puts a strain on the colonial epistemic conceptions that still exist. The theoretical framework provides a historical understanding of subjugated female bodies, with a text by Gerda Lerner (2019); it addresses readings by Susana de Castro (2020) and José Carlos Gomes dos Anjos (s/d) as support for understanding decoloniality and the feminine; Noël Carroll (1999) for an approach to the aesthetics of horror in literature, as well as others duly referenced. This article is part of XXXX research in progress.