SPACES OF OPPRESSION IN RECENT NOVELS FROM JALISCO: THE CASE OF BAJO LA NIEBLA DE PARÍS

Abstract

This article analyzes the configuration of oppressive space in Gerardo Cham’s novel Bajo la niebla de París, focusing on its narratological function and its semantic relationship with character construction. Drawing on a semiotic and narratological approach, particularly the theories of Greimas and Bakhtin, the study examines how the dystopian city operates as a message-generating apparatus that conditions the protagonist’s thoughts and actions, structures dramatic tension, and catalyzes narrative development. The author argues that the urban space—portrayed as labyrinthine, hyper-technified, and controlled by an oppressive State—maintains a metonymic relationship with the character insofar as it reflects an artificial reality designed to produce confusion, fear, and obedience. However, this relationship proves to be incomplete, opening the possibility for a re-signification of spatial messages. From this perspective, the article develops the concept of the initiatory chronotope, understood as a process of character transformation articulated through three stages: dissatisfaction, revelatory observation, and identity reconfiguration. The analysis demonstrates how, through a critical reading of both the environment and the self, the protagonist is able to decipher mechanisms of power and alter his perception of space, leading to a qualitative evolution of his personality. The study concludes that oppressive space not only frames the action but constitutes a central element for understanding character transformation in contemporary Jaliscan narrative.