Specular Autofiction in David Miklos’ El Abrazo de Cthulhu

Abstract

The relation between writing and autofiction is a characteristic feature in the literary works of Mexican writer David Miklos. In El abrazo de Cthulhu the exploration of writing and the practice of autofiction are potentiated in order to learn about the origin of his writing. In the first part, the article constructs a definition of autofiction, mentions the characteristics that distinguish it from other forms of intimate writing, and reviews the controversy whether its nature constitutes a sub-genre or a discursive strategy. In the second part, it analyses how specular autofiction manifests itself in El abrazo de Cthulhu in order to argue that the text ponders the performativity of writing on the basis of the question: what aspect of the self does the author show, and how does he do it? It is argued that this sub-genre exhibits a weakness of the character, that is, the inability to write the essay that he has proposed to. The article establishes a dialogue between theory and the few critical voices that recognize the presence of an intimate writing in the book and aims to demonstrate that specular autofiction allows the author to place himself as a literary critic, a reader of a certain type of narrative, and someone obsessed with writing.