Time of decline: Continuity and rupture with the forms of myth in No será la Tierra by Jorge Volpi [Tiempo de declive: continuidad y ruptura con las formas del mito en No será la Tierra de Jorge Volpi]

Abstract

Through structural elements of myth, some works by Jorge Volpi question the validity of the foundations of modernity. In that sense, according to Hayden White's perspective, the novels of this Mexican writer show the way in which myth and history become a single narrative. In No será la Tierra an apocalyptic view of history presents an anti-utopian vision of the twentieth century. This represents the dilemmas between the failures of Lyotard's grand narratives and their existence in troubled social, economic and political systems. This view questions modernity as an unfinished project and the renovation or the end of history are some elements of the novel. This reveals myth as a constituent part of the development of modernity and, at the same time, the difficulties of its functioning in the Western world. Through hybrid discourse, the structure of myth finds new (modern) forms. Consequently, history (as a discourse that authenticates modern Western cultures) and some of the different conceptions of it are examined in Volpi's fiction.