Presented By: Romance Languages & Literatures RLL
The Agrochemical Gothic: Pesticide Writing in South America
Part of a Two-Part Event with Nicolas Campisi

In this presentation, Nicolas Campisi (Georgetown University) will discuss the emergence of a new literary genre that he calls the agrochemical gothic. He will talk about two novels: Fruta podrida (2006) by the Chilean writer Lina Meruane and Distancia de rescate (2014) by the Argentine writer Samanta Schweblin. Nicolas will show that just as agribusiness has obscured the borders between humans and nonhumans through the creation of genetically modified seeds (GMOs), these works blur the limits between prose, poetry, and theater to depict the invisible and omnipresent violence of pesticide contamination.