Notre mémoire cherche à étudier la poétique de l’espace qui articule le roman Nadie me verá llorar publié en 1999 par l’écrivaine mexicaine contemporaine Cristina Rivera Garza. En inscrivant sa démarche romanesque dans la perspective postmoderne d’une nouvelle histoire culturelle, Rivera Garza dépeint un moment fondamental de l’histoire du Mexique allant de la fin du Porfiriato jusqu’aux lendemains de la Révolution mexicaine en l’incarnant dans le destin des laissés pour compte. Ce faisant, elle présente un texte où une multitude de récits se fondent et se confondent en un tout complexe où sont mis en perspective une série d’espaces de nature ambigüe. Notre analyse tâche d’expliquer cette interrelation des chronotopes de l’Histoire et du privé en tenant compte de son impact sur la structure narrative. En décrivant les différentes modalités des espaces évoqués dans l’oeuvre, nous nous intéressons au type de relations qui unit l’ensemble de ces espaces au grand temps de l’Histoire officielle mexicaine en démontrant que tous ces éléments sont régis par une politique hétérotopique qui lézarde le fini du discours officiel en y insérant un ensemble d’éléments qui le subvertissent. L’identification et la description de cette stratégie discursive est pertinente dans la mesure où elle offre un éclairage autre sur le roman et semble caractériser l’ensemble des oeuvres de Cristina Rivera Garza. / This thesis studies the poetics of space in which the novel Nadie me verá llorar, published in 1999 and written by Cristina Rivera Garza, is articulated. Locating her novelistic project in the postmodernist perspective of a new cultural History, Rivera Garza outlines an essential moment of the history of the Mexican Revolution, from the so-called Porfiriato until the end of the Revolution. That being said, this author presents a text where a diversity of stories are founded and confounded in a complex whole in which a series of ambiguous spaces is put into perspective. Our analysis tries to explain the interaction between the chronotopes of the History, as a public space, and the private sphere to account for its impact on the narrative structure. As we describe the different modalities of space evoked in the novel, we are interested in the relations linking the spatial ensemble to the official historic time, demonstrating that all those elements are ruled by a heterotopic policy which fissures the official history, inserting elements that are capable of subverting it. The identification and description of such a peculiar discursive strategy allows us the capacity to see this novel from a different perspective. Furthermore, this discursive strategy seems to be characteristic of all of Rivera Garza’s novelistic work. / El presente estudio analiza la poética del espacio que articula la novela Nadie me verá llorar, publicada en 1999 por la escritora mexicana Cristina Rivera Garza. Al inscribir su proyecto novelesco en la perspectiva posmoderna de una nueva historia cultural, Rivera Garza esboza un momento fundamental de la historia mexicana, el comprendido entre el Porfiriato y el final de la Revolución, ubicándolo en el destino de los desquiciados. Dicho lo anterior, la autora presenta un texto donde una variedad de relatos se funden y se confunden en un todo complejo en el que se somete a escrutinio una serie de espacios de naturaleza ambigua. Nuestro análisis trata de explicar esta interrelación de los cronotopos de la Historia (constructo oficial de acontecimientos, legitimado desde el poder) y de lo privado (memoria íntima y personal de los individuos) para dar cuenta de su impacto en la estructura narrativa. Al describir las diferentes modalidades de los espacios evocados en la obra, este estudio analiza el tipo de relaciones que une el conjunto de esos espacios con el gran tiempo de la Historia mexicana oficial, demostrando que todos esos elementos son regidos por una política heterotópica que fisura la homogeneidad del discurso oficial al insertar elementos que lo subvierten. Identificar y describir dicha estrategia discursiva es pertinente ya que proyecta una luz diferente sobre la novela, siendo además una estrategia recurrente en las obras firmadas por Rivera Garza.

This doctoral thesis studies the relationship between journalism and literature in contexts in which freedom of speech is at risk. It takes as primary sources a variety of nonfiction, crónicas, literary journalism and testimonial novels published by Latin American authors in Spanish, from the 1950s to the 2000s. I propose the concept ‘documentary narratives’ to refer to all literary modes of discourse which are related, in diverse degrees, to a journalistic representation of reality. My corpus covers a wide range of topics such as social protests, dictatorships, civil wars, natural disaster, crime and migration. While scholars have focused on the rhetoric and history of this kind of narratives, my reading considers the real, face-to-face encounter between the journalist and others. I argue that the representation of these encounters influences the pact with the reader and challenges the notion of truthfulness. I contend that documentary narratives can serve as a tool for the transmission of knowledge and the production of public debate in societies marked by political and social instability. In a world overwhelmed by data production and immersed in violent acts against those to be considered ‘Others’, I argue that storytelling is still an essential form of communication among individuals, classes and cultures. Contrary to the authors’s intentions of documenting others’ lives, I conclude that these stories offer an (interrupted) account of oneself, that is, the account of a contemporary storyteller pursuing a rarely fulfilled desire of getting to know the Other truly. The thesis has two appendices. Appendix 1 showcases archival material that support some of my arguments. Appendix 2 includes the transcripts of the interviews that I conducted with eight Latin American authors: Elena Poniatowska, Leila Guerriero, Cristian Alarcón, Arturo Fontaine, Santiago Roncagliolo, Francisco Goldman, Martín Caparrós, and Juan Villoro.