The Artifice of Being

The Mask as Metaphor in Latin American Narrative

Authors

  • Mishelle Encalada- Rogel Universidad Politécnica Salesiana
  • Sebastián Ávila-Vinueza Universidad Península de Santa Elena

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21951811

Keywords:

máscara, narrativa, latinoamericana, identidad, resistencia, representación

Abstract

This paper analyzes the redefinition of the mask as a democratizing literary device in 20th-century Latin American narrative, whose relevance lies in its ability to question hegemonic social orders and forms of representation. The objective is to demonstrate how this symbol transcends its function of concealment to operate as a device of critical revelation in representative novels of the 1960s and 1990s. Using a methodology of critical and comparative textual analysis, the works The Place Without Limits (1966), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1976), and Before Night Falls (1992) are examined. The main result identifies the ambivalence of the mask (hiding/revealing) as a central mechanism of resistance against oppressive regimes, a symptom of identity fracture, and a liberating performance. It concludes that the mask constitutes a fundamental key to understanding the literature of the period as a space of identity dispute and negotiation.

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Author Biographies

Mishelle Encalada- Rogel, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana

Graduate in Social Communication, from the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana. She has worked at Pasaje TV, as a news presenter and reporter, as Head of Tourism for the GAD of Atahualpa in the province of El Oro and as Head of Public Relations at Editorial Yaraví. He currently works as an office worker at the Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social.

Sebastián Ávila-Vinueza, Universidad Península de Santa Elena

Writer, researcher, and professor at the Universidad Estatal Península Santa Elena (undergraduate and graduate levels) and the Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador (graduate level). He holds a Bachelor's degree in Language, Literature, and Audiovisual Languages ​​from the Universidad de Cuenca; a Master's degree in Advanced Studies in Latin American Literature from the Universidad Internacional de la Rioja; a Master's degree in Literary Research with a specialization in Creative Writing from the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar; and a Master's degree in Education with a specialization in Sociocritical Thought from the Universidad Pontifica Católica del Ecuador. He has contributed to several Ecuadorian magazines and poetry anthologies, including: Matapalo magazine (Quito); Salud a la esponja magazine (Cuenca); Oniría, Poesía cuencana emergente (Cuenca); Encuentro de Literatura (Cuenca); and the poetry anthology "Crímenes de Venus" (Guayaquil). He also won first place in the poetry category at the 2023 national literature competition "jóvenes y el arte – Edgar Allan García". First mention “La pluma que habla” from PUCE “Quito”. 2020. Selected to work in the Literary Residency by the Universidad de Cuenca. Winner of the coworking space at the cultural epicenter of the Universidad de Cuenca.

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Published

2026-08-15

How to Cite

Encalada- Rogel, M., & Ávila-Vinueza, S. (2026). The Artifice of Being: The Mask as Metaphor in Latin American Narrative. South American Research Journal, 6(1), 15–22. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21951811

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2026): Evidences

Section

Artículos

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Mishelle Encalada- Rogel, Sebastián Ávila

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.