Configurations of the Monstrous in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic

Abstract

Mexican Gothic is a Gothic horror novel that mobilises a wide range of genre conventions to narrate a struggle for autonomy and survival in 1950s Mexico. Its protagonist, Noemí Taboada - a young Mexican woman - confronts intersecting forces of prejudice, colonial power, and patriarchal control. The narrative intricately intertwines these social structures with the Gothic mode, producing a world in which the monstrous is omnipresent, emerging through both individual characters and the oppressive environments they inhabit. This article examines the tropes through which the novel constructs its monsters and its distinctly monstrous setting.