The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia: Leisure and passion in the Mexican narrative of the north

Abstract

In the context of northern Mexico, dominated by a discourse that praises work to alienation, The Murmur of Bees (2015) by Sofia Segovia joins the critique of modernity through a demand for leisure and passion. What I am arguing here is that Simonopio, protagonist of the novel, is a sign of leisure - not laziness - since he resorts to amazement, de-proletarization and the definition of an orientation of his world. I take this conceptual framework from Josef Pieper. At the same time, following the concepts of Jorge F. Aguirre Sala, it is a sign of a prudent passion insofar as his acts give an account of a recognition of passion as judgment, as a position of the subject in the world and a symbolic mediation to interpret. This study adds to the resignification, from the Mexican narrative of the North, to the discourse of modern and industrial work.