What is it about?
El francotirador paciente is a Spanish-like thriller in the sense that the social criticism becomes more important than the resolution of the mystery. It reveals a neoliberal consumer society opposed by a group of ‘others’ bond by a transgressive discourse and a deep sense of filiation. This group represents an imagined community with their own rules and ideals as described by Anderson. The hip-hop community, in its graffiti variant, defines itself discursively in contraposition to the system. They act as gramscian organic intellectuals. They have a worldwide common set of rules and ideals whilst adapting them to the particularities of each place in a glocalized way. We learn about them through a private investigator whose gender and specialization on academic subspecialties go hand in hand with her own personal preferences, making her an other, following Said. The detective and the philological investigations reveal an imposture which menaces to threaten the world wide graffiti community.
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Why is it important?
Arturo Pérez_Reverte is one of the most widely read authors nowadays. As a matter of fact, many of his novels have reached the big screen. El francotirador paciente explores new venues, such as the graffiti world and the female PI, in an innovative way not yet used by the Spanish author. The implications of the murders lead the reader to a not very well known underworld.
Perspectives
After having read everything published by this author, and worked on a series of his novels, I think El francotirador paciente departs from the typical gendered detective novel while exploring a not very well understood world, the graffiti. After doing my research about it, I immediately realised I had to focus on all its direct and indirect implications. I think readers may enjoy it and, perhaps, contribute to further discussion.
Dr Emilio L Ramon
Universidad Catolica de Valencia San Vicente Martir
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: El francotirador paciente
: Una ‘storia falsa’ que amenaza la identidad de una comunidad imaginada global, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, February 2017, Liverpool University Press,
DOI: 10.3828/bhs.2017.12.
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