EL MOTIVO DEL VIAJE EN LOS (BLOG)-ENSAYOS DE MÓNICA LAVÍN: UNIVERSALIDAD, MULTICULTURALIDAD Y MENTALIDAD ABIERTA

Abstract

This bachelor thesis studies the communicative dimension of a specific literary genre: the (blog)-essay. The purpose of this study is to determine the particular role of the recurring subject of the ‘journey’, the hypothesis is that the ‘journey’ constructs a universal dimension in the selected ten blog-essays and five essays written by Mexican authoress Mónica Lavín. The study analyzes how two different aspects of the journey are integrated in the essays: the exterior and the interior journey. The data supports the view that ‘traveling’ in Lavín's blog-essays works as a versatile, accessible and recognizable subject due to her reflections on the exterior journey – the actual journey in a certain region or country - and the interior journey - the recognizable experiences and feelings that correspond to those of other travelers. Data was obtained from preliminary comparative theoretic literary research, a personal interview conducted with Lavín and an exploratory analysis of her personal life, essayistic articles and most importantly her essayistic blog. Traveling has become a universally recognizable matter for a great share of the reader public, since it has transformed into a more accessible luxury that is nowadays even considered fundamentally human. The study highlights how the essayist uses the universal dimension of the journey to get in touch with her audience and to create a bond with them. But there is more: much more intense than was hypothesized, the authoress uses the motif of the journey to convince her readers of certain values of a multicultural society while persuading them to keep an open mind about other foreign cultures.