Cartographies of Disappearance: Vestiges of Everyday Life in Literature

The everyday can be defined as the routine that happens day after day and becomes our most permanent reality. It is made up of different identifiable areas of life, such as the home, the street, the subway, the park, the workplace, and local institutions. Focusing on literary texts and artistic forms, Cartographies of Disappearance addresses representations of everyday life from varying perspectives.

Opening our eyes to a new understanding of our daily environment, the book presents detailed readings of texts, practices, and mythologies of everyday life within Spanish and Catalan culture. Enric Bou examines how and to what extent issues of identity, space, memory, and immigration have impacted everyday life in Spain. The book explores five major instances of representing the everyday in literature and the arts: routines and disappearances, observations of the nearby, the uses of public transportation, thanatourism, and food.

Acknowledging that the everyday is a matter of study and observation, the book reveals how to look at the world from a different perspective. While the everyday is filled with the unorganized accumulation of objects and beings, Cartographies of Disappearance addresses the inclination to make sense of it all.