Dystopia of the present: Notes on Jinete a pie by Israel Centeno

Abstract

This paper proposes an analytical reading of the novel Jinete a pie (2014) by Israel Centeno, part of the group of works published in recent years which envision a dystopian future for Venezuela. First, the origin of dystopia as a literary genre as well as its utopian background is reviewed and the boom of the Venezuelan dystopian novel in the 21st century is discussed. Then, the features of Jinete a pie are examined in order to analyze both the construction of a dystopian narrative that refers to a Caracas devastated by violence and its relationship with the current Venezuelan context.