Mythical counterwritings, ecofeminism and speciesism in El libro de Eva, by Carmen Boullosa

Leonardo-Loayza R. · America sin Nombre (2025) · DOI: 10.14198/amesn.27466

Resumen

The article examines the novel El libro de Eva (2020) by the Mexican writer Carmen Boullosa. The aim is to analyze this author’s reworking of the biblical myth of Creation, narrated in the Book of Genesis. We maintain that in this rewriting, which in itself is a counterwriting, a feminist perspective is presented, which questions the manifest androcentrism of the canonical version, in which women are accused not only of being responsible for the beginning of human hardships, but as a carrier of evil. Likewise, the article aims to demonstrate that El libro de Eva develops an ecofeminist position, since it highlights the primary role that women have played in history and the link they have with nature, with which they share the ability to give life. Along these lines, Boullosa’s book emphasizes the mistreatment and abuse suffered by animals, who, like women, are victims of the patriarchal order. In that sense, speciesism is considered not only an anthropocentric tendency but also an androcentric one. The novel suggests that the origin of many of the world’s conflicts lies in the fact that human beings, especially men, have forgotten that they are part of nature, which has generated the abuse and exploitation of the rest of the beings that populate the planet. In this way, The Book of Eve addresses the mythical past with the intention of proposing an effective response to the eco-environmental problems facing contemporary society. The study is carried out mainly in dialogue with the concept of counterwriting, the principles of ecofeminism (Alicia Puleo) and speciesism (Gloria Abdallah). It also uses some of the contributions of Mijail Bakhtin, Rosi Braidotti, Jean-Luc Nancy, Martha Nussbaum and Jacques Derrida, among others.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal