Rafael Acevedo’s Cynical Voice in Literature: Finding Words Beyond Neoliberal Numbing

This essay examines the possibly subversive functions of cynical enunciations as found in Puerto Rican author Rafael Acevedo’s 2014 novel Al otro lado del muro hay carne fresca (There’s Fresh Meat on the Other Side of the Wall). It asks how the relocation of the cynical figure from a factual context into the world of dystopian fiction and metafiction may challenge a passive stance and allude to alternative enunciations beyond the reaffirmation of an extant neoliberal power structure. Through the stubborn insistence on the continuity of cynical discourse, as ambiguous and ever self-scrutinizing wavering motion among levels of enunciation, Acevedo’s narrator explores and discusses counter-narratives and reflections in the parallel world of fiction.