MARIO BELLATIN: THE PROCEDURAL TURN AND THE LITERARY PROJECT Andrea Cote Botero Director: Reinaldo Laddaga This dissertation studies the work of Latin-American writer Mario Bellatin as a paradigmatic example of a tendency in contemporary literature that I called the procedural turn. This notion comprehends a manifestation in the art of the last three decades where artists exhibit the creative process as an artistic product in itself while engaging in the design of alternative practices that challenge the limits between artistic fields and disciplines. Through the analysis of a corpus of selected books and performances by Mario Bellatin, I explore the procedural turn that manifests in his work; particularly through the poetics of literature as a project, where individual books are seen as unfinished manifestations of a wider performance. I study his works vis-à-vis other contemporary Latin American writers and representatives of twentieth century European avant-garde. I establish a dialogue between Bellatin's proposal and an artistic tradition that critically approaches material culture of literary products as well as notions of authorship and artistic community. I finally argue that Bellatin's poetic of procedures involves, ultimately, a notion of literary language as a generator not of discourses but of experiences.