El beso de la mujer araña: Gênero, sexualidade e subversão

Abstract

This paper is a critical reading of Manuel Puig's El beso de la mujer araña (1976). It examines gender arrangement and representation in the diegetic universe of the narrative. Using Mieke Bal's theory of focalization and the concept of performativity, as proposed by Judith Butler, this work defends the idea that Puig's novel can be read as a political allegory of the economy of the body, of gender and of affect. These three elements are the basis to propose a new ethics of alterity as a counterpoint to patriarchal and heteronormative values that limit gender identity possibilities and the expression of sexual desire.