Obeying and resisting gendered normativities in contemporary Argentine fiction

Wainberg, Romina (2016) Obeying and resisting gendered normativities in contemporary Argentine fiction. MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis examines the extent to which five contemporary Argentine fictions resist and/or obey normative constructions of gendered identities. Over the last fifteen years, political recognition and social acceptance of LGTBI rights have increased at an unprecedented rate in Argentinean society. Due to the passing of liberal laws and to a cultural openness to new forms of sex/gendered identities, a society that used to ignore and/or neglect the LGTBI community’s core demands seems to have been replaced by one that takes them into particular consideration. In this frame, the complexity of the transition between the highly restrictive models of social behaviour encouraged under the last dictatorship (1976-83) and the present scenario of increasing broad-mindedness is a subject that needs further investigation. Moreover, the literary representations of the changes experienced during the last decades in Argentina remain mostly unexplored, as contemporary critics focus their analyses on 20th century authors.

In this context, the present thesis will trace a genealogy of gendered identities in Argentine fiction across the period of consolidation (post-dictatorship, in 1983) through a moment of crisis (1998-2001) and into the new millennium. By doing so, this analysis will seek to grasp the ways in which literary works are related to the political, economic and social scenarios across this particular time period; paying special attention to the relationship between the changes experienced during the last fifteen years and how they are represented within contemporary literature. To carry out the task, this study will analyse texts that have been written at key moments since the fall of the last dictatorship and that have approached the subject of gendered norms by establishing a specific dialogue with the models characteristic of their time. Taking these requirements into consideration, the texts that have been selected are ‘La larga risa de todos esos años’ (1983) by Rodolfo Fogwill, Señorita (1999) by Hebe Uhart, Mariano Blatt’s Increíble (2007), Hernan Vanoli’s Las mellizas del bardo (2012) and Mauro Moschini’s ‘Tarde de amigas’ (2013). By looking at the ways in which these works interact with the period of their publication and setting, this thesis will explore the relationship that they establish with normative constructions of gendered identities and with the dichotomous structure on which those identities rely.

• Item Type: Thesis (MPhil(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Keywords: Argentine fiction, Argentina, contemporary literature, literary theory, literary criticism, gender studies, LGTBI studies.
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BH Aesthetics; F History United States, Canada, Latin America > F1201 Latin America (General); P Language and Literature > PQ Romance literatures
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > Hispanic Studies
• Supervisor's Name: McCarthy, Dr. Eamon
• Date of Award: 2016
• Depositing User: Ms. Romina Wainberg
• Unique ID: glathesis:2016-8091
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 04 May 2017 11:55
• Last Modified: 22 May 2017 10:18
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/8091