Gender, Sexual Desire and Manuela Sáenz in the Writings of Jean-Baptiste Boussingault and Ricardo Palma
2010; Liverpool University Press; Volume: 87; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.3828/bhs.2010.5
ISSN1478-3398
Autores Tópico(s)Latin American and Latino Studies
ResumoThis article presents a close reading of three nineteenth-century narratives that have influenced subsequent representations of Manuela Saenz Aizpuru de Thorne (1797–1856), the famous 'Libertadora del Libertador': the Memoirs of Jean-Baptiste Boussingault and two tradiciones by Ricardo Palma. I find that while both narratives portray Saenz as a fragmented and eccentric subject due to her unconventional performance of gender, they do so in very different ways. Boussingault sexualizes her as the object of the heterosexual male gaze in a way that brings irony and levity to his narrative; while Palma desexualizes her and creates for her a separate gender category. My analysis draws into focus several stereotypes and shifting values surrounding gender in nineteenth-century Spanish America and thus engages in recent discussions about gender representation and about Manuela Saenz as historical figure and cultural icon.Este articulo es un analisis textual de tres narrativas que han influido en varias representaci...
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