Indeterminacy, Diversity, and Excess: Queer Discourse in Puerto Rican Literature Public

Abstract

Indeterminacy, Diversity, and Excess: Queer Discourse in Puerto Rican Literature approaches Puerto Rican Literature through the identification of different discourses that aspire to define, in broad terms, a singular and exclusive identity based on race, class, gender, and an exclusive consideration of sexuality. In the dissertation I critically explore literary texts in which different manifestations of the inclusion of difference represent, I propose, a queer discourse. I argue that queer discourse in these instances is articulated by a rhetoric of indeterminacy, diversity, and excess.

Drawing on queer theory as defined by Annamarie Jagose, Nikki Sullivan, Michael Warner, and others, I explore indeterminacy in the work of Manuel Ramos-Otero by focusing on the paratextual and textual representation of alternative sexuality. I use Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's definition of the term diversity, as well as themes from classical mythology, as point of departure to explore the transvestite world that Mayra Santos-Febres constructs in her novel Sirena Selena vestida de pena, arguing that diversity itself is problematized by the mythological transformations that take place through the subjectivities of her queer subjects. Queer discourse as a rhetoric of excess, following Peter Brooks' framework for melodrama, is analyzed in the novel No quiero quedarme sola y vacia by Angel Lozada, and the short story "Mundo cruel" by Luis Negron, works whose main characters perform their queer subjectivity in an extreme mode. Taken together, these instances of queer discourse challenge the monolithic identity discourse that has defined Puerto Rican literature. My reading of contemporary Puerto Rican texts that convey a queer discourse adds a new, inclusive, and missing chapter in Puerto Rican literary history.

Table of Contents

Indice

Introduccion ..........................................................................................1

Capitulo I : "Manuel Ramos Otero: el arte de la indeterminacion........................45

Capitulo II : "Sirena Selena vestida de pena: diversidad y mitologia queer" .........84

Capitulo III : "No quiero quedarme sola y vacia y "Mundo cruel" : exceso

melodramatico destructor" .......................................................................117

Conclusion ............................................................................................151

Obras citadas ........................................................................................163

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Spanish
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	Spanish
Research Field	Literature, Caribbean Literature, Latin American
Mot-clé	Melodrama Queer Theory Puerto Rico Subjectivity Narrative Alternative Sexualities Popular Culture
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Stolley, Karen, Emory University
Committee Members	Goldman, Dara, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Feldman, Hernan, Emory University Reber, Dierdra, Emory University

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