Hi everyone! I can’t believe we are in the home stretch of this class and the semester!
I had a lot of fun this week reading My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel. The book itself is representative of the time it was set–1986 in Chile–when if you know, was around the time that Pinochet experienced an assassination attempt. Not only is it representative of the historical period in Chile, when things were rapidly changing, but it is also representative on a micro-level account of love amidst the chaos between the “Queen of the Corner”, a gender-fluid individual who at first at first befriends Carlos but eventually become lovers. It is one of the first cases in which we get to read about an LGBTQ love story in class, and I think that is really refreshing! I have been looking forward to getting to delve into this book further.
My Tender Matador is an effort to “reclaim history” as noted in lecture, almost an attempt to turn failure into a kind of success through the insertion of a queer love story at the centre of a resistance effort against a dictator. For example, the usage of “loca”–typically used as a slur against gay people–was reclaimed and worn with pride and is seen at the very centre of this novel. We see names closely tied to the value of identification throughout this novel. For example, we see how names ARE political–for example, Carlos’ real name and La loca’s drage name. I am sure this also provided people in Chile during such an unstable time, with some sense of agency or security in their own day-to-day actions. Although it is fictional, there are elements of reality–I am sure some that the reader can connect to through the depiction of queer relationships, hope, and change. We also see identity through La loca expressing herself via a gender identity that makes her feel more comfortable–as Jon mentions she “invests in her self”–to one that is more closely to how she aligns and can therefore set the stage for how she goes about her relationships, routines, and her overall identity.
My question for you this week is: What are some other examples of how we see La loca express her identity or femininity? How is this important to the overall novel, especially in regard to her romance with Carlos and how she navigates the external political circumstances at hand?
Thank you Ashley for your comment. Unfortunately, the assassination attempt against Pinochet was not successful and Chilean society continued to suffer from the dictator’s policies and the repression against everything that was considered “unpatriotic” (sic), such as sexual dissent. This effort to reclaim history has not yet ended in Chile, a country in which the most traditionalist structures have great weight, despite powerful dissident voices, such as Lemebel’s.
Ah! Thanks for pointing this out–typo on my end–I meant to put assassination attempt! thanks for catching that:)
Hey Ashley! Thanks for an interesting post.
I’m not quite through with the book just yet, but jumped on to see what folks were thinking of the story so far.
Something that I was thinking about, which I didn’t really feel would continue in the book as it becomes more serious, but many of our past books have included the “motherly” figure (Like Ursula, MB…), and although the queen in this book is coming from a very different identity/background than any of our past characters, I got some of the same feeling from her in the opening of the book. For example, when she moves in, and plays the music throughout the neighborhood – bringing people together in a way – “it became the neighborhood reveille” – as if grounding people from the ongoing frightening political commentary. Might this be an example of a “motherly or feminine” expression which she displays, at least, before things become much more political in her own life? Let me know what you think! I wonder too how this affects the approachability which seemed so welcomed and simple from Carlos who sought an underground meeting place & storage.