Eros Galvanized: Critical Intersections of Eroticism and Politics in Contemporary Literatures of the Americas
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EROS GALVANIZED: CRITICAL INTERSECTIONS OF EROTICISM AND POLITICS IN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURES OF THE AMERICAS Rebecca Garonzik A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English and Comparative Literature (Contemporary Latin American and Latina/o Literatures). Chapel Hill 2018 Approved by: Juan Carlos González Espitia María DeGuzmán Emilio del Valle Escalante José Luis Venegas Jessica Wolfe ©2018 Rebecca Garonzik ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Rebecca Garonzik: Eros Galvanized: Critical Intersections of Eroticism and Politics in Contemporary Literatures of the Americas (Under the direction of Juan Carlos González Espitia) My dissertation explores the intersection of the erotic and the political in twentieth and twenty-first century Latin American and Latina/o literatures. My project is invested in a particular iteration of the erotic that flows from, yet also extends beyond the realm of sexual activity, appearing as the creative, life-affirming, libidinal energy animating our ideals and actions. The works I analyze pair this iteration of the erotic with pressing political concerns, depicting how this libidinal energy has the potential to be cathected in the political arena as affective investment in politics. My dissertation takes a historical approach, first turning its attention to the intersection of eroticism and politics in the socially engaged Latin American texts of the 1960s through the 1980s by writers such as Julio Cortázar, Gioconda Belli, and Eduardo Galeano. My project traces the origins of this literary coupling to the combined influence of Latin American socialism and the New Left, demonstrating how this confluence of political movements worked to incorporate the erotic into an affectively-attuned understanding of political struggle. It then explores the same pairing in the Latina/o literature of the 1980s, showing how Gloria Anzaldúa identifies Latinas’ sexuality as the locus of their politically subversive potential. Turning to contemporary works, my project analyzes the concomitance of the erotic and the political in Latin American texts written in the 1990s and beyond, including works by María Lourdes Pallais, Alan Pauls, and Iván Thays. It reveals how these novels draw on this intersection in order to critique the iii political culture surrounding the Latin American socialist movements of the previous decades and to problematize the question of political engagement. Lastly, my dissertation examines works of contemporary Latin American and Latina/o literatures by Patricio Pron, Cherríe Moraga, and Paul Martínez Pompa that reformulate and revitalize the intersection of eroticism and politics, applying it to pressing social issues such as environmental racism and neoliberalism. My project argues that these contemporary expressions of the erotic offer readers an alternative to the demoralization and paralysis of the current neoliberal Stimmung , pointing the way toward a renewed investment in the politics of participative democracy. iv To my parents v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who have stood by me on this journey whom I would like to thank. I am extremely grateful to each of my committee members: Juan Carlos González Espitia, María DeGuzmán, Emilio del Valle Escalante, José Luis Venegas, and Jessica Wolfe. Thank you for reading my dissertation with such care and discernment and for providing me with such helpful feedback both individually and during my defense. Your incisive suggestions have reinvigorated me and given me new enthusiasm for continuing to do this work. I am also exceedingly grateful to Laura Halperin for serving on my committees and for her perceptive comments on my dissertation chapters. Laura, thank you for always reading my work with such thoughtfulness and attention to detail; I truly appreciate it. And to Oswaldo Estrada: thank you for being such a wonderful friend and mentor. I would also like to thank my friends and family members. To my incredible friends Aviva, Sarah, Stacy, Christine, Marta, Gale, María, and Bethany, as well as other dear friends from over the years: thank you for always encouraging me and for being there when I needed a hug, some guidance, or a good laugh. To my family, especially Darron, Tarryn, D.J., Morgan, Porter, Patrick, Mercedes, and Aunt Barb: I am so grateful for your love and support. To Jelmer: thank you for helping me get through the conclusion, and for being my funny, caring, and insightful partner. To Juan Carlos: being your advisee has been, by far, one of the most intellectually stimulating and personally rewarding experiences of my life. Thank you for being my best reader; for always making time to help me puzzle through difficult questions; for laughing with vi me; and for never doubting that I was capable of this—even when I might have been a bit doubtful myself. You are a brilliant director, a devoted mentor, and a wonderful friend. No matter where life takes me next, it will all have been worth it because I got to work with you. And now, most importantly, to my parents. As we know, life isn’t always easy, but you have been there for me through it all. Thank you for loving me, for supporting my goals and dreams, and for believing in me against all odds. You are the best parents a woman could ask for, and I am so lucky to be your daughter. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: “LOVING IN THE WAR YEARS”: POLITICS AND THE EROTIC IN THE SOCIALLY ENGAGED LATIN AMERICAN AND LATINA/O LITERATURES OF THE 1960s, 70s, AND 80s ..................................................... 22 CHAPTER 2: RETHINKING POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT IN POSTWAR LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE........................................................................................... 80 CHAPTER 3: THE REVOLUTIONARY EROTIC REVITALIZED........................................ 140 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 206 WORKS CITED ......................................................................................................................... 228 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Mural by la Brigada Ramona Parra on the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center. ......................................................................................................................................... 217 Figure 2. Mural by la Brigada Ramona Parra on Sebastopol Street on the corner of Santa Rosa in San Joaquín, Chile. .............................................................................................. 219 ix INTRODUCTION As often as not, it seems to be assumed that man has his being independently of his passions. I affirm, on the other hand, that we must never imagine existence except in terms of these passions (Georges Bataille, Death and Sensuality , 12). Under the pure, lifeless / surface of the Sea / of Thought swims a great / gray whale . carrying / a calf, a great gray whale / about to breach (María Meléndez, “An Argument for the Brilliance of All Things,” 10). Neoliberalism, as an economic paradigm that by its very definition transcends the realm of economics, has had a profound impact on the contemporary social and political landscape of the Americas. 1 Founded on the a priori claim that “free markets lead to ‘spontaneous order’” and the related theory that governments should assist markets in creating this order, since the 1970s neoliberal policies have worked to undermine the boundaries between economic and political thought and institutions, putting the latter in the service of the former (Peet 73). 2 At the same time, due to the implementation of ‘roll-out’ neoliberalism, in which “sub-national partnerships [have been] encouraged to deliver on nationally or, increasingly, supranationally set priorities and goals,” neoliberalism has also served to increase the level of political and economic interdependence between the regions of this hemisphere by an unprecedented degree (Birch and Mykhnenko 7). Despite the profound impact of neoliberalism in Latin America and on Latinas/os 1 While neoliberalism should not be taken as the only factor shaping the contemporary American political landscape, its influence has been nothing short of a sea change. 2 I concur with Kean Birch and Vlad Mykhnenko in defining neoliberal theory as “an ideological project based on abstract concepts . that assumes market efficiency and therefore underpins a re-conceptualization of the state’s role in the economy . to new forms of governance underpinned by a ‘logic of competitiveness’” (5-7; my emphasis). Although the practice of neoliberalism has been far from hegemonic, resulting in the production of different economic systems in different parts of the world, the ideological precepts underlying these diverse manifestations are highly consistent. 1 in the U.S., the disillusionment associated with the decline of leftist/socialist projects in Latin America and the U.S. has rendered earlier/modernist forms of socially engaged literature largely outmoded, leaving critics to question the ability of writers and intellectuals to meaningfully address the problematics of neoliberalism in their