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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 5-18-2009 Propuestas para una reconceptualización surrealista y postmoderna de la sexualidad femenina en los textos de Cristina Escofet e Isabel Allende Zoila Clark Florida International University DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI14060848 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Latin American Languages and Societies Commons, and the Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Clark, Zoila, "Propuestas para una reconceptualización surrealista y postmoderna de la sexualidad femenina en los textos de Cristina Escofet e Isabel Allende" (2009). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2378. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2378 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNA TIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida PROPUESTAS PARA UNA RECONCEPTUALIZACIÓN SURREALISTA Y POSTMODERNA DE LA SEXUALIDAD FEMENINA EN LOS TEXTOS DE CRISTINA ESCOFET E ISABEL ALLENDE A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the dcgree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY m SPANISH by Zoila Clark 2009 To: Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Zoila Clark, and entitled Propuestas para una Reconceptualización Surrealista y Postrnoderna de la Sexualidad Femenina en los Textos de Cristina Escofet e Isabel Allende, havíng been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgrnent. We have read this disscrtation and recornmend that it be approvcd. María Asunción Gómez Aurora Morcillo Renée Silverrnan Maida Watson, Major Professor Date of Defense: May 18, 2009 Thc dissertation of Zoila Clark is approved. Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences Dean George Walker University Graduate School Florida International University, 2009 ll Copyright 2009 by Zoila Clark All rights reserved. l11 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I extend my gratitude to the members ofmy committee, Dr. Maida Watson, my director of dissertation, and my reading advisors: Dr. María Asunción Gómez, Dr. Aurora Morcillo, and Dr. Renée Silverman. Their suggestions and advice at the end ofthis project, as well as the enlightening classes I took with them al! throughout my career, were building blocks ofthis enterprise. I would also likc to thank other faculty members at FIU from the Modern Language Dcpartment and from the Women Studies Center, whose ideas in classes inspired my work, such as Dr. David Foster, Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas, Dr. Ricardo Castells, Dr. Juan Torrcs-Pou, Dr. Santiago Juan-Navarro, Dr. Ana Roca, Dr. Dana Van Tilborg, Dr. Lois West, Dr. Ana Luszczynska, and Dr. Michelle Beer. I want to recognize the invaluable help and support I received from my friends and family and their guidance in daíly lifc issues. lV ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION PROPUESTAS PARA UNA RECONCEPTUALIZACIÓN SURREALISTA Y POSTMODERNA DE LA SEXUALIDAD FEMENINA EN LOS TEXTOS DE CRISTINA ESCOFET E ISABEL ALLENDE by Zoila Clark Florida Intemational University, 2009 Miami, Florida Professor Maida Watson, Major Professor Female sexuality has commonly been viewed as the passive counterpart ofmale sexuality. Building upon Adrienne Rich's theory of compulsive heterosexuality, 1 would suggest that the fundamentallocation ofthis problem líes within the subconscious. Cristina Escofet's stance on this issue is to argue in favor of a deconstruction of Jungian archetypes, revealing their constructed rather than intrinsic character. In this dissertation, I study representative texts by Escofet and Isabel Allende and show not only how they depict patriarchal compulsive heterosexuality, but also try to reconceptualize female sexuality through surrealist and postmodern techniques such as self-reflection, dialogue with our double or Other, and sensorial perception. Thcse techniques are designcd to create a new epistemology ofjouissance and excess, as defined by contcmporary French theory. The significance of m y study resides in the interdisciplinary analysis of female sexuality in Ilispanic feminist writers. The first chapter propases that surrealism, postmodernism, and feminism are theoretical frameworks which create new paradigms V for social changc. In their ferninist philosophics, Escofet and Allende ernphasize the use of subconscious knowledge as a rneans ofhelping them understand the world and create alternative realities. The second chapter shows how Escofet and Allende deconstruct the mysoginist archetype of E ve, which has been largely responsible for identifying women' s sexual identity with the disreputable qualities ofthefemmefatale and whose mirror image has long plagued women. In accordance with this stereotype, Lillith (Adam's sexually active ex-partner), has typically been portrayed as the negative Other, and for generations the she-devil myth which surrounds hcr has resurfaced in the media, where she assumes the role of innumerable evil female characters. In the third chapter, I examine how class and race differences have becn used to intensify the demonization of different types of sexuality. In the same manner as Lil!ith and E ve, black and indigenous characters express dissent by retelling their stories in words and performance, and by seeking to form a dialog with their readers. The last chapter deals with the importance of the senses for female characters as they try to create their own sexuality from the fragmented bodies we find in surrealist and postmodern art. In this section we shall see how Luce Irigaray and Hélene Cixous's theories about multiple sexualities are in evidence when Escofet and Allende reconceptualize female sexuality. As no previous scholarship has analyzed the use ofthe subconscious, the senses, and performance when understanding female sexuality in Latín American literature, this dissertation seeks to provide a tentative exploration ofthe issues that may help to open up a new field of research in Hispanic feminist cultural studies. VI ÍNDICE APARTADOS PÁGINA l. INTRODUCCIÓN .............................................................. JI. CAPÍTULO 1: SURREALISMO, POSTMODERNISMO Y FEMINISMO.................................................................... 7 l. 1 Vasos comunicantes entre tres ismos del siglo XX en Latinoamérica: surrealismo, postrnodernismo y feminismo.............. 7 l. 2 La auto-reflexión como método de investigación y creación de una subjetividad y sexualidad propias....................................... 14 1. 3 Teoría feminista de Cristina Escofet en Arquetipos, modelos para desarmar (palabras desde el género)......................................... 24 l. 4 El feminismo de Isabel Allende... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3 7 III. CAPÍTULO 2: LA PROPUESTA DE TRASCENDER EL MAL EN CRISTINA ESCOFET E ISABEL ALLENDE........................... 47 2. 1 La sexualidad femenina y el mal........................................ 47 2. 2 Juicio a Lillith-Eva en ¿Qué pasó con Bette Davis? en diálogo con Eva Luna y Los cuentos de Eva Luna................................... 55 IV. CAPÍTULO 3: DEL EXOTISMO SURREALISTA AL DIÁLOGO SURREAL-POSTMODERNO... .. .. .. .. .. ... 83 3. 1 El Otro como perverso, primitivo y degenerado...................... 83 3. 2 Cuando los Otros hablan en Mugres de la María y el Negro, de Escofet. ... .. ........ .......... ... .. .... ... ... ... .. .... .............. ............. 90 3. 3 Parodia postmoderna del género sexual y del discurso primitivista en La ciudad de las bestias de Allende...................................... 106 V. CAPÍTULO 4: LO SENSORIAL E INSTINTIVO COMO FORMA DE CONOCIMIENTO DE LA SEXUALIDAD FEMENINA Y DE NUESTRA CULTURA EN UN MUNDO POSTMODERNO.......... 123 4. 1 Los sentidos y la epistemología: nuestra interrelación con el mundo interno y externo...... 123 4. 2 El oriente como espacio de autoconocimiento y diálogo con el Otro en Eva Luna, Los cuentos de Eva Luna y Afrodita: cuentos, recetas y otros afrodisíacos de Isabel Allende.............................. 126 CONCLUSIONES...................................................................... 154 NOTAS.................................................................................... 160 Vll BIBLIOGRAFÍA........................................................................ 172 VITA....................................................................................... 182 Vlll INTRODUCCIÓN Los textos de Cristina Escofet (Buenos Aires, 1945 -)e Isabel Allende (Lima, 1942 -) son de especial interés para la crítica feminista por estar escritos desde la perspectiva del género. Escofet y Allende escriben como mujeres sobre lo que representa ser mujer y tratan de definir mediante la escritura lo que es la sexualidad femenina, entendida tradicionalmente como pasiva por oposición a la masculina. Éste es el eje temático de Arquetipos, modelos para desarmar: palabras desde el género (2000), ¿Qué pasó con Bette Davis? (200 1) y lv/ugres de la lvfarfa y el negro (2005), en el caso de Escofet, y de Eva Luna ( 1987), Los cuentos de Eva Luna ( 1989), Aji-odita: cuentos, recetas y otros a.fi·odisfacos (1998) y La ciudad de las bestias (2002), en el de Allende. En estos textos se parodian las interrelaciones familiares y heterosexuales, evidenciando que la estructura