The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Ana Clavel’s ‘outlaw’ desires in Las ninfas a veces sonríen

Ana Clavel’s ‘outlaw’ desires in Las ninfas a veces sonríen
Ana Clavel’s ‘outlaw’ desires in Las ninfas a veces sonríen
As a writer whose fiction is known for its transgressive themes and forms, it is no surprise that the Mexican author Ana Clavel has continued to revel in such contraventions in her novella Las ninfas a veces sonríen (2012). In this article I seek to examine how these, also new transgressions, materialize in the novella specifically within a queer framework. The queer showcases Las ninfas’ exploration of “outlaw” sexual desires as well as the fantastical and intertextual genre-bending. By defying heteronormative sexual normalcy, Clavel is seen to challenge certain “givens” within (Mexican) society, whether these be religious, moral, sexual, or cultural, and thus creating a fascinating representation of society’s particular fears, anxieties, and disavowed desires. In the context of the female character’s sexual experiences, transgressive queereness can be understood by making reference to various theories including those of Kristeva’s abjection/uncanny and Creed’s/Braidotti’s monstrous feminine, whereby the female is positioned in terms of an ambiguous oscillation between unthreatening object of male desire, monstrosity, and celebratory female sexual agency. Ultimately by thus delving into outlawed “no-deseos”, Las ninfas can be posited as a prime example of a Barthesian text of “jouissance” which disrupts the reader’s pleasurable reading experience.
1470-1847
197-213
Lavery, Jane
d050c560-2005-4f27-bb70-c79f12f39e93
Lavery, Jane
d050c560-2005-4f27-bb70-c79f12f39e93

Lavery, Jane (2016) Ana Clavel’s ‘outlaw’ desires in Las ninfas a veces sonríen. Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, 22 (3), 197-213. (doi:10.1080/14701847.2016.1234251).

Record type: Article

Abstract

As a writer whose fiction is known for its transgressive themes and forms, it is no surprise that the Mexican author Ana Clavel has continued to revel in such contraventions in her novella Las ninfas a veces sonríen (2012). In this article I seek to examine how these, also new transgressions, materialize in the novella specifically within a queer framework. The queer showcases Las ninfas’ exploration of “outlaw” sexual desires as well as the fantastical and intertextual genre-bending. By defying heteronormative sexual normalcy, Clavel is seen to challenge certain “givens” within (Mexican) society, whether these be religious, moral, sexual, or cultural, and thus creating a fascinating representation of society’s particular fears, anxieties, and disavowed desires. In the context of the female character’s sexual experiences, transgressive queereness can be understood by making reference to various theories including those of Kristeva’s abjection/uncanny and Creed’s/Braidotti’s monstrous feminine, whereby the female is positioned in terms of an ambiguous oscillation between unthreatening object of male desire, monstrosity, and celebratory female sexual agency. Ultimately by thus delving into outlawed “no-deseos”, Las ninfas can be posited as a prime example of a Barthesian text of “jouissance” which disrupts the reader’s pleasurable reading experience.

Text
Lavery_ JILAS las ninfas revised - Accepted Manuscript
Download (144kB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 7 December 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 3 October 2016
Organisations: Modern Languages and Linguistics

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 394088
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/394088
ISSN: 1470-1847
PURE UUID: 37ad9b03-b80d-46ae-a929-25ccc6244935

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 May 2016 10:32
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:34

Export record

Altmetrics

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×