Construal of “the Queen” in two Chilean novels: El lugar sin límites by José Donoso and Tengo miedo torero by Pedro Lemebel

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show how the sexual and social identity of the character “the Queen” is construed in two Chilean novels, El lugar sin límites by José Donoso and Tengo miedo torero by Pedro Lemebel. For this purpose, a dialogue is established between both novels focused on the different effects the dress and the name have as performative acts on the evolution of the protagonists as well as on the contrasts shown by homoerotic desire confined to the places and boundaries imposed by the hegemonic power, a desire that also opposes exclusion and rejection. The contributions on queer theory by Kosofsky Sedgwick (1998), Eribon (2001, 2004), Bersani (1998), Foucault (1990, 2001), Butler (2005, 2006) have been used to achieve this goal.