Resumo

RIVERA GUERRERO, Marta D.. Porosity, Masculinities and Places in El libro vacío by Josefina Vicens. Connotas. Rev. crit. teór. lit. [online]. 2022, n.24, pp.37-59.  Epub 30-Maio-2022. ISSN 2448-6019.  https://doi.org/10.36798/critlit.v0i24.394.

In this article, I analyze the masculinity of the protagonist of Josefina Vicens’ The Empty Book (1958), José García, and its relationship with the diegetic spatiality of the novel to showcase how the porosity present in the places of the novel allows the character to observe and question his performativity as a man. In this essay, literary criticism comes into dialogue with social sciences and gender studies, as I explain how García, due to finding himself in different contexts, diversifies his performativity to maintain his hegemonic masculinity. Nevertheless, the character also manages to problematize his reaction to the demands of a heteropatriarchal society, since the porosity that’s concentrated in his room facilitates the confrontation between his experiences, his actions and his thoughts, and culminates in the emphasis of his internal contradictions. Therefore, I find that García’s identity as a male can, on certain instances, achieve autonomy as a result of his introspection in view of the places that intersect and meet in his room.

Palavras-chave : Mexican narrative; masculinity; spatiality; gender studies; porosity.