The novel "My Tender Matador" centers on the 1986 assassination attempt on Augusto Pinochet, which marked the beginning of the end of this violent dictatorship, with a complex love story. Specifically, this novel tells a tale about a trans woman ("Queen of the Corner" ) living in a poor neighbourhood, where they befriend Carlos, a handsome student revolutionary. Carlos convinces her to allow his secret group to meet and store "mysterious" boxes in her house. Despite all the dark events of political disappearances and murders, the "Queen of the Corner" allows herself to escape into the fantasy world around Carlos.
If I have one word to describe this book, it is gorgeous. I admit that the students were left-wing extremists, and yes, they were plotting acts of violence against the dictatorship, and she seems just wanted to seduce Carlos; however, I was touched by the resilience of the LGBTQ+ community in this novel, their resistance in the face of a political situation that is more brutal than I had imagined, and reading this displayed that the characters had no idea of what tomorrow might bring.
Pedro Lemebel recognizes how masculinized Chilean society has become and, consequently, how detrimental the patriarchy is. It is as if such a society tolerates the "Queen of the Corner" and her kind to be the standard by which the strength of masculinity is measured. I believe the title "My Tender Matador" is extremely fitting, and I love how the title coordinates with many elements of the Chilean history.
After all, this is a transgressive novel. I meant that it is not only surprising that a homosexual underground flourished in this era, but also how fearless and righteous the 'Queen of the Corner" is.
"Young people these days. Good-for-nothings. They don't respect anybody or anything. All they know is how to do is throw stones and put up barricades in the streets" (59).
Growing up in Japan for 18 years, I did not know a significant amount about the LGBTQ+ community. First off, I did not understand why it was necessary to declare the pronouns he, she, and they at the beginning of the class. I would say to myself when I came to Canada a few years ago and to my friends in Japan, to read this book and to understand and respect LGBTQ rather than do nothing.
In conclusion, "My Tender Matador" is a rich and complex love story at the end of the Pinochet regime in 1980s Chile. The novel can be considered a Latin American LGBTQ anti-hero and a "badge of pride."
Questions: Do you know of other books that illustrate the "badge of pride"? If you were to describe "My Tender Matador" in one word, which vocabulary word would you choose?
"After all, this is a transgressive novel." I agree with you. Within the apparent simplicity of the plot there are traces that refer us to the history of Chile, and also to debates about the representativeness and limits of certain political conceptions regarding identity. Even if the coordination of Social Revolution and Sexual Revolution will appear in other discourses as well, in this novel we find a kind of "foundational narrative" that rewrites other LGBTQ narratives in Latin America (and which we will talk about tomorrow, for sure).
ReplyDeleteI liked how you tied the underground lgbtq sub-culture in Chile, with the Chilean socialist underground in the 80s. I feel this comparison and parallel was intentional by Lemebel to show how the each of these groups contributed to each other and needed to rely on each other during the Pinochet regime.
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