Week 12 - My Tender Matador
This week I read My Tender Matador. What I found most interesting about this book was how Lemebel uses names to create a sense of insecure positioning that encourages the reader to understand varying genders, sexualities, experiences and perspectives within Chilean society at the time. In My Tender Matador names are more than just identification, I interpreted them as indicators of the character's placement in society, literal spatial positioning, their gender as well as how they are viewed by others. Names are not only important to how we perceive these characters, but also how we sympathize to their experiences, identify discrimination towards them, and understand their struggles and how their positionality thus affects their perspective on the Chilean dictatorship. Additionally, as said in the lecture, Lemebel makes the choice to make a “loca” the main character of his novel, when these people are often heavily discriminated against, marginalized and disregarded.
The fact that we do not know the true names of the main two characters in this novel, reminded me of Robert Bolaño’s Distant Star. Much like Lemebel, Bolaño’s also makes the decision to not name the narrator. Prior to reading these two books I would assume I would have thought that not having true or any names for characters youre reading about would be annoying and difficult, however in My Tender Matador, I was not very focused on discovering their true names, but rather I was focused on understanding the significance of each name, and how that name served as a mechanism to aid our understanding of the characters experience and perspectives.
We know that authors often use secrecy as an enticing factor to keep readers engaged, however in My Tender Matador, not knowing the characters true names felt like an intentional attempt for us readers to see their world through changing and differing perspectives. When this character’s name changes, their treatment from people around them and local children changes too. Changes in names and gender not only place this character in a position of discrimination but also in a position of ever changing experience and perspective. For example when the character used the name “Queen of the Corner” this provided content, depth and a foundation for me as a reader in understanding their character in the beginning. However, when their name changes, to titles like “princess” or “homo” my understanding of how they felt was also altered. Names have shown to be an important factor in the novels we’ve read throughout this term, and I think that the withholding of names or changing names of this character in the novel speaks to how names play a great role in stories. A quote that I think affirms and wraps up the significance of names in this novel is “this is political, we use a different name so we can function clandestinely” (103).
I seem to have focused a lot on names for this blog post… although I do think it is a very interesting concept to unpack. I may be over analyzing, although I wonder if any of you had thoughts on how each name may have had more significance that meets the eye. My question for you all is, how did Lemebel’s choice to maintain uncertainty as well as the continuous changing of the main character's name affect how you read and understood My Tender Matador?
Indeed, both Carlos and La Loca work underground. Apparently they would have little in common, but the novel shows us that their positionality, peripheral, actually manages to destabilize the supposed center of society. The alliance between both "clandestinities" is an attack on the regime. You leave me a question with reading your blog post. It would be interesting to trace how the perception of Carlos is changing with the change of names and how he relates to the role that La Loca acquires. Is that role imposed or accepted?
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! In my opinion, Lemebel's choice to maintain uncertainty and continuously change the main character's name added depth and complexity to the novel. It forced me as a reader to pay closer attention to the characters' experiences and perspectives and to consider how their positioning in society affected their lives. The changing of the character's name also made me question my assumptions about their gender and sexuality, which challenged me to think more critically about the societal norms and prejudices that exist in our current society.
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth, thank you for your post! To answer your question, I think the names and the uncertainty surrounding them makes me as the reader continually invested in how the story progresses, and does require some extra brain consideration at times.
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