In and Out of Bondage: Identity, Eroticism, and Desire in Inés Arredondo and Juan García Ponce

Inés Arredondo and Juan García Ponce are two important figures in the Ruptura generation, or the generación del Medio Siglo. I propose to read García Ponce's novel Inmaculada o los placeres de la inocencia (1989) in counterpoint to Inés Arredondo's earlier short story "La sunamita," (originally published in the short story collection La señal, 1965) as both employ erotic elements with disruptive intentions but with nearly diametrical approaches to the presentation of the female figure, desire, and sexuality. Judith Butler's reformulation of prohibition as power will serve as a starting point from which to analyze the erotic elements employed by Arredondo and García Ponce. I am particularly interested in Butler's formulations on the prohibition against incest and homosexuality, two primary themes in the texts examined. The connections that Michel Foucault draws between sex and truth in The History of Sexuality will also figure in this analysis, as will his ideas on the presence and function of incest in the family structure. His analyses are often in dialogue with Butler's, as Gender Trouble engages with Foucault's History from a more feminist standpoint. As is only necessary, my analysis will also consider the Mexican historical and political contexts in which the works were produced.