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Article published In: Journal of Language and Sexuality
Vol. 8:1 (2019) ► pp.82–107

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Sexuality in Goytisolo’s Antagonía

Fluidity, subversion, and conservatism

 | Universitat de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain | University at Buffalo, New York, USA
Published online: 7 March 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.18011.jod
Abstract
Antagonía is Luis Goytisolo’s masterpiece. In this article I present a quantitative and qualitative study of his prose with regards to sexuality. Through an analysis of keywords, concordances, dispersion, and discourses, I show that Antagonía feeds from two historical periods, namely the ending dictatorship and the new democratic transition. Some of its discourses are the product of the Spain of the 1970s and 80s. Among them, we find sexist, male chauvinist, and homophobic discourses latent during those times. Women and queer people are frequently characterized in a negative fashion. However, we also find more subversive discourses that empower women. In sum, I consider Goytisolo’s tetralogy a “fluid” or “transitional” novel in that it is imbued with contradictory discourses rooted in different historical periods.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology and conceptual basis
  • 3.Analysis: Keywords, concordances, and dispersion
  • 4.The structure of sexuality in Antagonía
  • 5.The discourses of sexuality in Antagonía
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Jódar-Sánchez, Jose Antonio
2023.  Urban Sexuality and Geological Erotism in Antagonía by Luis Goytisolo . Romance Studies 41:3 ► pp. 224 ff. DOI logo
Calder, Jeremy
2020. Language, gender and sexuality in 2019: interrogating normativities in the field. Gender and Language 14:4 ► pp. 429 ff. DOI logo

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