Orienting Towards Home, Or The Boundaries Of The Nomad

Abstract

What are the ways in which the subject is influenced by its location? How is subjectivity formed in relation t o space and what are the different implications of changing that space? To answer these questions I analyze concepts of subjectivity and gender and their intersections with notions of space such as belonging, transgressing boundaries, and orientation. I explore this theoretical path through a comparative study of the transgressive writing of four salient authors from across Latin America: Clarice Lispector, Diamela Eltit, Carmen Boullosa and Ana Clavel. My dissertation is therefore an analysis of the multiple connections between subjectivity and space, especially focused on gendered and corporal aspects as they manifest in contemporary Latin American literature. Feminist and queer theorists such as Judith Butler, Sarah Ahmed, Kathryn Bon-Stockton, Rosi Braidotti and Elizabeth Grosz, support my analysis in achieving new understandings of the intersections of the three vectors that guide me- space, subjectivity and gender. Throughout my four chapters I analyze the relations between subject and the space that surrounds it, while coining a new term- -subjective space. "Subjective space" is a hybrid term that allows me to look both at the way the subject is influenced by its location, and how, in turn, it is spatially constructed. Can there be a common thread to the way these theories and literary texts explore the formation of the subject and its constitution in space? What can be gained by thinking of this constitution in spatial terms? Following this path of analysis will lead me to a new theoretical location, where I hope to gain insight into the centrality of space to the subject and the subject's impacts on space.