La intertextualidad "queer" en "El mismo mar de todos los veranos" de Esther Tusquets

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the queer intertexuality and the representation of the lesbian main characters in El mismo mar de todos los veranos by Esther Tusquets (1978). The plot of the novel, which is set in Barcelona in the mid-seventies, centers on a brief love story between a middle-aged university professor, who is the protagonist and narrator, and her young Colombian student, Clara. My hypothesis is that the novel intertextually embraces strategies common to lesbian narratives, among them the canonical The Well of Loneliness by Radcliffe Hall. The strategies concern narrative structure, imagery and the description of the androgynous appearance and psychology of the main characters. Particularly, with respect to imagery, I explore the use of metaphors traditionally related to homosexual culture in Spain. In this context, I trace the veiled references to the Inquisition's burning of sodomites and the Francoist regime’s legislation against homosexuals. My theoretical framework is based on concepts developed in feminist studies, lesbian and gay studies, and queer theory. Previous criticism has largely ignored the lesbian theme of the novel, or studied it from an exclusively psychoanalytical angle. In my reading, the novel voices a critique of compulsory heterosexuality, and offers lesbian desire, love and sexuality as alternatives to the dominant sexual paradigm represented in Spanish literature at the time.