Carnal Inscriptions : Spanish American Narratives of Corporeal Difference and Disability

This book explores manifestations of physical disability in Spanish American narrative fiction and performance, from José Martí's late nineteenth century crónicas, to Mario Bellatín's twenty-first century novels, from the performances of Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco to the testimonio and filmic depictions of Gabriela Brimmer.

While Latin American literary tradition frequently has been read with attention to monstrosity or the calibanesque, as overarching metaphors of collective identity or otherness, the specific roles and potential agency of disabled people as such rarely have been addressed in the context of this literature. Carnal Inscriptions explores manifestations of physical disability in Spanish American narrative fiction and performance, from José Martí''s late nineteenth century crónicas, to Mario Bellatín''s twenty-first century novels, from the performances of Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco to the testimonio and filmic depictions of Gabriela Brimmer. Readings combine critical approaches from the fields of Latin American cultural studies and disability studies, and emphasize intersections and disjunctures between metaphors of corporeal difference and monstrosity, and material histories of disabled or otherwise different bodies. The book calls for an ethics of interpretation, addressing the lived experiences of individual bodies and communities, through their entanglement with narrative and performative representation. This analysis points towards redefinitions of corporeality and disability in the contexts of Spanish American cultural production, and contributes to contemporary scholarly interest in disability and performance.