Nelly Richard is a renowned Latin American cultural studies theorist. Born in France and a graduate of the Sorbonne, Richard has lived in Chile since 1970. Among her many books are La estratificaciÓn de los mÁrgenes and PolÍticas y estÉticas de la memoria.Silvia R. Tandeciarz is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies at the College of William and Mary. She is the author of Exorcismos, a book of poetry.Alice A. Nelson is a Member of the Faculty at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She is the author of Political Bodies: Gender, History, and the Struggle for Narrative Power in Recent Chilean Literature.

“At last, Nelly Richard’s work is available for English-language readers. A leading figure in the theater of Latin American critical debate, Nelly Richard has written with unorthodox brilliance about the Chilean transition to democracy, North-South cultural relations, and the value of aesthetic intervention to rethinking the politics of difference.”-Francine Masiello, author of The Art of Transition: Latin American Culture and Neoliberal Crisis “The Chilean publication of this book and of its companion volume (The Insubordination of Signs) confirmed and advanced Nelly Richard’s reputation as one of the foremost critical voices of the age. Richard’s brand of cultural critique, informed by a thorough attention to contemporary forms of subjectivity, is unmatched in the force of its theoretical articulation, its aesthetic sensitivity, and its sharp deployment of political strategies. Nelly Richard is today an essential reference for intellectual work in Latin America and beyond.”-Alberto Moreiras, author of The Exhaustion of Difference: The Politics of Latin American Cultural Studies "Nelly Richard wrestles with the materiality of critique so that it maintains the inscriptions of antagonism, making it an indispensable instrument for an effective democratic culture. In Masculine/Feminine, that antagonism is explored through a consideration of gender and how authority and power weave their apparent neutrality and objectivity in the masculine register. The disruptive feminist strategies deployed by the writers and artists considered here beckon to an elsewhere where creativity, fantasy, pleasure, taste, and style mingle in the ‘figural and strategic repertoires of seduction and sedition.’”-George YÚdice, author of The Expediency of Culture: Uses of Culture in the Global Era

• Translator’s Acknowledgments vii Translator’s Preface ix Note on This Translation xiii ONE Spatial Politics: Cultural Criticism and Feminist Theory 1TWO Does Writing Have a Gender? 17 THREE Politics and Aesthetics of the Sign 29FOUR Gender Contortions and Sexual Doubling: Tranvestite Parody 43FIVE Feminism and Postmodernism 55Notes 69Bibliography 81Index 87

Nelly Richard is a renowned Latin American cultural studies theorist. Born in France and a graduate of the Sorbonne, Richard has lived in Chile since 1970. Among her many books are La estratificaciÓn de los mÁrgenes and PolÍticas y estÉticas de la memoria.Silvia R. Tandeciarz is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies at the College of William and Mary. She is the author of Exorcismos, a book of poetry.Alice A. Nelson is a Member of the Faculty at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She is the author of Political Bodies: Gender, History, and the Struggle for Narrative Power in Recent Chilean Literature.

“At last, Nelly Richard’s work is available for English-language readers. A leading figure in the theater of Latin American critical debate, Nelly Richard has written with unorthodox brilliance about the Chilean transition to democracy, North-South cultural relations, and the value of aesthetic intervention to rethinking the politics of difference.”-Francine Masiello, author of The Art of Transition: Latin American Culture and Neoliberal Crisis “The Chilean publication of this book and of its companion volume (The Insubordination of Signs) confirmed and advanced Nelly Richard’s reputation as one of the foremost critical voices of the age. Richard’s brand of cultural critique, informed by a thorough attention to contemporary forms of subjectivity, is unmatched in the force of its theoretical articulation, its aesthetic sensitivity, and its sharp deployment of political strategies. Nelly Richard is today an essential reference for intellectual work in Latin America and beyond.”-Alberto Moreiras, author of The Exhaustion of Difference: The Politics of Latin American Cultural Studies "Nelly Richard wrestles with the materiality of critique so that it maintains the inscriptions of antagonism, making it an indispensable instrument for an effective democratic culture. In Masculine/Feminine, that antagonism is explored through a consideration of gender and how authority and power weave their apparent neutrality and objectivity in the masculine register. The disruptive feminist strategies deployed by the writers and artists considered here beckon to an elsewhere where creativity, fantasy, pleasure, taste, and style mingle in the ‘figural and strategic repertoires of seduction and sedition.’”-George YÚdice, author of The Expediency of Culture: Uses of Culture in the Global Era

• Translator’s Acknowledgments vii Translator’s Preface ix Note on This Translation xiii ONE Spatial Politics: Cultural Criticism and Feminist Theory 1TWO Does Writing Have a Gender? 17 THREE Politics and Aesthetics of the Sign 29FOUR Gender Contortions and Sexual Doubling: Tranvestite Parody 43FIVE Feminism and Postmodernism 55Notes 69Bibliography 81Index 87

Nelly Richard is a renowned Latin American cultural studies theorist. Born in France and a graduate of the Sorbonne, Richard has lived in Chile since 1970. Among her many books are La estratificaciÓn de los mÁrgenes and PolÍticas y estÉticas de la memoria.Silvia R. Tandeciarz is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies at the College of William and Mary. She is the author of Exorcismos, a book of poetry.Alice A. Nelson is a Member of the Faculty at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She is the author of Political Bodies: Gender, History, and the Struggle for Narrative Power in Recent Chilean Literature.

“At last, Nelly Richard’s work is available for English-language readers. A leading figure in the theater of Latin American critical debate, Nelly Richard has written with unorthodox brilliance about the Chilean transition to democracy, North-South cultural relations, and the value of aesthetic intervention to rethinking the politics of difference.”-Francine Masiello, author of The Art of Transition: Latin American Culture and Neoliberal Crisis “The Chilean publication of this book and of its companion volume (The Insubordination of Signs) confirmed and advanced Nelly Richard’s reputation as one of the foremost critical voices of the age. Richard’s brand of cultural critique, informed by a thorough attention to contemporary forms of subjectivity, is unmatched in the force of its theoretical articulation, its aesthetic sensitivity, and its sharp deployment of political strategies. Nelly Richard is today an essential reference for intellectual work in Latin America and beyond.”-Alberto Moreiras, author of The Exhaustion of Difference: The Politics of Latin American Cultural Studies "Nelly Richard wrestles with the materiality of critique so that it maintains the inscriptions of antagonism, making it an indispensable instrument for an effective democratic culture. In Masculine/Feminine, that antagonism is explored through a consideration of gender and how authority and power weave their apparent neutrality and objectivity in the masculine register. The disruptive feminist strategies deployed by the writers and artists considered here beckon to an elsewhere where creativity, fantasy, pleasure, taste, and style mingle in the ‘figural and strategic repertoires of seduction and sedition.’”-George YÚdice, author of The Expediency of Culture: Uses of Culture in the Global Era

• Translator’s Acknowledgments vii Translator’s Preface ix Note on This Translation xiii ONE Spatial Politics: Cultural Criticism and Feminist Theory 1TWO Does Writing Have a Gender? 17 THREE Politics and Aesthetics of the Sign 29FOUR Gender Contortions and Sexual Doubling: Tranvestite Parody 43FIVE Feminism and Postmodernism 55Notes 69Bibliography 81Index 87