Between Desire and Abjection: Textualizations of the Prostitute's Body in the Chilean Literary Imaginary

Abstract

Starting from an analysis of sorne fragments of "The Part about the Crimes" of 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, this article explores the scope and possibilities of the meaning of the prostitute's configuration in serial representations of dead bodies. The question about the insignificance produced by boredom, as an effect of this serialization, is connected with two texts that are read as foundational for the emergence of the topos of the prostitute in Chilean literature: Juana Lucero by Augusto D'Halmar and El roto by Joaquín Edwards Bello. In these novels the prostitute's body obtains meaning in relation to the national community, representing its liminal margin. The constellation of texts presented in this article aims to move toward a comprehension of the conditions of the production of significance of the prostitute in the Chilean literary tradition.