A construção da identidade sexual de Raimundo em "A palavra que resta" (2021), de Stênio Gardel

Abstract

Stênio Gardel's (2021) novel A palavra que resta presents the life of Raimundo, a 71 year-old man, queer and almost illiterate, who spend his life questioning himself in terms of his sexual identity. Raimundo is submitted to a structure which imposes on him a sexual patern with which he does not fully identify. In this sense, the question arises: how is the sexual identity of Raimundo, the protagonist of Stênio Gardel's A palavra que resta, constructed in light of queer studies? In order to comprehend this issue, in this study, we aim to analyze the construction of Raimundo's identity from a queer perspective. To achieve this, we will first review the critical reception of A Palavra que Resta by Stênio Gardel, followed by a discussion of the theoretical foundations of queer theory, with an emphasis on the concept of sexual identity. Finally, we will identify the processes involved in the construction of Raimundo's identity, focusing on his interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships in relation to sexuality.. Thus, this investigation has been organised in two sections which interweave theoretical discussions and analyses. The first chapter focuses on the history of the transformation of the gay movement to the queer one, taking into consideration the writings of Richard Miskolci (2012), Gayle Rubin (2017), Tamsin Spargo (2017), Guacira Lopes Louro (2018), Michel Foucault (1996, 2021), Judith Butler (2019, 2022) and Renan Quinalha (2022). The second chapter discusses the concepts of identity and identification from Stuart Hall's (2006) standpoint while also presenting queer lenses (Jagose, 2017), with special attention to the concept of desidentification theorised by José Esteban Muñoz (1999). In the end, it is concluded that Raimundo has reproduced the heteronormative structure inherited from his family for a long period. However, by living with other characters, such as his experiences with Suzanný, he began to identify with her and to disidentify with the norms imposed on him.