The Representation of Homosexuality in La Virgen de los Sicarios (Fernando Vallejo, 1994) and Salón de belleza (Mario Bellatin, 1994)

Abstract

This article proposes a comparative analysis of two novels published in 1994 by two writers based in Mexico: Salón de belleza(Mario Bellatin, 1960) and La Virgen de los Sicarios(Fernando Vallejo, 1942). Both novels present divergent visions regarding desire and the experience of sexual dissidence, although the presence of specific themes, such as male homosexual relationships and the pathological omnipresence of death, is narratively deployed in both works through the first-person voice. Through dialogue with queer theories, gender and sexuality theories and studies of the aforementioned works, the analysis of the representations of homosexuality in Salón de bellezaand La Virgen de los sicariosis relevant to understand the inscription and subversion at the literary level of structures of domination, such as homophobia, colonialism and patriarchy, in the context of Latin American dissident literature. While La Virgen de los sicarios links the homoerotic desire that underlies the romances between Fernando and the underage hitmen to misogyny and patriarchal culture, Salón de belleza expresses sexuality as a set of polymorphous practices that combine trans-feminine identity, transvestism and sex with men, but also contextualizes them in relation to a contagious and deadly disease that ultimately erases community and restores the limits of the gender binary and biological death.