Representações do desejo homoerótico masculino em narrativas de Allex Leilla

Abstract

Our thesis investigates the representations of male homoerotic desire in contemporary Brazilian literature. To that end, she chooses as her analytical corpus three narratives by the baiana writer Állex Leilla. These are the novel Henrique (2001), the story O sol que a chuva apagou (2009), and the short story “Cara de fumaça”, which is part of the book Obscuros (2000). In our analysis, we start from the premise that contemporary Brazilian literature, more specifically the fiction of Állex Leilla, constitutes a privileged space for making visible and problematizing the experiences of dissident subjects. Therefore, our goal is, through an analytical reading of the three fictional texts, to scrutinize how these works articulate, in their plots and narrative forms, affections and desires between men who challenge heterosexual norms. To that end, our theoretical foundation is based on studies by philosophers and theorists in the field of Cultural Studies, more specifically Gender and Sexuality Studies, with an emphasis on concepts such as "gender performativity" (Butler, 2018). We also use the "epistemology of the closet" (Sedgwick, 2007), as well as, of course, reflections linked to "sexuality devices" (Foucault, 1990, 1999, 2000), and the concept of homoeroticism pointed out by Costa (1994). Our analysis of Leilla's narratives demonstrates that the writer not only represents gay characters, but, above all, inserts them into complex relational contexts that challenge family, social, and moral structures. In the narrative Henrique, we follow the protagonist's identity construction amidst taboos and family conflicts; in O sol que a chuva apagou, we encounter strategies for managing homoerotic desire in a heteronormative environment; In "Cara de fumaça" (Smoke Face), our critical attention focuses on the abject and age-related transgressive dimension of eroticism between men. At the end of our reflections, we concluded that Leill's writing, by giving voice and complexity to male homoerotic experiences, contributes to the expansion of the literary imagination regarding sexual and gender dissidence in Brazil, since his fiction promotes ways of thinking critically about dissident sexuality, both through affective records and through political gestures that question hegemonic norms.