"Hablo por mi diferencia" The Rebirth of Lemebel From Los incontables to "Manifiesto"

Abstract

All of Lemebel's works have been studied, analyzed, and critiqued, while Los incontables has been either forgotten or unheard of, which is why I attempt a queer reading of these texts. This investigation reaches beyond a need to "rescue" more of Lemebel's works than he has chosen to do by himself; they are analyzed as destabilizing tools of subversion. At the same time, a reworking of Lemebel's stories written and published during Pinochet's dictatorship gives testament to a form of memory hitherto little explored, one that rewrites the official story of the military regime of Chile from the perspective of the sexually deviant and socially marginalized. Los incontables gives voice to the sexually marginalized, those with no History on either side of the battle. I also explore the author as in transformation, analyzing Los incontables and "Manifiesto: Hablo por mi diferencia" as works that mark his convergence from Mardones to Lembel, a political act of resistance against national hegemonic structures of repression.