Narrative and Aesthetics of Exiled Bodies

A Reading of Las malas by Camila Sosa Villada

Abstract

This essay revolves around the question: how is the novel Las malas aesthetically and narratively structured through the representation of the exiled body? To achieve its objective, the text is organized into three key sections. First, it examines the physical, symbolic, and social uprooting experienced by the trans woman of Parque Sarmiento within the narrative, through the category of exile. Second, it analyzes the symbolic axes of the work —wound, metamorphosis, and community— from a decolonial perspective. Subsequently, it puts into tension the notion of the body in literature, problematizes the critical scope of so-called marginal literatures, and highlights the conflicts that arise when classifying these narratives in relation to the canon. Finally, the essay concludes that the novel transforms trans corporeality into an aesthetic-critical device that destabilizes canonical hierarchies, while also leaving open a reflection on the paradox of the marginal and its incorporation into the center of literary debate.