The Identity Trans(locations) of the protagonist of Virginia Despentes’ novels. Case study of Apocalypse bébé

• Main Author: Clara Zgoła
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Adam Mickiewicz University 2013-01-01
• Series: Praktyka Teoretyczna
• Subjects: literatura trashowa; krytyczne teorie queer; seksualność i przestrzeń; trzecia fala feminizmu we Francji; badania miejskie; powieść miejska; geopoetyka
• Online Access: http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/prt/article/view/2964

<p>The article is an attempt to investigate the contemporary creativity<br />of the French, third wave feminist, and novel writer Virginie Despentes with a focus<br />on changes taking place in her work over the last twenty years. The first part shows<br />the scope of the early phase of her artistic activity, which, on the main level, deals with<br />specific issues in the French culture of the last decade of the past century, especially<br />those taking place in relation to the reconfiguration of the French literary field<br />in the middle of the 1990s. Of particular importance are changes in approaches<br />of those who were excluded or marginalized because of their race/gender/class<br />position (most often femininists), including issues of self-representation and<br />the appearance of the trash literature trend.</p><p>The second part of the article takes as its goal enhancing the queer aspect<br />of Despentes’ last project. It analyses Apocalypse bébé on the basis of geopoetical<br />instrumentarium and presents information concerning the spatio-temporal dimensions<br />of the (non)normative identities of the main characters. The authors construction<br />of the urban chronotope of Paris and Barcelona is considered from a critical<br />queer theory perspective, leading to the thesis of a specific utopian turn taking place<br />in Despentes’ last novel.</p>