Esperpento y cuerpo violento: Angélica Liddell entre misoginia y feminismo

Abstract

This essay studies the seeming contradiction between An-gelica Liddell’s feminism in some of her plays and the misogynistic turn in her more recent works, especially The Scarlet Letter (2018). The theo-retical framework includes Paul B. Preciado’s concept of «auto-guinea pig» and Rebecca Schneider’s “explicit body” to analyze the ways in which physical violence is central to Liddell’s work. The essay then lo-cates Liddell in a lineage of Spanish theatrical traditions: the 19th cen-tury genre astracán and the esperpento, conceptualized by playwright Valle-Inclán in 1920. In this light, Liddell’s violent and provocative per-formative language becomes part of a consolidated tradition rather than an irreverent provocation. This article analyzes case studies such as Yo no soy bonita (2005), La casa de la fuerza (2009) y The Scarlet Letter (2018)