DISRUPTIONS: The lesbian narrative space in the short stories of Joy Cruz

• Main Author: Tongco, Melinda Racquel S.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2002
• Subjects: Comparative Literature
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_honors/166
• Institution: De La Salle University

Abstract. There are only a few Philippine lesbian short story writers at present. So far, no one exemplifies significant potential as Joy Cruz does. Cruz skillfully re-defines the lesbian-woman by deviating from the traditional structure of the lesbian text-and considering that lesbian literature in the country is relatively new and untested, her efforts are indeed, commendable. Marilyn R. Farwell's theory, Heterosexual Plots and Lesbian Subtexts: Toward a Theory of Lesbian Narrative Space, gives a more potent definition to lesbian literature. Farwell proposes the existence of a lesbian narrative space that disrupts, if not destroys, binary oppositions common to the traditional heteropatriarchal narrative. This space allows female desire to be the mobile desire which propels the narrative-thereby depriving men of authority. In this study, the reader has determined Cruz's formal techniques in constructing the lesbian narrative space. This study has also identified how her stories have interrupted the conventions of the hetero-patriarchal narrative, as well as the implications of these interventions or disruptions. It has been found that three of Cruz's five short stories contain Farwell's lesbian narrative space. However, the techniques by which she has created this space are flawed, for the avoids any dramatization of struggles between her lesbian and male characters thus, the lesbian-woman wins over the heterosexual male by default. Cruz is merely successful in imbuing her politics as a lesbian in her stories-for when literary requirements are taken into account, it is evident that she has failed as a storyteller.