The destabilization of desire and the self in José Donoso’s El lugar sin límites

Abstract

El lugar sin límites is a complex short novel that admits multiple readings. In this paper I focus on three key aspects, and I do so by studying a specific character, la Manuela. First, I delve into the narrative perspective of the “inverted carnival” and the category of the grotesque, with caricatural but also compassionate effects. Secondly, I take on the importance of her queer identity avant la lettre. And thirdly, I explore her masochistic libido, which is tragically complemented by the sadistic tendencies of other male characters. These elements converge in the same phenomenon: the destabilization of desire —which fluctuates between attraction and repulsion, vitalism and violence— and the destabilization of identity —between the controllable and the unclassifiable—.