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At the heart of Luisa Valenzuela's narrative is a deep preoccupation with the use of power, the abuse of power, and the structures of domination which permeate the most basic aspects of our existence. These structures of domination are based on the struggle implied in the idea of politics. What is meant here by politics is the competition between diverse interest groups for power, leadership, and the allocation of value. These structures of domination surface in the politics of the body, the politics of sexuality, the politics of language, and the politics of the state, particularly the authoritarian state. The narrative of Luisa Valenzuela skillfully portrays the interdependence between each of these levels of political exchange and underscores the serious problems embedded in structures of domination and their repercussion from one level of our existence into others.
Valenzuela's two stories "Cambio de armas" (1982) and "Simetrias" (1993) explore the relationship between body, language, and power, as well as the coercive structures that privilege one gender, social order, or political view over another. Both of the stories, which deal with the plight of female torture victims, take place in Argentina during the period of military dictatorship called the "Dirty War" (1976-83), a period that was euphemistically referred to by the government as the "Proceso de reorganizacion nacional" (Process of National Reorganization). At this time all civil rights were suspended, and the military dictatorship had free rein to seize anyone suspected of being a subversive. This period of extreme military repression began with the coup of General Jorge Videla, whose main target was the urban guerrillas and leftist organizations responsible for terrorism. However, of the estimated six thousand to twenty thousand desaparecidos or "disappeared" victims, relatively few were actually terrorists. (Lewis, 449).
In these two stories the author not only analyzes the repression, subjugation, and violence exerted by the totalitarian regime on its victims, but also shows that this same repression is embedded in the culture through its perceptions of body and gender differences, as well as evident in the language which structures the social order. Therefore, parallel to the study of the literature, this analysis reviews an evolution of the concept of dominance and subjugation that underlies human relations and is reflected in fiction. In doing...