Il corpo violato, il corpo liberato: autodistruzione e catarsi in La Muñeca menor di Rosario Ferré
The violated body, the released body: self-destruction and catharsis in La Muñeca menor by Rosario Ferré

Summary/Abstract: The theory of self-recognition of the female universe elaborated by Hélène Cixous in the essay The laugh of the Medusa (1975) together with the mechanisms of postcolonial alienation analyzed by Franz Fanon in The Damned of the Earth (1961) have, in my opinion, inspired Rosario Ferré in the elaboration of the literary strategies adopted in her short story La Muñeca menor. Ferré’s intention is to demystify and overturn the patriarchal system in force through an autobiographical, subversive, and angry writing. The rebellion of the female heroines is accomplished through catharsis and the consumption of their bodies. Their liberating self-destruction opens the way to a real decolonization of the soul. The Puerto Rican author aims to highlight in the short story the emotional repercussions generated by colonial processes. Rosario Ferré also theorizes a new cosmogony in which Puerto Rican women, doubly victims of the colonial and patriarchal system, can play a more active and participatory role.

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