The transvestite ghost (O fantasma travesti): a queer rhapsody

Abstract

This article presents a critical analysis of Sylvia Orthof's novel O fantasma travesti (The transvestite ghost) (1988), whose form and the characters construction closely match the discourse of queer theory regarding the deconstruction of binary gender archetypes and performativity as a creation of new ways of understanding body, gender and sexualities As theoretical scope we bring the contributions of Butler (2015) and Louro (2001) and we propose an approximation between queer theory and fiction theory in order to understand Orthof's novel as a process in which the politics of writing, a concept suggested by Rancière (1995), plays an important role in the representation of the character Ziriguidum. Created under the aegis of gender parody and under the influence of fantastic narrative, Ziriguidum is a ode to queerness. The language with which it is built reverberates the ambiguity and inconstancy that characterize queer theory, besides it illustrates the pronominal confusion that arises when there is a need to refer to trans people.