ABSTRACT
Born in 1949 in Santiago, Chile, Diamela Eltit examines the violent fracturing of post-coup Chile through novels,1 video and performance art. She exposes and problematizes discrete social, artistic and political boundaries by overlapping the issues of gender, class, ideology and discourse. In a variety of contexts Eltit explores themes of confused identity, the body, and subjectivity. Lumpérica (1983), Eltit’s first novel, represents a bizarre spectacle in which a protagonist mutilates her own body. Eltit herself performs an analogous expression in which she scarifies her own arms and then reads her manuscript in a brothel. This performance, in turn, engenders another “text,” the video Maipu.2
In this chapter I trace the projection of Eltit’s performance across multiple genres, media and texts. My reading of Lumpérica and Maipu, with Eltit’s action of self-effacement, suggests a transtextual and multimedia continuum that spirals between fictional, corporeal and visual performances. I use the concept of performance not only in terms of theatrical or dramatic representation but also in the literal sense of accomplishment, achievement and success. Consequently, a reading of Eltit’s performance will take into account how the work performs narratively as well as politically.
