ABSTRACT
Puerto Rican playwright, novelist, and essayist, Luís Rafael Sánchez is best known for his 1976 novel, La guaracha del Macho Camacho. Sánchez’s own guaracha, or stylistic “beat,” marks his novel, set in Puerto Rico and enlivened by a playful use of language and an unconventional narrative structure, as an exemplary text in the larger Latin American postmodern literary movement. Set during a severe traffic jam in San Juan to the frenetic rhythm of radio disc jockey “Macho” Camacho’s Caribbean musical repertoire, Sánchez’s story allows for the collision of numerous disparate characters’ lives, from the most to the least privileged and powerful in Puerto Rican society. Among these are sexually marginalized characters whose experiences directly challenge the repressive machismo and heterosexism of that society.
