Fidel and Gummy Bears?: Transgressive Humor in Contemporary Latina Fiction

Abstract

In what ways might women’s writing be considered transgressive? Latina authors traverse a myriad of socially constructed frontiers. The church, sex, and traditionally prescribed gender roles are just a few of the dangerous borders women may cross at their own risk. In this essay, Sonia Alvarez Wilson explores the various ways Latina authors challenge cultural confines with wit, humor, and a pioneering spirit. In Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros, the fiction of Judith Ortiz Cofer, and King of Cuba by Cristina García, these Latina women writers confront the church and traditional social mores through taboo sexual liaison, explicit descriptions of the body, and caricature. These Latina writers proclaim their literary emancipation from centuries of silencing and lead the way for others to do the same as women and as writers. This exploration of the writing of American authors of Caribbean and Mexican origin highlights their use of transgressive humor to resist and challenge cultural norms and stereotypes.

I do like to go right to the edge of acute absurdity where it’s both traumatic and kind of outrageous. In this sense, it can be both appalling and provide a crazed relief.

—Cristina García. ¹