LÉSBICAS QUE (NÃO) SAEM DO ARMÁRIO:: UMA LEITURA DE TRÊS CONTOS DE NATALIA BORGES POLESSO

Abstract

This article proposes a reading of three selected short stories from Natalia Borges Polesso's collection Amora: “Vó, a senhora é lésbica?” (“Grandma, are you a lesbian?”), “Minha prima está na cidade” (“My cousin is in town”), and “As tias” (“The aunts”), in order to give visibility to contemporary national literature written by women – and, more specifically, by lesbian women – whose characters are also women in non-stereotypical homosexual relations. Based on reflections from Epistemology of the Closet by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1993) and Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence by Adrienne Rich (1980), it was observed how female homosexual characters are depicted in the literary text, how they view experience and lesbian identity and what mechanisms they use to decide whether it is safe or not to come out of the closet. The narratives suggest that while lesbian women can create their own environments and dynamics to find a sense of identification and security, they are constantly forced to negotiate with what is commonly called a “closet”.