Abstract
In "'El Corregidor at the Crossroads: Desire, Law and Coloniality in Martel's Zama" Leisa Kauffmann discusses Lucrecia Martel's filmic adaptation of Antonio DiBenedetto's 1952 novel, Zama. Highlighting the director's emphasis on the psychoanalytic (as opposed to the existentialist) dimensions of the novel, the essay follows the titular characater's unravelling and shows how Martel's film allegorizes colonial(ist) subjectivity. In Kauffmann's essay, various psychoanalytic theories (such as the work of Bhabha, Fanon, and Žižek), and critiques centering the notion of race in the Lacanian tradition are applied. In addition, differences between the novel and film, particularly regarding Zama's mutilation and its aftermath, are discussed. Although the film is the first of Martel's ouevre to center a male protagonist, Kauffmann points out that the issue of masculinity and the agency of women in a colonial context characterized by gender as well as racial and class oppression remain central to Martel's visual and auditory masterpiece.
Recommended Citation
Kauffmann, Leisa.
""El Corregidor" at the Crossroads: Desire, Law, and Coloniality in Martel's Zama."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
26.2
(2024):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.4259>
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