Alternative Realities from Argentina

Angélica Gorodischer is one of the most prominent science fiction writers in Argentina Her short story “Los embriones del violeta” (The Embryos of the Violet) from the collection “Bajo las jubeas en flor” (Under the Flowering Jubeas, 1973) has been widely anthologized and is considered by some a masterpiece of Argentinian sf. The story is a good example of the kind of sf we have come to expect from this author, one that is thematically related to the Anglo-American New Wave or feminist sf of the 1960s and 1970s. “Los embriones” speculates in general about the nature of desire and the search for happiness and specifically about the traditional Argentinian equation between military power and masculinity by presenting a world of ex-service men who must resort to transvestism to fulfill their sexual needs. Gorodischer proposes an alternate reality where men can act like gods, reproducing anything they desire except for women. Therefore, those men whose objects of desire are women have no choice but to engage in sexual practices with transvestite beings they have fashioned as substitutes. By problematizing sexual desire and its relationship to political and social power, the text draws attention to sexism as it relates to both males and females and, ultimately, enables the reader to analyze and question received values and ideas. (YMG)

Art · Political science · Comparative Literary Analysis and Criticism · Latin American Literature Studies · Literary and Philosophical Studies

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  Open Access•Raphaëlle Raynaud•Recherches•2025

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