Jenny Asse Chayo: Gender Fluidity, Visionary Discourse, and Biblical Narrative
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Naomi Lindstrom
Abstract
Jenny Asse Chayo (b. Mexico, 1963) is known for her visionary poetry, full of references to the Hebrew Bible, magical Jewish folk beliefs, and Kabbalah. Her 2004 collection Es sed de morir el paraíso reconfigures familiar narratives from Genesis and Exodus concerning the patriarchs and other significant figures. The most notable modification is the fluidity of the gender of biblical protagonists. Isaac becomes the daughter of Abraham, and Joseph the daughter of Jacob. Asse’s version of the Abraham-God encounter shifts the themes away from the characteristically patriarchal preoccupations of fathering descendants and claiming land for posterity and toward writing and language. While many of the original biblical figures perform such community roles as patriarch or prophet, their counterparts in Sed are not charged with exercising leadership or moral guidance. Instead, they are solitary beings focused on achieving a form of communication that is essentially a mystical encounter through language.
© 2024 by Academic Studies Press, Boston, USA
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Articles in the same Issue
- Title
- Table of Contents
- Introduction to the Special Issue on Jewish Latin American Women Writers, Filmmakers, and Characters
- ARTICLES
- Latin American Jewish Documentaries by Women: An Emerging Genre
- Diana Raznovich and the Performance of Performance: Gender, Jewishness, and the Conundrum of Identity
- Jenny Asse Chayo: Gender Fluidity, Visionary Discourse, and Biblical Narrative
- From Monastir to Mexico: The Weight of Tradition in Vicky Nizri’s Vida propia (2000)
- Jewish Women in Argentine Cinema: The Transgressive Bride in Damián Szifrón’s Relatos salvajes (2014)
- Remembering Anne Frank: Marjorie Agosín’s Multidirectional Feminist Postmemory
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Donà Lauterbach, Chiara. 2023. Materialidad insumisa. Lo fragmentario, lo nimio y lo abyecto en la obra de Margo Glantz
- Guzmán, Gustavo E. 2022. Attitudes of the Chilean Right toward Jews: From Acceptable Undesirables to Respected Businessmen
- Rein, Raanan, and David M. K. Sheinin, eds. 2021. Armed Jews in the Americas
- Visacovsky, Nerina, ed. 2022. Cultura judeo-progresista en las Américas
- Yalonetzky, Romina. 2021. Gente como uno: Class, Belonging, and Transnationalism in Jewish Life in Lima
- Contributors
