Subverting Exclusion Discourses and the Homoerotic Canon in Our Lady of the Assassins by Fernando Vallejo

Fernando Vallejo’s Our Lady of the Assassins (1994) stands as a contemporary Latin American masterpiece, retaining its cultural relevance amidst the proliferation of themes of violence in both literature and popular media, as exemplified by the widespread popularity of TV series such as Narcos (Netflix, 2015–2017). Despite existing studies dedicated to the novel, none have delved into its profound immersion in the homoerotic canon, as represented by influences from authors like Thomas Mann and Jean Genet, nor its engagement with exclusionary discourses prevalent in legal, medical and Catholic realms. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining the extent to which the novel reinforces or challenges hegemonic discourses that inform its poetics. Adopting a methodological approach rooted in comparative studies and intertextuality, the analysis focuses on the novel’s relationship with the homoerotic canon, its representation of exclusionary discourses, and the portrayal of the romanticized delinquent figure. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .