“De la música y los toros”: masculinities and the representation of Carlos Vives in Ángeles Mastretta's Arráncame la vida (1985)

Abstract

This article is an innovative exploration of the representation of Carlos Vives as, potentially, an exemplar of feminist masculinity in Ángeles Mastretta's best-selling novel Arráncame la vida. On a theoretical level, it attempts to add the categories of feminist masculinity and resistant masculinity to Connell's influential sociological model centred on hegemonic masculinity. In this case, though, we should note that hegemonic and patriarchal masculinity as embodied in the character of Andrés Ascencio are synonyms. On a literary level, it attempts to transform radically current understandings of Carlos Vives as a foil for Andrés Ascencio and a touchstone of change in Catalina's life by arguing that he is a key character, of equal standing with Andrés, in Mastretta's representation of Mexican men and masculinities.