Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine the rebellious energy conveyed in the Pizarnikian subject through Julia Kristeva's theory of subversion. The analysis will illustrate that Pizarnik's subversion of the Symbolic world is implemented through the sensation of a shattered body and the notion of sexual fluidity.

Paper long abstract:

It is universally perceived that the poetry of Alejandra Pizarnik practices frequently the alteration of the speaking subject. The duplication of being begins to appear explicitly in Árbol de Diana (1962); it then surfaces more frequently in Extracción de la piedra de locura (1968); by the time of her last book El infierno musical (1971) it is no longer merely a duplication but a multiplication. In the essay named 'Le Sujet en procès', published in Tel Quel in 1972, Kristeva illustrates the destructive power of semiotic expulsion and the implication - a split subject in process, fragmented body - for the Symbolic Order under such an invasion of 'destruction, aggressivity and death'. This paper will posit the frequent dispersion of the subject in Pizarnik as a manifestation of the subversive sujet en procès. Two essential features inextricably linked to the establishment of such a subject in Pizarnik's poetry will be examined. The first important aspect intrinsic to the subject in process is the simultaneous existence of the impression of impersonality and the sensation of a shattered body. The innocent voices created by Pizarnik will also be studied for such feature coincides with another central characteristic of the subject in process - the notion of sexual fluidity and neutrality, often manifested in the subject's bisexuality.