Blood Pact and Sexual Ambiguity. Mariana Enríquez takes up the challenge

Abstract

This communication initially focuses on the capacity of the Gothic mode, from its eighteenth-century origins to the present, to extend beyond its original forms, radiating into different domains of culture. This "pervasiveness" of the Gothic mode is precisely condensed in the vampiric constellation, which in our time—after its varied appearances—becomes a subversive way of bringing taboo elements into the public sphere. From the ambiguous figure of Byron, for example, as both a person and an author, who serves as a touchstone for many subsequent expressions. This presentation thus builds a bridge from the English literary tradition to the work of Mariana Enríquez, whose connection with that past is illuminated in a privileged light by uniting the emission of blood with the display of sexual ambiguity.