Creating a ‘Third Space’ through Narration in Mercedes Valdivieso’s Maldita yo entre las mujeres

This article applies Homi K. Bhabha’s theory of the Third Space (2004) to an analysis of the narrative structures employed by Mercedes Valdivieso in Maldita yo entre las mujeres (1991). Considering the representation of genders and ethnicities in this historical novel set in the seventeenth century, it argues that Valdivieso’s fragmented, cyclical and oneiric narrative reflects the complex forms of identities illustrated in the novel. These identities contradict the definitions promoted by the European patriarchal society of the time. They are incomplete and under constant negotiation. It is argued here that in the reconstruction of the infamous historical figure, Catalina de los Ríos y Lisperguer, Valdivieso creates a ‘third space’ through these narrative techniques, and in so doing, allows for heterogeneous, nuanced permutations of identities to be constructed.