The following article analyzes El Príncipe (1972) by Mario Cruz to examine how dynamics of power, desire, and gender operate under confinement through a critical sadomasochistic lens. The study is based on a qualitative textual analysis guided by theoretical contributions from Freud, Foucault, Butler, among others, understanding sadomasochism as a relational structure that eroticizes violence and shapes affective bonds. Through three key axes: power and subordination; desire and transgression; gender and sexuality, the article identifies narrative patterns where pleasure, obedience, and role inversion form queer subjectivities marked by inequality. The findings reveal that the novel not only represents dissident identities but also questions the boundaries between affection and punishment, desire and domination. El Príncipe thus emerges as a narrative of queer subjectivity shaped by marginality, symbolic ritual, and the erotic economy of power.
Bravo Salas, M. (2025). Eroticized Power and Gender Performativity in Prison Narratives.: A Critical Reading from Sadomasochism in El Príncipe (1972) by Mario Cruz. Nomadías, (34), 65–79. Retrieved from https://nomadias.uchile.cl/index.php/NO/article/view/79944
