Horizons of Transgression in a Lesbian Novel: Nicole Brossard’s Mauve Desert

Abstract

The following article analyzes Nicole Brossard’s Mauve Desert as a lesbian novel. The author raises several complex issues, like the definition and history of lesbians, before discussing structural aspects that clearly place Brossard’s text as specifically feminist lesbian. The three sections that conform the novel interconnect lesbian experience, writing and translation. As such, the novel succeeds in transgressing patriarchal authority and opening a space of collaborative free lesbian literary creativity.