Exploración de la homosexualidad en un hombre muerto a puntapiés: perspectiva literaria y socio-cultural.

Abstract

A Man Kicked to Death was one of the first short stories to address homosexuality in Ecuador in the second decade of the 20th century. Through this work, Pablo Palacio established himself as one of the first authors to make visible a marginalized reality from a social and narrative perspective, opening a space for questioning social constructions of gender and sexuality. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the representation of homosexuality in Pablo Palacio's work, A Man Kicked to Death, from a literary and sociocultural perspective. The study was approached from a descriptive and analytical qualitative approach. Regarding data collection, interviews were used with two literature specialists and one gender studies specialist. Focus groups were also conducted with eight university students who had read the story. The objective was to elicit their knowledge and perceptions on the topic. The instruments used were a semi-structured interview and a focus group guide with semi-structured questions. The results revealed that, in this socially charged short story, homosexuality is presented ambiguously, as a product of context, using literary devices such as dark humor, irony, and metaphors. In this way, the text presents homosexuality as a critical literary manifestation that scrutinizes the norms dictated by a rigid society, which still prevail today.