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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. An intersex protagonist, Farrah, whose setting, family, and history change depending on the novel; another protagonist, Sharon, a plump beauty of undefined color, also undergoes a transformation, as seen in the books. French writer Emmanuelle Bayamack-Tam's characters form a mutant brotherhood, a sort of X-Men queer desire and identities as compasses pointing toward freedom, a concept now hijacked by the far right.

Bayamack-Tam is an author who has crafted a literary project somewhere between self-awareness and delirium, rife with literary references (quotes and passages from authors such as Flaubert, Proust, and Nerval permeate her novels) amidst scenarios where political imagination takes center stage. Just as her characters explode gender binaries, her works span several genres—millenarian novels, plays, poetry, and chronicles—and are also written under the name Rebecca Lighieri, a pseudonym she adopted to publish novels intended for the general public. 

During his visit to Buenos Aires, where he presented his translated novels “The Thirteenth Hour” (Médicis Prize 2022) and “Arcadia” (Inter Book Prize, 2019), published by Cuenco De Plata and celebrated by colleagues such as Paul Preciado, he spoke with Agencia Presentes about the choice of his creative universe, the use of humor and imagination as a political gesture. 

– ¿Why does the theme of gender identity appear at the center of your work?

– This has always been there. The first novel I wrote, in 1996, was about a boy who felt like a girl. In France, there was a huge gap in gender studies, and I didn't know what gender dysphoria was, for example, nor did I have much idea about trans identities. I came to this subject for personal reasons that I prefer not to make public. Since my childhood, I've felt the degree to which people are fluid. When I started writing , my characters appeared, who are like free electrons: neither man nor woman, neither Black nor white, with fluid desire as well. This allows me to question everything that revolves around biology . After that first novel in the '90s, I wrote another, "La princesse de." It takes place in a cabaret among trans people and drag queens. They were books that were very little read. I think my writing gradually became politicized; at first, the characters weren't situated. But I don't write pamphlets or essays; I focus on fiction and poetry. I think they would be banal books if they did not engage with social issues.

– What does the use of humor bring to you?

– I realized that the authors I like most are very funny: Kafka, Beckett, Proust, even Virginia Woolf has moments of great humor and irony. She's absolutely indispensable to me. A serious spirit is foreign to me; what I write is usually satire. I like the mix of registers: sometimes horror, sometimes humor, sometimes a more political tone.

– Your novels propose utopias, or at least worlds where what is rejected today appears normalized. Do you think literature can generate some kind of change in society? 

– I'd like to believe in that. Having access to literature, to poetry, helps. Seeing other representations of the world helps, but unfortunately, very few of us have access to it. Literature can be comforting; it's an escape, but for a tiny portion of the population. I occasionally teach workshops in prisons and have seen the impact literature has on some people, but it doesn't change their lives or their worldview.

– Have you been questioned by diversity activists for addressing these issues without being LGBT?

– I don't make pamphlets or write in place of ... I write fiction where my characters can't be pigeonholed too much; some are trans, others intersex, others have fluid gender identities. In France, I've never been questioned for this; on the contrary, I think they see me as an ally. And in this time, allies are needed more than ever; these are very difficult times. Even our President Macron has opportunistically made fun of trans people, not to mention the anti-immigrant rhetoric and the racism that is experienced daily and is getting worse. On the other hand , the nature of fiction writing is to enter foreign worlds, to flow, to avoid falling into binaries.

– This is also happening in journalism: it's as if we can only write about the identity we inhabit or the issues that affect us personally. 

– I think that vision is really a problem; it narrows the world and, above all, curiosity and sensitivity. 

"It would be good if we were taught that desire is possible for everyone."«

– Religion has a special place in your work. In “The Thirteenth Hour,” you directly created a church made up of all rejected or dissident identities, where poems by Nerval are recited instead of the Bible. Why does this feature so strongly?

– I'm very interested in Christianity, and Catholicism in particular. I think there's extraordinary poetic material there. I also wonder how we went from a critical, almost communist and queer to these exclusionary and patriarchal religions of today. Jesus had a sexual-affective relationship with John; they took psychotropic drugs in the desert. They were most likely very dark-skinned, and that diverse, marginalized community evolved into something very sectarian. Christ is depicted as blond with blue eyes—another fiction. In "The Thirteenth Hour," I was also interested in exploring what can be built from spirituality. We don't want to live in a prosaic, commercial society where all that matters is money. What elevates us, what transforms us?

– In addition to fluid identities, your characters desire from non-hegemonic bodies and from old age. 

– I like the creation of myths, archetypes, and metamorphoses that people can identify with. Characters who can be considered monsters on the outside and bodies that don't fit into hegemonic parameters. What about those who fall outside those parameters? Of course, they're the majority. My idea is that all bodies are desirable, and a character like Arcadia expresses just that: she likes people of all ages, all genders, there are no limits . Instead of beating us up with wrinkles and hair, it would be good if we were taught from childhood that desire is possible for everyone . For me, that's a literary and a political theme.