“Lorena” (2021) by María Fernanda Ampuero: the voice of a survivor of sexual violence in contemporary literature.

Abstract

At the intersection between literature and social justice, storytelling from the perspective of the survivor emerges as a powerful tool for reflection and public awareness. This study analyses the short story «Lorena» (2021) by María Fernanda Ampuero, which gives voice to Lorena Gallo, known as Lorena Bobbit. The media narrative about Lorena's crime in the 1990s did not capture her full experience, underestimating the underlying gendered and sexual violence. By giving Lorena a voice, Ampuero challenges the silence imposed by society and reclaims a space for survivors to tell their own stories, reaffirming their humanity and reclaiming their autonomy. We will therefore undertake an analysis of María Fernanda Ampuero's text, a political-feminist re-reading of the crime, for two main purposes. First, it seeks to discern the gender and power dynamics that constrained the story of the real protagonist in the 1990s. Secondly, the voice of the protagonist in Ampuero's account is examined to determine the extent to which the fictional Lorena challenges the stereotypes and prejudices ingrained around the real Lorena. The relevance of the survivor's account of sexual violence is thus emphasised, which not only provides an opportunity to validate diverse experiences against the hegemonic narrative, but also situates literature as part of the necessary conversation that society must have about sexual assault and gender-based violence.