La alteridad femenina transgresora: una comparación intercultural entre Leonarda, de La serrana de la Vera, y Nie Xiaoqian, de Liaozhai zhiyi

Abstract

The present study proposes a intercultural comparison between Leonarda, the protagonist of La serrana de la Vera, and Nie Xiaoqian, a character in Liaozhai zhiyi, both understood as representations of transgressive femininity. From a typological approach within comparative literature and in dialogue with feminist narratology, it examines the narrative mechanisms through which these figures are constructed as dangerous forms of alterity and subsequently reconfigured in order to restore social and gender order. The analysis is structured around two main axes: liminal space and female corporeality as a surface simultaneously marked by desire and threat. Despite their cultural and ontological differences, both traditions reveal a notable structural affinity: the woman who transgresses initially acquires agency, yet her subjectivity is ultimately disciplined through processes of marginalization or domestication. Thus, literature functions as a symbolic dispositif that dramatizes female transgression while reaffirming normative boundaries.