"I Am My Teeth": Dental Autobiography and the Economics of Self-Fashioning in Valeria Luiselli's The Story of My Teeth.
This article closely examines the role played by teeth in processes of subjectivation as portrayed in Valeria Luiselli's novel The Story of My Teeth. While the transformations undergone by the protagonist's teeth embody his incomplete subjectivation, the teeth are also repeatedly objectified in the...
| Published in: | University of Toronto Quarterly Vol. 94; no. 4; pp. 674 - 690 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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University of Toronto Press
Nov2025
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=190389447&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 190389447 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00420247 UTQ jtl: University of Toronto Quarterly issn: 00420247 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Nov2025 vid: 94 iid: 4 pid: 678 pub: University of Toronto Press artinfo: ui: 190389447 10.3138/utq.94.04.03 ppf: 674 ppct: 16 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 276KB tig: atl: "I Am My Teeth": Dental Autobiography and the Economics of Self-Fashioning in Valeria Luiselli's The Story of My Teeth. aug: au: Viswanathan, Nisha Gandhi S. P., Jenifer affil: National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India su: Luiselli, Valeria, 1983- Autobiography Teeth Protagonists (Persons) Ontology sug: subj: Luiselli, Valeria, 1983- Autobiography Teeth Protagonists (Persons) Ontology keyword: fetish heterotopia subjectivation teeth Valeria Luiselli ab: This article closely examines the role played by teeth in processes of subjectivation as portrayed in Valeria Luiselli's novel The Story of My Teeth. While the transformations undergone by the protagonist's teeth embody his incomplete subjectivation, the teeth are also repeatedly objectified in the narrative through processes of grafting and auctioning and through the fashioning of dentures. Through the possibilities offered by the notion of "heterotopia," in both its anatomical and Foucauldian conceptions, the article explores the portrayal of teeth in the novel as heterotopic sites juxtaposing at a single locus several incompatibilities. It further examines the ontological assumptions underlying the protagonist's evolving sense of objectal value and the attendant contradictions characterizing his emergent selfhood. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of University of Toronto Quarterly is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: University of Toronto Quarterly holder: University of Toronto Press dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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