Cuando calla Sherezada: elogio del cliffhanger y los "finales" femeninos

Abstract

This article explores the meaning of silence as narrative strategy with special
reference to the Arabian Nights. Foucault states that, within a patriarchal academic
context, discourse is the norm, despite its violent and excluding character,
while silence is considered weak and antithetical. Contrariwise, feminine silence
is a kind of implicit norm in different cultural contexts. Sherezade, however, uses
silence strategically and in a way that empowers her through the deliberate suspension
of narration. If this is extrapolated to literature and culture in general,
novels and soap operas, as typical examples, postpone endings similarly in a kind
of seduction which has been repeatedly exploited and interpreted.