Gay Cuban Nation - Softcover

Bejel, Emilio

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226041743 ISBN 13: 9780226041742

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2001

Synopsis

With this text, Emilio Bejel looks at Cuba's markedly homoerotic culture through writings about homosexuality, placing them in the social and political contexts that led up to the Cuban revolution. By reading against the grain of a wide variety of novels, short stories, autobiographies, newspaper articles, and films, Bejel maps out an argument about the way in which different attitudes toward power and nationalism struggle for an authoritative stance on homosexual issues. Through close readings of writers such as Jose Marti, Alfonso Hernandez-Cata, Carlos Montenegro, Jose Lezama Lima, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, and Reinaldo Arenas, the text shows that the category of homosexuality is always lurking, ghost-like, in the shadows of nationalist discourse. The book stakes out Cuba's sexual battlefield, and aims to challenge the homophobia of both Castro's revolutionaries and Cuban exiles in the States.

About this title

About the Author

Emilio Bejel is a professor of Spanish American literature and literary theory at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In addition to seven collections of poetry and five books in Spanish, Bejel is the author of José Lezama Lima, Poet of the Image.

From the Back Cover

With Gay Cuban Nation, Emilio Bejel looks at Cuba's markedly homoerotic culture through writings about homosexuality, placing them in the social and political contexts that led up to the Cuban Revolution. By reading against the grain of a wide variety of novels, short stories, autobiographies, newspaper articles, and films, he maps out a fascinating argument about the way in which nationalism and other institutions of power struggle for an authoritative stance on homosexual issues. Through close readings of writers such as José Martí, Ofelia Rodríguez Acosta, Carlos Montenegro, José Lezama Lima, Severo Sarduy, Achy Obejas, Sonia Rivera-Valdés, and Reinaldo Arenas, Gay Cuban Nation shows ultimately that the specter of homosexuality is always lurking in the shadows of nationalist discourse.

From the Inside Flap

With Gay Cuban Nation, Emilio Bejel looks at Cuba's markedly homoerotic culture through writings about homosexuality, placing them in the social and political contexts that led up to the Cuban Revolution. By reading against the grain of a wide variety of novels, short stories, autobiographies, newspaper articles, and films, he maps out a fascinating argument about the way in which nationalism and other institutions of power struggle for an authoritative stance on homosexual issues. Through close readings of writers such as José Martí, Ofelia Rodríguez Acosta, Carlos Montenegro, José Lezama Lima, Severo Sarduy, Achy Obejas, Sonia Rivera-Valdés, and Reinaldo Arenas, Gay Cuban Nation shows ultimately that the specter of homosexuality is always lurking in the shadows of nationalist discourse.

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With Gay Cuban Nation, Emilio Bejel looks at Cuba's markedly homoerotic culture through writings about homosexuality, placing them in the social and political contexts that led up to the Cuban Revolution. By reading against the grain of a wide variety of novels, short stories, autobiographies, newspaper articles, and films, he maps out a fascinating argument about the way in which nationalism and other institutions of power struggle for an authoritative stance on homosexual issues. Through close readings of writers such as José Martí, Ofelia Rodríguez Acosta, Carlos Montenegro, José Lezama Lima, Severo Sarduy, Achy Obejas, Sonia Rivera-Valdés, and Reinaldo Arenas, Gay Cuban Nation shows ultimately that the specter of homosexuality is always lurking in the shadows of nationalist discourse.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226041743
• ISBN 13: 9780226041742
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 282