Greg Knotts: The abstract came from a synthesis of the back cover of the book.
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 Jose Marti, Ofelia Rodriguez Acosta, Carlos Montenegro, Jose Lezama Lima, Severo Sarduy, Achy Obejas, Sonia Rivera-Valdes, and Reinaldo Arenas, "Gay Cuban Nation" shows ultimately that the specter of homosexuality is always lurking in the shadows of nationalist discourse.
“Gay Cuban Nation” does an excellent job of teasing out the intricate relationship between homoeroticism, homophobia, and definitions of Cuban national identity. Bejel strikes a judicious balance between theoretical issues of relating to queer studies and critical assessments of key texts, offering a significant contribution to our understanding of Cuba's gay and lesbian cultural output.
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