Fraying at the Edges: Male Homosexuals, Female Prostitutes, and Suicides in Cuba's Post-Soviet Detective Fiction Pubblico

Abstract

This study examines the portrayal of male homosexuals, female prostitutes, and suicides in Cuban society in representative works of Cuban detective fiction of the post-Soviet period. I have methodologically relied on close readings of Leonardo Padura Fuentes's Máscaras (1997), Amir Valle Ojeda's Las puertas de la noche (2001), and Lorenzo Lunar Cardedo's Polvo en el viento (2005) to gauge the extent to which Cuban writers of this genre have attempted to renegotiate the place of these figures in Cuba's civic life after 1989. As sites of abjection, the male homosexual, the female prostitute, and the suicide figured prominently in Cuban nationalist discourse during its formative period in the nineteenth century and beyond. Relying on the theoretical work of Julia Kristeva on the nature of the abject, I submit that - as sites of abjection - these figures became at a critical juncture the boundaries of what would eventually become the Cuban republic. In this manner they are intrinsically a part of the nation's self-understanding. I contend that the economic hardships and ideological contradictions that Cubans experienced during the country's "Special Period in Times of Peace" threatened the nation's identity to such a degree that it prompted a reevaluation of the abject boundaries these figures represented.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction...1

Chapter 1...25

Revolutionary Cuba's Anti-Gay Legacy: Leonardo Padura's Máscaras

Chapter 2...77

Cavalry of Last Resort: Amir Valle's Ponders Female Prostitution in Post-Soviet Cuba

Chapter 3...129

Youth in Flight: Self-Destruction and Self-Realization in Lorenzo Lunar's Polvo en el viento

Conclusion...174

Bibliography...182

Non-Printed Sources...194

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Spanish
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Literature, Latin American
Parola chiave	Suicides Cuba Special Period Prostitutes Homosexuals Detective Fiction
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Quiroga, Jose, Emory University
Committee Members	Carrion, Maria Mercedes, Emory University Sanders, Mark, Emory University Feldman, Hernan, Emory University

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