Latina Lesbian Writers and Artists

by Costa; Maria Dolores

• ISBN13: 9781560232780
• ISBN10: 1560232781
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-12-23
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Explore a little-known side of the lesbian artistic world! With this book, you'll explore the work of the most significant contemporary Latina lesbian writers, artists, and performers in the United States, Latin America, and Spain. This book presents and analyzes literature, art, and poetry by women who, despite markedly different backgrounds and experiences, are all strongly influenced by the concept of lesbian identity. Latina Lesbian Writers and Artists begins with an essential A-to-Z overview of modern Latina lesbian authors and performers. From Cuban writer Magaly Alabau to literary critic Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, you'll learn who these women are, where they're from, and what they've chosen as the focus of their work. The rest of the book is structured to give you a look at the work Latina lesbians in the United States and then moves geographically outward, first to Latin America, then to Spain. Tortillerason the Prairie: Latina Lesbians Writing the Midwest” provides a unique look at a much-neglected component of Latina lesbian writing--that of the Latinas living far from the East and West Coast hubs of both Latino and queer cultures, exploring Latina lesbian literary production in places like Kansas and Nebraska. The Role of Carmelita Tropicana in the Performance Art of Alina Troyano,” appraises the imaginative, hilarious, and insightful work of Cuban-American performance artist Alina Troyano (better known by her stage name, Carmelita Tropicana), examining the strategies she used (code switching, the breaking of heterosexist norms, the development of alter-egos, and more) to create a hybrid identity as an artist and performer. Moving La FronteraToward a Genuine Radical Democracy in Gloria Anzaldúa's Work” shows us how Anzaldúa's pivotal work Borderlands has revolutionized academic perceptions of the border and of identity in Latin American/U.S. Latino literature. You'll also find passionate poetry created by Latina lesbians. Como Sabes, Depresión”is a fragment of a passionate bilingual poem written by an English-speaking poet enamored of the Spanish language, and To Sor Juana”is a poem dedicated to the seventeenth century poet and nun who has become an icon among Latina lesbians. Lesbianism and Caricature in Griselda Gambaro's Lo impenetrable” shows how lesbian characters and themes in the works of this Argentine novelist are used to satirize and undermine the perverse social values of patriarchal dictatorship. The (In)visible Lesbian: The Contradictory Representations of Female Homoeroticism in Contemporary Spain” introduces us to some of Spain's lesbian authors and communicates the difficulties lesbian writers in that country and around the world have had in finding a receptive audience.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(2)
Maria Dolores Costa
Illustration by Jennifer Whiting	3	(2)
Latina Lesbian Writers and Performers: An Overview	5	(22)
Maria Dolores Costa
Illustration by Jennifer Whiting	27	(2)
Tortilleras on the Prairie: Latina Lesbians Writing the Midwest	29	(18)
Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes
The Role of Carmelita Tropicana in the Performance Art of Alma Troyano	47	(10)
Tonga López-Craig
Moving La Frontera Towards a Genuine Radical Democracy in Gloria Anzaldúa's Work	57	(16)
Alejandro Solomianski
Illustration by Jennifer Whiting	73	(2)
Como Sabes, Depresión	75	(4)
H. Briana Levine
To Sor Juana	79	(8)
Mary L. Diaz
Illustration by Tanya López-Craig	87	(2)
Lesbianism and Caricature in Griselda Gambaro's Lo impenetrable	89	(16)
Ignacio López-Calvo
Illustration by Tonya López-Craig	105	(2)
The (In)visible Lesbian: The Contradictory Representations of Female Homoeroticism in Contemporary Spain	107	(26)
Jill Robbins
Ilustration by Tonya López-Craig	133	(2)
Index	135