LGBTQ literature in Spain
[4] The fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the 11th century and the subsequent rule of the Almoravid dynasty and division into the taifa kingdoms decentralized culture all throughout the Al-Andalus region, producing an era of splendor in poetry.
[27][28] Others, such as Eduardo Zamacois or Manuel Bueno Bengoechea [es], of a progressive and republican mentality, also judged homosexuality negatively as a vice that was typical of the upper-middle class, which had received a traditional education and had lived in a decadent environment, given to luxury and pleasure.
Thus, the homosexual or bisexual authors of the Generation of '27 make up a long list,[30] beginning with Federico García Lorca,[31] Emilio Prados,[32] Luis Cernuda,[33] Vicente Aleixandre,[32] and Manuel Altolaguirre.
[34] These poets were influenced by the great European homosexual writers, such as Oscar Wilde, André Gide (especially for his collection of essays Corydon), or Marcel Proust.
[10] The translation of Gide's articles was very controversial because of their evident homoerotic nature,[36] and they had a powerful influence on the poetry of the time, especially in the qasidas of the Diván del Tamarit [es] by García Lorca,[37] who also wrote three works with an explicitly homosexual theme, although none of them was published in Spain during the author's lifetime.
There are four works in which he deals with the subject of homosexuality: Heraclés: sobre una manera de ser, an essay with his reflections on homoeroticism, written in 1955 and which took 20 years to be published in Spain.
[60] The social invisibility of homosexuals during the Francoist regime and the lack of Spanish-language examples in gay literature meant that new authors (in the case of those who intended to engage in "high culture") took as their models such figures as Oscar Wilde, Jean Genet, Marcel Proust, Arthur Rimbaud, or the Comte de Lautréamont.
[58] Among the authors whose success came at the end of the dictatorship or with the Transition, those who stand out include Juan Goytisolo (the most influential outside Spain and the one who continues the tradition of Jean Genet's poètes maudits with notable works such as Coto vedado and Carajicomedia),[61] Luis Antonio de Villena [es] (Ante el espejo, Chicos, Divino, Oro y locura sobre Baviera, and El mal mundo),[62] Antonio Gala,[63] and Terenci Moix,[64] publicly known for their frequent appearances on television and for being some of the first to publicly come out as gay in the late 1970s.
[68] Renowned gay authors who started their literary career in the 1970s or 1980s include Álvaro Pombo, Vicente Molina Foix (La comunión de los atletas), and Leopoldo María Panero.
[73] Mendicutti was the first to include a "leather-type" relationship in one of his novels (Yo no tengo la culpa de haber nacido tan sexy, 1997), in which he used a humorous, campy tone.
[g][98][99] In 1999, journalist and critic Luis Algorri [es] published the novel Algún día te escribiré esto, which was subsequently translated into several languages, including French and German.
[105] Also, Lucía Etxebarría, in her novel Beatriz y los cuerpos celestes [es] (which won the Premio Nadal literary prize in 1998)[29] and later works such as Nosotras que no somos como las demás or many of the stories in Una historia de amor como otra cualquiera, in which lesbian characters coexist with other heterosexual characters, showing human sexuality from a broad perspective, without reducing lesbianism to a forbidden subject.
In popular theater, one playwright who dealt with homosexual themes was Rafael Mendizábal [es], who had enjoyed great box-office success in the 1980s with comedies starring Florinda Chico and Rafaela Aparicio.
[113] An attempt to give a more literary character to this type of celebrations and shows was the play Sota, caballo y gay by Manu Berástegui, which was performed at the Teatro Estudio in Madrid in 1999.
Una homosexualidad del siglo xxi en un país avanzado que no genera más conflictos que si el protagonista fuera heterosexual o bizco.
[j]Even heterosexual authors address issues with strong homoerotic undertones in their plots, such as Juan Bonilla in Los príncipes nubios (which won the Biblioteca Breve literary award),[119] Marta Sanz with her series of novels about Zarco, a gay detective,[120] or Javier Reverte [es] in El médico de Ifni.
As for his young adult books with LGTBI+ protagonists, titles include Cuál es tu lucha,[135] Nadie nos oye, and La versión de Eric, in which the main character is a trans teenager.
[137] According to literary critic Santos Sanz Villanueva [es]:[138] Este libro de género indefinido —¿novela, crónica, autobiografía?— podría haberse ceñido a su meollo, los vericuetos transitados por una difícil relación amorosa, pero alcanza un valor documental no secundario.
[n]Also in 2014, Almudena Grandes's novel Las tres bodas de Manolita [es] describes the situation of homosexual people in Spain immediately after the Spanish Civil War through characters who, although secondary, are key factors in the narrative, such as Paco Román, la Palmera, and la madre Carmen,[139] as well as the real writer Antonio de Hoyos y Vinent [es], turned into one of the characters.
[160] Asalto a Oz, antología de relatos de la nueva narrativa queer (Dos Bigotes, 2019) brings together fifteen authors who represent the evolution of LGBT+ issues in recent years According to Luisgé Martín, with regards to the work of previous generations (exemplified by the anthology Lo que no se dice), the youngest ones have left behind the problematic approach to their homosexuality, they question the division by gender, transsexuality becomes a main argument (with the social condemnation that was previously reserved for homosexuality), the number of women authors has increased, there are no humorous themes, and short stories no longer aspire to fit into the Borgesian narrative model.
[161] Due to the scarce representation of lesbian authors in published works as a whole, the anthology Voces en la narrativa lésbica (2007), edited by Minerva Salado, is worthy of note.
[165][166][167][168] The poetic discourse on homosexuality, according to poet Martín Rodríguez-Gaona [es], is manifested in the Spanish poetry of the early 21st century with great moderation and caution to avoid controversy.
According to critic José Luis García Martín [es], the two versions of Muñoz's poem Homosexualidad—published in his book Correspondencias (Visor, 2001)—reveal the author's desire to represent two stages in the erotic development of a person: a first one of isolation, and then one of acceptance.
[172] On his part, Rafael-José Díaz published Antes del eclipse (2003-2005) (Pre-Textos, 2007), in which he delves deeper into the issues he had previously written about and also approaches homosexual eroticism in a frank manner.
Antología de poesía gay y lésbica última (Sial, 2011) by Luis Daniel Pino—an anthology of poems by Alberto Acerete, Cristian Alcaraz, Ariadna G. García, Sofía Rhei, and Lawrence Schimel, among others[179]—and Correspondencias, una antología de poesía contemporánea LGTB española (Egales, 2017), a bilingual (English and Spanish) anthology of contemporary Spanish LGTB poetry.
[193] Additional works by Conejero include La geometría del trigo, a play for which he won the National Dramatic Literature Award in 2019,[194] and En mitad de tanto fuego, a monologue that rewrites Homer's Iliad from the point of view of Patroclus and his relationship with Achilles.
[199] Once a year, between 2005 and 2012 (the last time it was held), the Festival Visible de Cultura LGTB presented a series of events—in which theatrical performances stood out—to coincide with the celebrations of the International LGBT Pride Day in Madrid.
Through it, philosopher Javier Pérez Ugarte spread information about LGBT+ studies to the point of becoming, according to anthropologist José Ignacio Pichardo Galán [es], uno de los principales referentes para el pensamiento y la reflexión sobre diversidad sexual en castellano.
[r][208] In 2012, the Associació Col·legial d'Escriptors de Catalunya [es] (ACEC) organized the First Conference on Gay and Lesbian Literature, in which the subject was studied from an academic and creative point of view.
Other works by this author that have enjoyed great success among young audiences and in which various orientations and identities play a leading role include: Nadie nos oye, En las redes del miedo, and El reino de los Tres Soles.
