Between Camp and Cursi: Humor and Homosexuality in Contemporary Mexican Narrative

Description

Between Camp and Cursi examines the role of humor in portrayals of homosexuality in contemporary Mexican literature. Brandon P. Bisbey argues that humor based on camp and cursilería--a form of bad taste that expresses a sense of social marginalization--is used to represent key social conflicts and contradictions of modernity in Mexico. Combining perspectives from queer theory, humor theory, and Latin American cultural studies, Bisbey looks at a corpus of canonical and lesser-known texts that treat a range of topics relevant to contemporary discussions of gender, sexuality, race, and human rights in Mexico--including sex work, transvestitism, bisexuality, same-sex marriage, racism, classism, and homophobic and transphobic violence. Emphasizing the subversive possibilities of the comic, Between Camp and Cursi considers how this body of twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature has challenged heteronormativity in Mexico and wrestled more broadly with both the colonial underpinnings of modernity and hegemonic Western gender norms. Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1 The Other Mexican Revolution: Camp and Cursilería in the Queer Self-Construction of Salvador Novo Camp and Queerness Acampando in Mexico Cursilería and Modernity En El País De Los Cursis Is Naco Beautiful? Defining Humor Humor in Mexico Salvador Novo: La estatua de sal Chapter 2 Homosexuales de corazón: Humor, Homophobia, and How to be a Man at the End of the 20th Century El vampiro de la colonia Roma Utopía gay Chapter 3 Dressing the Part: Literary Portrayals of Travestis, Locas, Vestidas, and Jotas La hermana secreta de Angélica María Brenda Berenice o el diario de una loca La marrana negra de la literatura rosa Chapter 4 Having Your Cake and Eating It Too: Bisexual Bildungsromane from Dismodern Mexico Bisexuality in Mexico and the “Penetration Paradigm” Humor and Bisexuality in Mexico Bisexual Bildungsromane Mátame y verás Púrpura Fruta verde Chapter 5 Machorra Camp and Lesbian Cursilería: Sexuality, Gender, and Humor in Narratives by and about Queer Women ¿Y qué fue de Bonita Malacón? Del destete al desempance Contarte en lésbico Conclusions Notes Works Cited Index