Book Description
This book is about valuing the sensations of loss and melancholy and the longing to transform the painful into something meaningful, the junky into something valuable. Drawing on a wide range of material from art, theater, music, and literature in order to bring something to the losses of history and culture, Contreras argues that historical memory is embedded in these forms of art and can perhaps take us "somewhere better than this place." The critical energies in the book come from Chicana/o and queer studies. Contreras views unrequited love as a utopian space of possibility and transformation. The discussion includes The Boys in the Band, Arturo Islas, Paris is Burning, Judy Garland, and Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Unrequited Love and Gay Latino Culture: What Have You Done to My Heart? FROM THE PUBLISHER
Drawing on a wide range of material from art, theater, music, and literature, Contreras presents unrequited love in Gay Latino culture as a utopian space of possibility and transformation. Through an examination of works and entertainment figures such as The Boys in the Band, Paris Is Burning, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Arturo Islas, and Judy Garland, he argues that historical memory is imbedded in the arts, and it has the potential to take us "somewhere better than this place." He explores the desire to value loss and melancholy and the need to transform pain into meaning.
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