A Caribbean seduced by itself: consummation of the nation in reflection

Abstract

Here, I discuss two short stories from Las historias prohibidas de Marta Veneranda, authored by exiled Cuban writer Sonia Rivera-Valdés. I propose these stories create a discursive space for alternative sexualities through the reinterpretation of national(istic) standards. The characters in these stories show their love toward their homeland through their engagement in lesbian relationships, for they see their home country embodied in same-sex characters. Therefore, their consummation of a lesbian relationship while in exile truly signifies a way of attaining the body of the nation left behind. More so, these relationships are justified within the heteronormative, national discourse by the way in which they create a new perverse nationality that reinterprets the love for one’s nation. Nationalist sentiment is not shown through one’s integration into the (heterosexual) status quo, but by loving something similar. The sameness that binds citizens of the same country is also found in same-sex bodies.