Uriel Quesada
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Uriel Quesada Román (b. July 6, 1962)[1][2] is a Costa Rican writer, professor, and LGBT rights activist.[3] He is considered one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Costa Rican literature.[4] He currently resides in the United States and works as a professor at Loyola University New Orleans.[5][6]
Biography
[edit]He began his literary career in the 1980s with the short story collection Ese día de los temblores (1985). This was followed by El atardecer de los niños (1990),[1] which won him the Premio Nacional Aquileo J Echeverría in the short story category,[2] and *Larga vida al deseo* (1995).[1]
In 1999, he published the short story “Bienvenido a tu nueva vida” in the cultural magazine Áncora, part of La Nación,[7] which sparked strong controversy due to its homosexual theme.[8] The story narrates in plain language the tale of a young man on a train who meets a newlywed English couple. During the journey, the English man discreetly caresses the protagonist’s leg and later performs oral sex on him in the restroom.[7] The story was later included in the book Lejos, tan lejos (2004),[3] which won the Ancora Prize in 2005.[5]
In 2005, he published the novel El gato de sí mismo, considered one of his most notable works.[3] The novel, which earned him the Premio Nacional Aquileo J Echeverría for best novel,[2] follows, in autobiographical tone, the life of Germán Germanóvich, a boy whose thoughts mix reality with fantasy. He flees his home in Santa Cruz to escape his father’s rejection and falls in love with another boy named Íñigo.[9][4]
His next work was the novel Mar Caníbal (2016), which tells the story of two sisters who go on a journey with others after learning their father has joined a new woman and is raising a new daughter, who they fear may claim part of the inheritance.[10] One of the characters, Gonzalo, begins to discover his homosexuality in 1970s Central America.[11]
In 2018, he published the short story collection La invención y el olvido,[6] for which he again won the Premio Nacional Aquileo J Echeverría in the short story category.[5]
Works
[edit]Short story collections
[edit]- Ese día de los temblores (1985)
- El atardecer de los niños (1990)
- Larga vida al deseo (1995)
- Lejos, tan lejos (2004)
- Viajero que huye (2008)[4]
- La invención y el olvido (2018)
Novels
[edit]- Si trina la Canaria (1999)[1]
- El gato de sí mismo (2005)
- Mar Caníbal (2016)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Barquet, Jesús (2001). "El silencio de la Canaria: Conversing with Uriel Quesada". Caribe: Revista de Cultura y Literatura. 4 (1).
- ^ a b c "Photo gallery". La Nación. 2013-03-17. Archived from the original on 2024-01-08. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ^ a b c Chacón, Albino (2016-11-29). "Representations and Elaborations of Homosexuality in Costa Rican Literature". ÍSTMICA. Revista de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras (in Spanish) (19): 131–141. doi:10.15359/istmica.19.9. ISSN 2215-471X. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ^ a b c Obando, Alexander (2010). The Grotto and the Rainbow: Approach to LGBT Literature in Costa Rica. The 6th International Latin American Cultural Studies Conference at the University of Pittsburgh. Archived from the original on 2024-01-01. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ^ a b c "Central America at the FIL". Crónica Jalisco. 2019-09-30. Archived from the original on 2024-01-08. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ^ a b Díaz, Doriam (2018-08-29). "Uriel Quesada: A book of letters to understand this other world and stories about forgetfulness and inventions". La Nación. Archived from the original on 2018-10-17. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ^ a b Carrasco, Candide (2003). "Gay Voices in Costa Rican Narrative". Letras (in Spanish) (35): 92–93. doi:10.15359/rl.1-35.6. ISSN 2215-4094. Archived from the original on 2016-11-08. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ^ Campos, Ronald (2020). "Ese día de las plumas: interview-invitation with Uriel Quesada" (PDF). Istmo (41): 192–193. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ^ González, José Pablo Rojas (2015). "The Kingdom of the Germanóvich: Reflections on the Gay Question in *El gato de sí mismo* by Uriel Quesada". Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe (in Spanish). 12 (1): 153–182. doi:10.15517/c.a..v12i1.17721. ISSN 1659-4940. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ^ Díaz, Doriam (2016-06-26). "Uriel Quesada, writer: 'There is a void of gay people telling their own story'". La Nación. Archived from the original on 2018-08-30. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ^ Villegas Martínez, Víctor Saúl (2020-07-15). "Homoeroticism in *Mar Caníbal* by Uriel Quesada". Amerika. Mémoires, identités, territoires (in Spanish) (20). doi:10.4000/amerika.11671. ISSN 2107-0806. Archived from the original on 2020-12-13. Retrieved 21 June 2025.