Jose Quiroga – författare

Four decades ago, the Cuban revolution captured the world's attention and imagination. Its impact around the world was as much cultural as geopolitical. Within Cuba, the state developed a strictly defined national and collective memory that led directly from a colonial past to a utopian future, but this narrative came to a halt in the early 1990s. The collapse of Cuba's sponsor, the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War preceded the so- called "Special Period in Times of Peace," a euphemistic phrase that masked the genuine anxiety shared by leaders and people about the nation's future. In Cuban Palimpsests, José Quiroga explores the sites, both physical and imaginative, where memory bears upon Cuba's collective history in ways that illuminate this extended moment of uncertainty. Crossing geographical, political, and cultural borders, Quiroga moves with ease between Cuba, Miami, and New York. He traces generational shifts within the exile community, contrasts Havana's cultural richness with its economic impoverishment, follows the cloak-and-dagger narratives of revolutionary and counterrevolutionary spy fiction and film, and documents the world's ongoing fascination with Cuban culture. From the nostalgic photographs of Walker Evans to the iconic stature of Fidel Castro, from the literary expressions of despair to the beat of Cuban musical rhythms, from the haunting legacy of artist Ana Mendieta to the death of Celia Cruz and the reburial of Che Guevara, Cuban Palimpsests memorializes the ruins of Cuba's past and offers a powerful meditation on its enigmatic place within the new world order. José Quiroga is professor and department chair of Spanish and Portuguese at Emory University. He is the author of Understanding Octavio Paz and Tropics of Desire: Interventions from Queer Latino America.

“This series will be a significant, valuable contribution to the history and literature of gay cinema. Each of these works will be valuable additions for academic and popular students of film and gay culture.”—Library Journal

Law of Desire, one of three inaugural titles in Arsenal Pulp Press'' new film book series Queer Film Classics, focuses on the 1987 homoerotic melodrama by Pedro Almodóvar, Spain''s most successful contemporary film director.

The film Law of Desire is a grand tale of love, lust, and amnesia featuring three main characters: a gay film director (played by Eusebio Poncela); his sister, an actress who was once his brother (Carmen Maura); and a repressed, obsessive stalker (a young Antonio Banderas). In the twenty-plus years since its first release, Law of Desire has been acknowledged as redefining the way in which cinema can portray the difficult affective relationships between homosexuality, gender, and sex. Taking his cue from the golden age of Latin American, American, and European melodrama, Almodóvar created a sentimental yet hard-edged film that believes in the utopian possibilities for new relationships that redeem people from their despair. Since its release, Almodóvar has become an Oscar-winning filmmaker who regularly delves into issues of sexuality, gender, and identity.

This book examines the political and social context in which Almodóvar created Law of Desire, as well as its impact on LGBT cinema both in Europe and around the world.