Néstor Perlongher And Mysticism: Towards A Critical Reappraisal

Abstract

NESTOR PERLONGHER AND MYSTICISM: TOWARDS A CRITICAL REAPPRAISAL The apparent change in the poetry of Argentine writer and anthropologist Nestor Perlongher (1949-92) after the publication of his anthropological thesis on male prostitution (1987) and the emergence of AIDS in Brazil, whereby he turned his literary and academic attention towards mysticism, has caused consternation amongst critics. Concerns focus on the abandonment of his earlier politico-sexual radicalism and on the influence of the New Age movement, in particular the Brazilian drug religion Santo Daime, on his work. The influential Argentine writer and gay-rights activist Juan Jose Sebreli attacked Perlongher's last works: Con respecto a la obra de Perlongher [. . .] la parte desdenable es la derivada del surrealismo heterodoxo de Georges Bataille, de Michel Foucault y de Gilles Deleuze. Lamentablemente esta influencia fue la predominante en su ultima epoca, llevandolo del demonismo a la mistica y aun al esoterismo.1 Sebreli criticizes Perlongher for his reliance on authors who denied sexual iden? tities, and for focusing on the flow and force of desire in society, as Perlongher insisted at the end of his thesis on male prostitution in Sao Paulo, O negocio do miche [The Business of Male Prostitution].2 While Sebreli does not insist on a homosexual identity, his insistence on the body as property of an individual reveals key ideological differences with Perlongher.3 Sebreli's conception of ho? mosexuality, in particular the focus on the use of the body as personal property, was one ofthe developments in Argentine post-dictatorship gay rights that Per? longher abhorred. In fact, it is possible to detect in Perlongher's abandonment of homosexuality as a theme for his writing in 1991 a response to the increased insistence on the notion of homosexuality as identity.4 Osvaldo Baigorria also exhibits some concern in his essay on Perlongher's mysticism: Su vinculacion con el Santo Daime inaugura la fase final, mas controvertida o asombrosa , de ese viaje sobre el filo de la identidad personal. Al contrario de lo que puede pensarse, su enfermedad no parece haber tenido influencias sobre esta nueva direccion de sus intereses: Perlongher descubre que es HIV positivo en el 89, en Francia, bastante despues de haber conectado con la iglesia del Santo Daime. Y su 'devenir bruja' habia comenzado aun antes. Por los anos 87/88 ?al mismo tiempo en que escribia sus principales ensayos sobre el neobarroco? comienza a tomar ayahuasca o yage [. . .].5 This articlewas writtenwhilethe authorwas in receiptofan AHRB grantforstudytowardsa Ph.D. at King's College, University ofLondon. 1 J.J.Sebreli,'La historiasecretadelos homosexualesenBuenosAires',inEscritos sobre escritos, ciudadesbajo ciudades(Buenos Aires: Sudamericana,1997),pp. 275-370 (p. 370). 2 N. Perlongher,O negociode miche:prostituicdo viril em Sdo Paulo (Sao Paulo: Brasiliense, 1987),p. 231. 3 Sebreli,'Historia',p. 364. 4 Perlongher, Prosa plebeya(Buenos Aires: Colihue, 1997), pp. 85-90, firstpublished as 'La desaparicionde la homosexualidad', in El porteno(Buenos Aires), 119 (Nov. 1991), 12-15. In futurereferences Prosa plebeyawillbe abbreviatedtoProsa. 5 O. Baigorria.'La Rosa Misticade Luxemburgo',inLumpenesperegrinaciones, ed. byA. Cangi and P. Siganevich(Rosario de Santa Fe: BeatrizViterbo,1996), pp. 175-81 (p. 178). 78 Nestor Perlongher and Mysticism Baigorria is attempting to deny the link between Perlongher's discovery that he was HIV positive and his mysticism. My aim in this paper is to analyse Perlongher's last two collections closely in order to detect the similarities to and differences from earlier collections. This analysis displays three aesthetics in Perlongher's last works: mystical masochism, mystical withdrawal, and mystical purpose. While Perlongher's poetics and techniques do not differ in these two collections, and the first of the three aesthetics is present in his earlier work, the latter two demonstrate a change in Perlongher's writing, a change which I believe to be linked to those caused by AIDS in the possibilities for the use of sex as an oppositional political tool. A brief over view of Perlongher's earlier poetry will facilitate the analysis that is to follow. Perlongher's firstcollection, Austria-Hungria (1980), contains many poems that allude, often through slang terms and literary references, to the secretive practices of homosexuals and transvestites in Argentina during the 1976-83...