Something a Bit Queer: Hunches, Hauntings, and Hangovers in Leonardo Padura's La neblina del ayer

Abstract

As numerous scholars have noted, late nineteenth and early twentieth-century crime fiction is predominantly produced in those countries that putatively enjoy stable political structures and rule of law. The crime fiction produced by major Latin American authors—perhaps not surprisingly—does not share this underlying faith in the capacity of the state to produce justice; instead, it often questions the close relationship between evidence-based investigation and the discovery of culpability that drives classic detective fiction (e.g., Arthur Conan Doyle; Agatha Christie). In this essay, I examine the work of Cuban author Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a highly popular and acclaimed writer of contemporary crime fiction. I analyze how Padura both faithfully produces yet also fundamentally interrogates the genre. I will argue that Padura's work proves fundamentally queer as it calls into question the heteronormative, patriarchal, and imperial assumptions that essentially undergird detective fiction.