Widening the Spectrum of Desire and Nation: Anacristina Rossi’s Fiction

Abstract

Anacristina Rossi is one of Costa Rica’s most important writers. Often studies of her work, including my own, highlight gendered and ethnic alterity that counter Costa Rican nationalist narratives. In this analysis I take a second look at this alterity and its relationship to sexuality. In particular, I examine the main female voices and characters in three of Rossi’s major novels (Mariestela in Maria la noche, 1985, Daniela in La loca de Gandoca, 1991, and Leonor in Limon Blues, 2002) in order to underscore subtle elements of queer sexuality that enrich and complicate the categories of sexuality and gender, as well as the critique of the nation-state. I intend to show that queer theory allows for a more accurate and nuanced picture of Rossi’s textual politics. It is only by applying queer theory that sexual diversity, particularly non-normative femininities, becomes apparent in these texts.