UC Riverside

This study compares the spiritual expressions of various Queer authors from Medieval Islamic Spain to twentieth century HIV positive writers and audiovisual directors from Cuba and Spain. This Transatlantic Study compares the spiritual expressions that manifested themselves from the AIDS crisis through literature and film. The majority of the subjects in these works are Queer HIV positive subjects who shun heteronormative dogmatic ideologies and embrace a non-denominational spirituality which embrace their sexual identity as well as their identity as HIV positive subjects. A preliminary study of Queer spiritual writings that predate the AIDS epidemic and its multiple artistic and spiritual manifestations are included to trace the rich history of narrative in Queer spiritual writings. These preliminary writings include the homoerotic spiritual poems of the Andalusian Muslim poet Ibn Sahl in Medieval Spain and the novel, La carne de René written by Virgilio Piñera set in Cuba during the nineteen fifties. This dissertation then delves into the spiritual manifestations of films such as Pedro Almodóvar's Todo sobre mi madre and the Cuban film Boleto al paraíso by Gerardo Chijona. This study analyzes the subversion of organized dogmas whether these dogmas are religious or political through Islamic Sufism spirituality in Juan Goytisolo's Las virtudes del pájaro solitario. the last author of this study, Severo Sarduy, wrote his posthumous novel Pájaros de la playa as he was dying of AIDS in the early nineteen nineties. The chapter dedicated to Sarduy's novel takes into account the Transatlantic dialogue between Goytisolo and Sarduy which brings a unique spirituality that mixes Cuban Santeria, Buddhism, and Islamic Sufism. All of these works intertwine a strong homoerotic desire with spirituality. At the same time this Queer spirituality that came out of the AIDS crisis is a way for the authors to explore alternative modes of survival in the face of dying and death.