Place Memory, Transgression, and Queer Desire in Zoé Valdés’ Querido Primer Novio

Abstract:Zoé Valdés’ Querido primer novio, which both evolves in and revolves around several distinct places, initially appears to honor the stability of place: a seemingly ordinary apartment building in the recognizable physical locations of Havana and the Cuban campo of La Fe. At the same time, however, the amount of attention given to the production, displacement and collapse of places compromises the novel’s initial “platial” particularity, causing the reader to question how places are produced and what actions might bring about radical change. To this end, I analyze more closely the idea of place, aligning myself with critics such as Doreen Massey and Tim Cresswell who write that “most places are more often the product of everyday practices. Places are never finished but produced through the reiteration of practices—the repetition of seemingly mundane activities on a daily basis” (82). I do this in order to show how Zoé Valdés, Afro-Cuban feminist author, proposes a theory of place and spirituality to call for a change in Havana’s racial(ized) and gendered landscape.