Nostalgia as Historical Critique: Time and Desire in Alejandro Modarelli's Rosa Prepucio

Abstract

In this essay, I would like to take Rosa prepucio (2011), published by the Argentine writer, journalist and activist Alejandro Modarelli, as an opportunity to reflect on the affective responses to recent cultural, political, and legal changes in the situation of the LGBT community in Argentina. In particular, I would like to think of the book’s nostalgic tone as a form of historical critique, that is, as a way to question historical accounts of sexuality in Argentina grounded on the ideas of triumph and progress. The characters in Rosa prepucio long for a time when same-sex encounters were clandestine and persecuted, and when their sexual meetings often ended with police raids. Their nostalgic attachment to this period, however, is not about returning to the past but rather about recognizing the temporal drags that haunt the present and exert pressure on current segregations. This is a way of challenging progressive narratives of supersession that assume a straight road from a darker homosexual past to a brighter gay present.