Abstract

L’aprenentatge de la soledat (Learning to Be Alone), by the Catalan author David Vilaseca (2008), raises issues about writing, identity and sexuality. Drawing on cultural theory, psychoanalysis and queer theory, the narrator and protagonist, David —the author’s alter ego— writes a journal to shape his gay identity. Rather than proclaiming homosexuality, autobiography retrospectively shapes the self’s sexual identity. Vilaseca renders the story as fiction, not as an authentic personal diary, whereupon the novel is an example of self-fiction, but also a mixture of theory and personal experience. Specifically, psychoanalysis shapes the character as a depressed, paranoiac, masochist, reliant subject who feels terribly guilty and has a very complex relationship to his heterosexual past. The protagonist links his former life to an identity he no longer recognises —Catalonia, his friends, his family and, most remarkably, his mother. His becoming a gay man is achieved through the interaction with London’s gay scene and demands breaking with the past, which David seems unable to overcome; his incapability transforms him into a melancholic subject.

Abstract

In Spain, the laws of heritage, both national and those of autonomous regions do not make specific references to the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and intersex (LGTBI) heritage. The few references that we can find refer to the regional laws on LGTBI equality. The present investigation has three main objectives: 1) to analyze, categorize and compare the presence and considerations on LGTBI heritage in the 9 Autonomous Communities that have legislated in terms of equality and non-discrimination in relation to LGTBI people; 2) to know if the mentions of heritage have to do with material or intangible historical heritage and historical sites in a context of timelessness, or, conversely, if allusions have to do with assets related to Francoism or of recent creation; and 3) to analyze the possible provisions that these laws may make on the presence of LGTBI-themed funds in libraries and the creation of specialized documentation centers. The methodology used is qualitative and comparative.