El martirio de San Sebastián

Published in 1915 and reissued for the only time two years later, this short novel narrates life in a sordid brothel in the Chinatown of Barcelona at the beginning of the 20th century, which shelters a group of old and unattractive prostitutes, in the that a young boy works as a servant, Silverio -nicknamed the Pretty- an ephebus who, in contrast to whores, is of such classic and perfect beauty "that in remote times he would have been cupbearer of the gods or favorite of the emperors". Sissy and narcissistic, Silverio rejects not only the love of a young girl who, madly in love with him, enters the brothel to have him close to her, but also of the old whores, who in spite of themselves will end up causing the tragedy. Although at no time is Silverio's sexual orientation explicit, his cloudy and androgynous beauty will unleash the violence that has historically been exercised on the body of homosexuals, spurred, as so often, by the unaccepted homoerotic desire of one of the clients of the brothel, which is only capable of expressing it through homophobic aggression.