Yobaín Vázquez Bailón: La Travestiada, Rebellion, Mythmaking, and Forgotten Voices

Yobaín Vázquez Bailón work blends meticulous historical research, political purpose, and narrative ambition. The Yucatecan writer’s journey into literature and anthropology began as a rebellion against his family’s expectations. His parents envisioned him continuing their family’s teaching legacy, but Yobaín charted his own course.

“I recognize how important teaching is,  but it does not really appeal to me,” he explains. His deep interest in subcultures and worlds beyond his own upbringing drew him into Yucatán’s State University (UADY) faculty of anthropology. This academic choice proved foundational, providing him with essential tools for his writing career: “Anthropology taught me to listen to people, to have empathy… it really helps you a lot with research.” Yobaín highlights the importance of cross-referencing sources and maintaining a critical eye, skills that would later become central to his creative process. However, he is by no means strictly a historical novelist. 

His formal literary initiation came at 18 when he enrolled in the School of Literary Creation at the Fine Arts Institute in Mérida. This experience provided the foundational notions of what he wanted to do as a writer. His first published work, the short story “Cuidados Paliativos” (Palliative Care), followed an honorable mention in the local Beatriz Espejo prize and was published in the national digital magazine Tierra Adentro in 2019.

However, his breakthrough came with his first published book, a collection of short stories titled Cristo es una forma de hacer drag (Christ is a Way of Doing Drag), which won a publication call. This was soon followed by a significant national achievement: winning the José Revueltas Young Novel Prize for his novel La Travestiada. The book is based on a true, scandalous event from 1901, when police raided a party in Mexico City and arrested 41 men, many dressed as women. The incident was sensationalized in the press but erased from official historical narratives. Yobaín first encountered the anecdote as a teenager in a popular magazine. At the time the incident made headlines, because at the party, but not detained, was the son-in-law of the then Mexican President Porfirio Díaz. 

“It left me full of questions… who were these men, if everything actually happened the way it was reported,” he recalls. The story stayed with him for years until he received a writing scholarship and decided to delve into his research. His training as a social scientist led him to the General Archive of Yucatán, where “the 41 were exiled” in search of records, though he found none. This absence confirmed the need for the project, which evolved from a short story into a full novel.

For Yobaín, writing La Travestiada was a profoundly personal and political decision. He noticed a glaring absence of professional literary works about this pivotal moment, which is often considered the first public manifestation of homosexuality in modern Mexico. “I realized no one had written about the Dance of the 41 in a non-moralistic tabloidish kind of way… so I decided this was my opportunity.”

He consciously moves away from metaphorical representations often found in genres like science fiction, insisting that LGBT literature must be direct and unequivocal: “It no longer wants to be symbolic or metaphorical, but to say yes, yes we are, we’re present here physically and also with ideas.”

A Historical Novel for a Modern Reader

La Travestiada is not easily pigeonholed. While an LGBT+ novel at its core, it is also a rich historical, adventure, and travel narrative. Yobaín cites Fernando del Paso’s explosive, baroque novel Noticias del Imperio as an influence, aiming to create a multifaceted and engaging work rather than a dry historical account.

A key aspect of his approach is making history accessible. He deliberately uses contemporary language and modern cultural equivalencies—like substituting period music with modern tracks that evoke a similar feeling—to help today’s readers empathize with the characters and their experiences.

“Archetypes don’t change, they’re always there,” he notes. “The context is what evolves.” This philosophy allows readers to see themselves in the characters, connecting a scandal from over a century ago to present-day realities.

Looking Forward

After the intense effort of writing La Travestiada, Yobaín is already looking to the future. He recently completed a yet-to-be-published historical novel, provisionally titled Joven Gringo (Young Gringo), a nod to Carlos Fuentes’ Gringo Viejo. Set during the Mexican Revolution, it follows a character from Franz Kafka’s novel America on a journey through the violent, chaotic landscape of revolutionary Mexico, seen through the absurdist lens of a foreigner. Readers of Yobaín’s work are likely to pick up hints of some of his influences, including Franz Kafka and even Homer, as the title La Travestiada is a pun on the “Iliada” (the Iliad) to which it makes direct reference in the prologue. 

Through his work, Yobaín Vázquez Bailón continues his mission to excavate forgotten histories, challenge literary norms, and give voice to those consciously erased from the past. His writing is a testament to the power of storytelling as both an art form and a tool for visibility and justice.

Where to find his work: El baile de los 41, published by Tierra Adentro and distributed by Fondo de Cultura Económica, is available at bookstores, including Educal in Mérida and at Amazon. 

Article based on an interview by Yesica Benitez Chan