Literary Culture in Cuba Revolution, Nation-Building and the Book

by Kumaraswami, Par; Kapcia, Antoni

• ISBN13: 9780719083754
• ISBN10: 0719083753
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-11-30
• Publisher: Manchester University Press

Summary

This book brings an original and innovative approach to a much-misunderstood aspect of the Cuban Revolution: the place of literature and the creation of a literary culture. Based on over 100 interviews with a wide range of actors involved in the structures and processes that produce, regulate, promote and consume literature on the island, the book breaks new ground by going beyond the conventional approach (the study of individual authors and texts) and by going beyond the canon of texts known outside Cuba. It thus presents a historical analysis of the evolution of literary culture from 1959 to the present, as well as a series of more detailed case studies (on writing workshops, the Havana Book Festival and the publishing infrastructure) which reveal how this culture is created in contemporary Cuba. It thus contributes a new and complex vision of revolutionary Cuban culture which is as detailed as it is comprehensive.

Author Biography

Par Kumaraswami is Lecturer in Latin American Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester.Antoni Kapcia is Professor of Latin American History at the University of Nottingham.

Table of Contents

AcknowledgmentsGlossary of acronyms and abbreviationsGlossary of Spanish words and phrases with particular Cuban usageIntroduction1. Locating literary culture in the trajectory of the Revolution2. Understanding literary culture in the Revolution3. 1959-61: the first flush of revolution4. 1961-89: the years of radicalisation and consolidation5. 1990s-2000s: the years of crisis and reassessment6. The path to becoming a writer in contemporary Cuba: The role of the Centro de Formación Literaria Onelio Jorge Cardoso and the movement of talleres literarios by Meesha Nehr7. The history of a novel: Alberto Ajón León's ¿Qué bolá? (What's Up?)8. The Feria Internacional del Libro de La HabanaConclusionList of intervieweesBibliography