Academic literature on the topic 'Cuban literature : Cuba'

Social constructionists argue that through narrative human beings create the realities that they subsequently inhabit. Since Cuba first gained its independence, the nation has been beset by a series of historiographical battles in which various political actors have vied for hegemony over Cuba’s past. If the conflicts that occurred in the first half of the twentieth century revolved around attempts by disparate competing factions to confer legitimacy on their respective ideological projects by successfully appropriating the figure of José Marti, then the last fifty years have been characterised by struggles between revolutionary hagiographers and anticommunist revisionists over the true natures of the Batista regime, its Castroite replacement, as well as of the figures of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. This dissertation examines Cuba’s post-Batista linguistic conflict with itself through the lens of social psychology as well as by employing the closely related disciplines of social constructionism, narrative therapy, and bibliotherapy in an attempt to understand what effects the various discourses have had on the nation. After initially teasing out the relationship between draconian censorship and the emergence of an aesthetics of misanthropy, I proceed to illustrate how the works of certain Cuban mystery novelists in the 1990s highlight the need for historiographical reconciliation by gesturing towards the plethora of historical ambiguities that problematised national reconciliation. The fourth and fifth chapters investigate how these narratological contestations play out with respect to the figures of Castro and Guevara. I use narrative mediation to illustrate how, in order for internecine divisions to be eradicated, a more objective biographical approach to these individuals – and one which transcends Manicheanism – is required.  The concluding chapter focuses on how a redemptive literary aesthetics has been marshalled to lift Cuba out of its ontological abyss.

This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.<br>Bachelors<br>Arts and Humanities<br>English

In my dissertation, I study a selection of little known Spanish and Cuban texts published during the Cuban War of Independence at the end of the 19th century. In this project, I provide a transatlantic approach of literary texts in various genres and subgenres, and political messages exchanged between Cuba and Spain, which have been neglected by scholars in the field. By analyzing the emergence of a colonial discourse in the works of novelists, politicians and thinkers who wrote about the Cuban-Spanish confrontation, I establish their ambiguous and frequently contradictory colonial messages. In doing so, this dissertation furthers our understanding of the complexities of the political moment as well as the interest and ideals that ignited the conflict. The study is of great relevance in view of the recent agreements between the United States and Cuba. The relations between the two countries are evolving in a way that was unthinkable at the beginning of the 20th century. Furthermore, secessionist feelings within the Spanish nation are reemerging and similar allegations and demands that brought Cuba to independence are in place. For all these reasons, it is necessary revisiting and comprehending the complex and, frequently contradictory, discourses that emerged in a moment, which was determinant for the development and future political attitudes of the three nations involved.

Long overshadowed by the subsequent 1960s ‘Boom’, Cuban novels of the 1950s have been confined to the backwater of literary analysis, often grouped together and dismissed as mere social realism like their Spanish counterparts, or described as inferior. The spatial has been similarly overlooked in literary analysis in favour of a focus on stylistic experimentation, narrative structure, characterisation and the temporal. More recently, however, theorists such as Mitchell (1980) and (1989), and Wegner (2002), have argued that literature has become increasingly spatial, and that a greater focus on spatial analysis is needed. Furthermore, conceptions of space in literature have moved from the static notion of ‘setting’ and identification within a specific location and time, to embrace the function of actual physical spaces, whether exterior or interior, public or private, embedded or liminal, juxtaposed, dynamic, static or fluid. One Cuban novel of the 1950s has already been discussed from a spatial perspective - El acoso (1956) by Alejo Carpentier. Using the two previous studies on spatiality in this novel as a starting point (Stanton [1993] and Vásquez [1996]), this analysis expands on the conclusions made by these studies, stressing the importance of water imagery, and demonstrating that spaces in El acoso are essentially dynamic and female-gendered, arguing that the crisis experienced by the acosado is actually one of masculine identity. Building on the expanded analysis of space in El acoso, three lesser-known Cuban novels of the 1950s are then considered from the perspective of space: Los Valedontes (1953) by Alcides Iznaga, Romelia Vargas (1952) by Surama Ferrer, and La trampa (1956) by Enrique Serpa. The socio-economic, political and cultural backcloth for the novels is set out, before an investigation into theories of space, both literary and non-literary, is conducted. Spaces in Los Valedontes reveal that in the rural domain, sexual identities are stable with conventional masculine hegemony virtually uncontested. Spaces in Romelia Vargas demonstrate that in the urban domain, female sexual identity, albeit historically suppressed, triumphs over the traditionally dominant male norm, whilst a study of spaces in La trampa demonstrates that not only are gangsters, policemen and homosexuals shown to occupy particularly challenged positions, but also that constructions of mainstream Cuban masculinity are under threat. The conclusion compares the function of spaces across all four novels, adding new insights into existing theories of literary space where appropriate. This thesis, therefore, tests the hypothesis that the manipulation of space in these novels constitutes material worthy of study, showing that spaces are dynamic and challenging when female-gendered, and constituting a threat to the hegemony exerted by traditional models of masculinity. Spaces in these novels demonstrate how the early part of the 1950s was a period in which an unpredictable array of contested positions was exposed through cultural, racial, gender and sexual stereotypes, leaving conventional norms of identity open to question.

This thesis (i) presents a critical analysis of the political allegory and dramatic elements employed by Antón Arrufat in Los siete contra Tebas in order to comment upon the conflict in Cuban society during and immediately after the Cuban revolution; and (ii) further analyzes that conflict using an anthropological approach in order to establish partial reintegration as an additional final phase in the rites of passage journey.

Il est très délicat de parler " d'identité " cubaine sans la problématiser, la nuancer ou la circonstancier. Cuba est pourtant une île fouettée par des courants venus de tous les horizons, un creuset où se sont mêlées les cultures qui semblent définir son caractère propre. Le cas du théâtre est un exemple incontestable. Le théâtre cubain est un art plus ou moins sinistré à l'intérieur même de ses frontières. Mais après la révolution il commence à renaître. Le théâtre cubain a accompagné l'histoire de la révolution cubaine au milieu d'un siècle de grandes guerres et de mouvement de libération nationale. L'éclosion des années 1960 paraît ainsi être l'apogée de l'écriture dramatique cubaine, et la représentation dans le pays, de ce fait, le théâtre cubain rencontre une spécificité propre à l'intérieur et en dehors de l'île. Les dramaturges cubains représentent dans leurs œuvres la thématique cubaine dans et en dehors de l'île, intimement lié à la circonstance politique révolutionnaire et à ses conséquences dans la famille cubaine et l'individu. Tout ceci participe du " cubain ", autant d'exemples qui montrent la difficulté de parler d'un théâtre cubain. Il n'y pas qu'une seule façon de faire du cubain, car chaque auteur, chaque histoire est différente et implique différentes manières de percevoir " la cubania ", que ce soit dans l'aspect comique, tragique, réaliste, " absurdiste " ou politique, la spécificité de l'île est bien là.

La presente investigación, inscrita en los objetivos de la Cátedra José Agustín Goytisolo de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona de promover los estudios en torno al poeta catalán y su generación, y del Grupo de Investigación de la Generalitat de Catalunya “Redes transatlánticas: relaciones intelectuales y literarias” (ref. 2014SGR 78-GRE), dialoga con los estudios sobre la explosión de las obras y los autores hispanoamericanos en el sistema literario y editorial español de los sesenta y setenta, que hizo que Barcelona se adjudicara la condición de "la meca de la literatura latinoamericana", de "el epicentro editorial", siendo figuras clave de este fenómeno la ya mítica, agente literaria, Carmen Balcells y especialmente el editor Carlos Barral, considerado unos de los principales artífices del boom latinoamericano. Atendiendo al hecho de que el mercado, la crítica y la propia academia han determinado las formas de circulación de las letras y las formas de recepción de la literatura, Redes transatlánticas: José Agustín Goytisolo y su relación con Cuba y sus letras (1966-1999) surge de la idea de que el mayor de los Goytisolo fue uno de los principales promotores y conocedores en España de la poesía cubana de los primeros años de la Revolución, pero que sus gestiones como promotor literario se han mantenido eclipsadas por otras figuras que han recibido mayor reconocimiento y espacios de visibilización. Además, se suma a esta reflexión el desfavorecido estado al que se ha enfrentado la poesía, siempre relegada a un segundo plano en los estudios literarios sobre esa época, que se han centrado sobre todo en la llegada y recepción de esa "avalancha de novelas" que consolidaron al boom, olvidándose de problematizar también la internacionalización de los poemarios hispanoamericanos que cruzaron el océano. El objetivo de ese estudio es profundizar en la relación literaria, ideológica y afectiva del José Agustín Goytisolo con la Cuba revolucionaria y sus letras, desde su primer contacto con la isla y sus intelectuales del que tenemos registro (en 1966) hasta su muerte (en 1999), y así dar cuenta de cómo Goytisolo, a quien nos aproximamos ya no sólo como poeta sino como editor y crítico, fue en esos años otro de los “puentes” de esa red intelectual, editorial y cultural transatlántica. La aplicación de la idea del "campo cultural" de Bourdieur, así como los paradigmas metodológicos e ideológicos de los estudios transatlánticos (Ortega), resultaron atractivas y adecuadas, ya que ayudan a comprender e interpretar esa época y el entramado de esas redes informales que fueron gestando ese intercambio cultural transatlántico. Es por ello que esta investigación implicó también el desafío de prestar atención no sólo a Goytisolo y a los intelectuales cubanos en cuestión, sino también a elementos sociopolíticos que condicionaron la producción misma de las obras y al aparato institucional que las rodeaba, para así dar cuenta de cómo las gestiones de éstos afectaron, directa o indirectamente, a la producción y recepción de los libros, pero también a sus creadores. De estas formas, enmarcado dentro de los estudios de historiografía literaria entre España y América Latina, y los estudios de la memoria, se da cabida también al entramado crítico español de esos años que, bajo un corte progresista y latinoamericanista, veló por la divulgación y promoción de la literatura y cultura hispanoamericana en la península mediante la publicación de columnas y reseñas de las obras. Al mismo tiempo que atiende a cómo la institucionalizada represión cultural del régimen franquista, de la mano de la censura aplicada por la ley de Fraga, afectó también a la llegada de la literatura de ultramar.<br>This research, is part of the objectives of the "José Agustín Goytisolo Chair" of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona -to promote the studies about the Catalan poet and his generation- while also representing part of the work of the Research Group, "Transatlantic Networks: intellectual and literary relations"(ref. 2014SGR 78-GRE), of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It deals with studies about the explosion of Latin American publications and authors in the Spanish literary and publishing system of the sixties and seventies, that made Barcelona "the mecca of the Latin American literature" and "its editorial epicenter", thanks to the role of Carmen Barcells, the mythical literary agent, and especially of the editor Carlos Barral, considered one of the main architects of the Latin American boom. Considering the fact that the market, critics and the academy have determined the ways of circulation of literature and its reception, Trans-Atlantic networks: José Agustín Goytisolo and its relationship with Cuba and its lyrics (1966-1999) arises from the idea that the oldest of Goytisolo's was one of the main promoters and experts in Spain of Cuban poetry of the early years of the Revolution. But his efforts as a literary promoter have remained overshadowed by other figures who have received greater recognition and visibility. On the other hand, we must consider the disadvantaged state that poetry has faced, relegated to the background in literary studies of that time, which have focused primarily on the arrival and reception of the "flood of novels" that consolidated the boom, but that forgot to problematize the internationalization of the Latin American poetry books that crossed the ocean. The aim-objective of this study is to take a close look at the literary, ideological and emotional relationship of José Agustín Goytisolo with the revolutionary Cuba and its lyrics, starting from his first contact with the island and its intellectuals that we have record of (in 1966), until his death (in 1999) and approaching to the author not only as a poet but also as an editor and literary critic. In this way it is possible to demonstrate that Goytisolo was -during those years- another "transatlantic bridge" in the intellectual, publishing and cultural network. The application of the "cultural field" (Bourdieur) as well as of the methodological and ideological paradigms of the transatlantic studies (Ortega), were attractive and appropriate to this investigation, as it helps to understand and interpret the informal network that was generated in that historic moment and that helped to consolidate that transatlantic cultural exchange. That is why this research involved the challenge to pay attention not only to Goytisolo and Cuban intellectuals, but also to social and political elements that conditioned the production of the works, as well as the institutional apparatus that surrounded them, in order to explain how managing these elements affected, directly or indirectly, the production and reception of the books and their creators. As part of the historiography literary studies between Spain and Latin America, and the memory studies, this work analyzes also the Spanish criticism of those years, with a progressive and Latin Americanist tendency, that ensures for the dissemination and promotion of Latin American literature and culture in Spain, by the publication of columns and reviews. At the same time it attended to the institutionalized cultural repression of Franco's regime, through the application of Fraga censorship law, affected the arrival of overseas literature.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-07-29Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:07:13Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 maciel_mas_dr_assis.pdf: 1650766 bytes, checksum: e8765694e0af76232dc640bba73ef18f (MD5)<br>Dentro da área de concentração “Literatura e Vida Social”, sob o prisma da linha de pesquisa “Poéticas do texto literário: cultura e representação (PTL)”, pretende este trabalho, antes, tomando-se como base o romance póstumo El color del verano (1991), do escritor cubano exilado Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990), analisar a(s) construção(ões) identitária(s) homoerótica(s) masculina(s). Partimos, para tanto, nesse percurso, de teóricos como Jacob Stockinger (1978) e David William Foster (2000), dentre outros, cujos textos apontam na direção de uma ars poetica homotextual consciente, sobretudo, a partir da segunda metade do século XX, diferente do pensamento de muitos para os quais se trata tão somente de um leitmotiv e esteja mais para o conteúdo e menos para a forma. A pesquisa, por fim, não deixa de vislumbrar, outrossim, os mecanismos narrativos que estruturam a referida obra do autor holguineiro, dentre eles, destacamos a intertextualidade, isto é, o diálogo com outros textos e autores alheios, a intratextualidade, ou seja, o diálogo constante consigo mesmo e com seus próprios textos bem como, também, por derradeiro, a extratextualidade, isto é, o diálogo constante e as referências, dentro do texto, à cultura e história cubanas e latinoamericanas<br>In the area of concentration “Literature and Social Life”, under the aspect of the line of search “Poetics of the literary text: culture and representation (PLT)”, intends this work, before, having as a base the posthumous novel El color del verano (1991), by the exilian cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990), to analyze the male homoerotic identity construction. We started, therefore, in this trajectory, of theorists as Jacob Stockinger (1978) and David William Foster (2000), among others, which texts point to the direction of a conscious homotextual ars poetica, specially, from the second half of the twentieth century, against of the thoughts of many people who things this is just a leitmovit and is more to the content than to the form. So, this search discerns indistinctly, besides, the narrative mechanisms which structure this narrated work of the holguinerian author, among them, we detach the intertextuality, that is, the dialogue with other foreign texts and authors, the intratextuality, that is, the constant dialogue with themselves and with their own texts, as well as conclusive, the extratextuality, that is, the constant dialogue and the references, inside the text, to the culture and Cuban and Latin-American history.