The Cuban Condition: Translation and Identity in Modern Cuban Literature (Cambridge Studies in Latin American and Iberian Literature, Series Number 1) - Softcover

Firmat, Gustavo Pérez

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521027322 ISBN 13: 9780521027328

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2006

Synopsis

The sense of the radical newness of Spanish America found in literary works from the chronicles of the conquest to the work of the criollistas has more recently given way to a stronger recognition of the transatlantic roots of much Spanish-American literature. This indebtedness does not imply subservience; rather, the New World's cultural and literary autonomy lies in the distinctive ways in which it assimilated its cultural inheritance. Professor Pérez Firmat explores this process of assimilation or transculturation in the case of Cuba, and proposes a new understanding of the issue of Cuban national identity through revisionary readings of both literary and non-literary works by Juan Marinello, Fernando Ortiz, Nicolds Guillén, Alejo Carpentier and others, dating from the early decades of the twentieth century, a time of intense self-reflection in the nation's history. Using a critical vocabulary derived from these works, he argues that Cuban identity is translational rather than foundational and that cubanía emerges from a nuanced, self-conscious recasting of foreign models.

About this title

Book Description

Firmat explores the process of assimilation or transculturation in the case of Cuba, and proposes a new understanding of the issue of Cuban national identity through revisionary readings dating from the early decades of the twentieth century, a time of intense self-reflection in the nation's history. He argues that Cuban identity is translational rather than foundational and that cubanía emerges from a nuanced, self-conscious recasting of foreign models.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521027322
• ISBN 13: 9780521027328
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 196