In Praise Of Lightness: Cuban National Myths Of The 20th Century And Their Literary Rewritings

Resumen del Libro

My argument is based in an interdisciplinary canon, and I did not just look into various literary genres, but also into political manifestos, programs and speeches. I also read and reviewed historiography, ranging from history texts to childrens textbooks. My argument takes into account an expanded national corpus/ corpus cubanus that also includes visual art, caricature, painting, sculpture, and popular music. Among the texts that I study, one finds canonical authors like Jorge Manach, Alejo Carpentier, Jose Lezama Lima, Cintio Vitier, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Severo Sarduy, Virgilio Pinera, Miguel Barnet and Reinaldo Arenas along with lesser-known authors from the early twentieth century until present day.