Rosario Traducciones continues to travel through world literature. On this occasion, we will return to Cuba to learn about some of its most famous authors.
Despite stemming from a tiny island compared to other places in the region, Cuban literature is one of the most prolific, relevant, and influential in Latin America and the entire Spanish-speaking world, with renowned writers including José Martí, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, José María Heredia, Julián del Casal; also worth mentioning is Alejo Carpentier, who won the 1977 Miguel de Cervantes Prize and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Spanish colonization gave way to Cuban literature. The Spaniards began to write chronicles in their travel logs or letters about everything they saw or what happened on the island. The first literary work written on the island is Mirror of Patience, by fray Silvestre de Balboa and Troya de Quesada, in 1608. And thus, poetry gave rise to Cuban literature with this epic poem.
Afterward, writing works focused on theater and then narrative, being a benchmark for many 19th and 20th-century foreign writers. Out of the myriad authors, we chose five representing different times and stages of Cuban literature.
1) José Martí, the First Cuban Translator
In addition to being a politician, revolutionary, and superb author, Cuban patriot José Martí was an excellent translator while exiled in New York.
Over the course of his short life, José Julián Martí Pérez became one of the most outstanding representatives of modernism in literature. His writings included the world-famous Simple Verses, first published as simple texts and later becoming popular with the music of Guantanamera, a famous Cuban song known all around the world; there were also stories and tales for children, articles of varying length for newspapers and magazines; prologues, commentaries, and book reviews, among others.
Like many men and some women with access to a good education back then, Martí studied Latin, Greek, French, English, and even some Hebrew. As a result of his education, intensive reading, and extensive travels, he also became proficient in all variants of Spanish — his mother tongue.
His command of English was solidified and strengthened by his extended stays in the U.S., where he lived for long periods, particularly in Tampa, New York, and wherever there were Cubans, Latinos, and “Spaniards of goodwill” who could plan the liberation of Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Martí wrote his first theatrical plays and began translating as a hobby as a child. From early on, his literary and lexical curiosity significantly laid the foundations of his future literary wealth. Even so, during Martí's eventful life, there was no such existence of a translation-interpretation school, university career, or special studies, whether as science or art. Such schools and education would exist many decades later, especially in Europe.
2) Alejo Carpentier, the Most Widely Translated Author
Through his book of essays Reasons of State, published in 1976, Alejo Carpentier has been the most translated Cuban author.
Published in over 16 languages, this book introduces us to essential themes in any analysis of Latin American culture: the constant of the baroque, the fertile idea of the marvelous real, the writer’s language of this land facing a reality that continually demands that he exceeded himself.
Critics considered him to be one of the key Spanish writers of the 20th century and one of the architects responsible for the Latin American literary renovation, mainly through a style that incorporates various dimensions and aspects of the imagination to recreate reality. These elements contributed to his formation and use of what’s “Marvelous Real.”
Carpentier was awarded the 1977 Miguel de Cervantes Prize and nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature by Pen Club Español in 1979.
3) Leonardo Padura, a Prophet Outside His Own Land
Leonardo Padura is one of the most laureated contemporary Latin American authors in recent years, winning the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature.
His work has been translated into various languages. His series of novels about the famous fictional detective Mario Conde has also been adapted to TV with the Netflix series Four Seasons in Havana.
In multiple books, Padura maintains a critical stance towards the Cuban government, especially the political persecution of artists and intellectuals. This cost him a certain degree of censorship, preventing his works from being published or even disseminated within Cuba as was being done abroad. Beyond his critical vision, Padura never ceases to live on the island and continues to live in the neighborhood of Mantilla, where he was born and raised.
4) Reynaldo Arenas, the Transgressor
Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban novelist, playwright, and poet known for his magic realism and controversial works. Born in the former province of Oriente, he spent his childhood and adolescence in the countryside and wrote openly about his sexual exploration.
Arenas’ literature is daring and transgressive because it addresses controversial themes marked by passages from his life. He suffered the preconceptions of the time because of his homosexuality, which closed many doors for him as a writer. At the same time, his pain and rebellion were displayed in his writings, with themes of violence, persecution, and the search for freedom.
He was imprisoned in 1974, an experience that left him with lasting pain. In 1980, he left the country and settled down in New York. In 1987, he was diagnosed with AIDS. On December 7, 1990, he committed suicide and detailed his motives in a farewell letter to the press and his friends.
After his passing in 2000, the film version of Before Night Falls, based on his autobiography directed by Julian Schnabel, was released.
5) Roberto Retamar, Cuban Poet
When talking about Cubanness and criollismo, it is worth noting Roberto Fernández Retamar, a poet, essayist, and one of the famous Cuban writers, defender of Cuban roots, of the traditional Cuban stew called “ajiaco,” and of the mixture of races that shaped the nationality of Cuba these days.
His essays stress his anti-colonial and anti-imperialist sentiment as he goes through the decolonization processes that challenge Latin Americans. His work reflects crucial revolutionary moments, Cuban pride, and the feeling of men and women over their land. Some of his awards include the National Literature Prize, the International UNESCO/José Martí Prize, and the Alejo Carpentier Medal from Cuba.
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