The Construct of Cuban Culture: Entrapment and Feminization of 'The Island'

Abstract

The purpose ofthis study is to understand further the culture that the Cuban writers of the Revolution endured, lived in, fled from, and contributed to. In order to achiev~ this goal I was able to assemble a canon of texts from authors of the revolution that could be categorized by their ideologies and perspective-- either perverse to the Revolution and/or exiled. The four are poet Virgilio Pinera, playwright Anton Arrufat, and authors Edmundo Desnoes and Reinaldo Arenas. Close reading their works (respectively) "La Isla en Peso," Los siete contra Te bas, Memorias del subdesa"ollo, and Antes Que Anochezca, led to a discemable observation of their description of 'the Island.' The authors portray the Island as incarcerating, as well as incorporating a textual feminization of the Island. Using Antonio Benitez Rojo's The Repeating Island and Michel de Certeau's The Practice of Everyday Life as theoretical lenses, I argue that the cultural underdevelopment and extreme censorship proves difficult in creating a national culture. The characterization of theIsland is significant in concluding that this wave of writers created a platform for the next generation's idea of a national culture by portraying the lack of space available throughout the censorship of the Revolution.