English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
More than two decades after the postmortem repair of the literary legacy of Virgilio Piñera (Cardenas-Havana, August 4, 1912 – October 18, 1979), most people who speak of the author have barely read his stories, poems, essays, dramas and tragedies. What are they talking about then? His homosexuality and aspects of his personality such as … Continue reading “Theatrical Virgilio / Miguel Iturria Savón”
Although the organizers of The Book Fair of Havana, held from February 9 to 19 in the old fortress of La Cabaña, sent the texts to the provincial bookstores where they will continue the sales and presentations, the event is now part of the past because the capital’s publishers finalized their rituals of promotion and … Continue reading “Goodbye to the 2012 Book Fair / Miguel Iturria Savón”
From very young age I liked to read novels of manners. The genre, of one form or another, most intellectual or popular, in the eighteenth century was seen in the work of the historian José Martín Félix de Arrate, in the nineteenth century of Luis Victorian Betancourt and in the twentieth century in the work … Continue reading “Chronicles of Customs / Fernando Dámaso”
With the Gala of the National Ballet of Cuba for the 80th anniversary of Alicia Alonso’s stage debut on Thursday, December 29, and the presentation of the Nutcracker on Sunday, December 1, the Gran Teatro of Havana closed its 2011 season and inaugurated its 2012 programming. The super spectacle of Thursday was the touchstone of … Continue reading “The Celebration of Alicia / Miguel Iturria Savón”
THE DAWN* OF WAITING Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo José Lezama Lima waited for the death of his mother before feeling guilt-free enough to publish the scandalous Paradiso. Virgilio Piñera waited to amass 18 boxes of unedited material before letting himself die of loneliness or of State Security. Dulce María Loynaz sat down, like a character … Continue reading “WWWAITING FOR THE WWWORMS / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
THE NIGHT OF THE BOOKS Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo That propagandist title has always seemed a little terrifying to me: The Night of the Books… It sounds as if the sun had set for books, as if brightness and clarity had disappeared, as if we had come across literary darkness and the letters had to … Continue reading “BOOKONEANDO… / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
[I have decided to publish, before this blog is closed down, some texts that I didn’t publish at the time because it was practically impossible to do it because of obvious difficulties or because as time passed I doubted that it would be the best idea. Due to recent events, I think it is best … Continue reading “Closed by Demolition / Francis Sánchez”
Of Militants and Queers Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo …s they have tried to call it. They weren’t “five gray years.” Much less a “black decade.” The ‘70s were the splendor, the Cuban Revolution’s era of luxury. The ‘70s are and will be the crystal clear incarnation of the world totalitarian utopia, the twentieth century ideal. … Continue reading “ISLAND STASIOLOGY / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
TOMÁS PIARD: Y OLPL DÓNDE ESTÁ…???!!!, originally uploaded by orlandoluispardolazo. Finally, the half-hidden premiere of the documentary “Trocadero 162, Lower Floor” by Tomas Piard (which should have been released on December 19, 2010 for Jose Lezama Lima’s centenary), where Abel Prieto, the Minister of Culture, cowered in my presence and my words in almost a … Continue reading “TOMAS PIARD: AND WHERE IS OLPL…???!!! / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
It’s beautiful to sit in front of the TV and contemplate the end of the Revolution. “Cuba’s Reasons,” they call it on Monday nights, this material clearly anonymous. My blog, which appeared for the first time on the small screen, is also called Monday. Post-Revolution Mondays. A slightly obsolete title. The Revolution is no longer … Continue reading “WEBDITORIAL / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
On February 10 the Havana International Book Fair began in the La Cabaña fortress, extended to March 6 in the capital’s bookshops and in the provincial centers of books and literature, which sold more than 2,000 titles of publishers from Cuba and abroad, among them the Bicentennial Alba collection with a score of works from … Continue reading “Of Absences and Other Troubles / Miguel Iturria Savon”
Dear Reynaldo González: In the middle of the little avalanche of e-mails that have been stirred up by Luis Pavón’s return to the stage, I have respectfully read your views. I am writing just to let you know that I fully agree with you, with every one of your words. Only in place of “mistakes,” … Continue reading “Message from Ena Lucía Portela / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
– From Josefina de Diego – I confess that I didn’t remember the full text known as “Words to the Intellectuals,” delivered by Fidel Castro on June 30, 1961, at the National Library to a group of intellectuals. I think that, like many people, the only thing I remembered from the text was his famous … Continue reading “Thoughts on Fidel’s “Words to the Intellectuals” and other texts / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
I suspect that somewhere from the island firmament, the writer José Lezama Lima (Havana, 1910-1976) is smiling at his supporters, or winking at the editor who introduced the latest edition of his Collected Works. Our literary rhino should be happy with so many celebrations. “Seeing is believing”, he would say at one of the gatherings … Continue reading “Of Ostracism and Sanctification / Miguel Iturria Savón”
The Cuban filmmaker Tomás Piard now faces ideological pressure in his work for having interviewed me in his most recent documentary “TROCADERO 162, LOWER,” filmed last November for UNEAC, its producer. The debut of the film planned for 19 December 2010 (the 100th birthday of the Cuban writer José Lezama Lima, the subject of the … Continue reading “SOLIDARITY WITH TOMAS PIARD / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”