Post-Revolution
After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, writers of all backgrounds were challenged by the material constraints that immediately took place. Supplies such paper and ink were difficult to come by, and the lack of materials was compounded by the lack of publishing and binding houses. Though such companies had existed within the private sector, at the time of the Revolution, these businesses were in the process of being nationalized by the new Cuban government. The result was that immediately after the Revolution, no Cuban publishing houses existed that were capable of sustainably carrying out the publishing and binding needs of the Cuban body of writers, though some were available to do “short runs” of several hundred copies. This may help to explain why women writers in Cuba experienced a publishing lull, though creatively and culturally encouraged through the establishment of Casa de Las Américas and Imprenta Nacional in 1959. Despite these challenges, the establishment of free education allowed for a drastically higher literacy rate, so writers had wider and more diverse audiences than ever before. Such developments are thought to contribute to the “boom” in women’s writing that occurred in the 1970s, especially among younger women writers.
Cuban women writers have been able to change Cuban national discourse by reexamining themes that many people thought the Cuban Revolution of 1959 had put to rest. Their writing is diverse, and no one perspective, technique, or medium can be said to be characteristic of women’s literature in Cuba. Poetry is by far the most widely used genre for Cuban women writers, followed by the short story, although they work within genres such as testimonial literature, autobiography, essay, and the novel as well. Their subject matter and treatment of such are exceptionally varied. They do, however, hold in common several themes especially prevalent in their works.
One such collection of themes is that of the social construction of motherhood, sexuality, and the female body. During the decades immediately following the Cuban Revolution, women were encouraged to embody ideals such as self-sufficiency and moral superiority as a mother figure. A growing trend in the depiction of motherhood is that of a mother and daughter pair alienated from one another, in which the writer rejects the assumption that a mother is perfect or that she is a symbol of home or nurturing love. Lina de Feria subverts the idea of the tender mother figure in her poem “Protected from the Years,” in which the mother is a source of anxiety, and is someone whose accusations she must hide from to survive. Georgina Herrera speaks of a void between herself and her mother in “Mami,” which scholar Catherine Davies characterizes as an overwhelming sense of “lack” surrounding the mother figure. Depictions range from merely distant to sometimes disparaging, but in doing so, these writers are asserting the freedom of the mother figure to be human, imperfect, and of her own free will or desire. This is not to say that all Cuban women writers illustrate mothers negatively—Nancy Morejon, for example, is known for her “matrilineal consciousness” which subverts the idea of the patriarchal male in its own right. She does this though her preference to trace ancestry and formation of identity through her mother, which reinforces a female solidarity.
Female eroticism in literature has been another tactic used to reinforce feminine subjectivity, even as early as the beginning of the 20th century, although the views of such literature, as well as the views expressed within it, have changed. Until as recently as the 1980s, topics such as female sexuality (especially if it was homosexual or happened outside of marriage) as well as female sexual desire were considered taboo. Women writers have attempted to empower themselves by expressing a woman’s sexual desire, and showing her as an assertive and sometimes aggressive sexual partner. In Marilyn Bobes short story “Somebody Has to Cry,” for which she won the 1995 Casa de las Américas Prize, differing points of view are utilized to discuss the stories of multiple characters. These characters deal with real problems, such as the tragedy of unwanted pregnancy from rape, or adultery. The story buzzes with sexual consciousness, focusing on women’s views of their bodies, as well as the objectification that comes with beauty. Renowned poet Nancy Morejon is known for, among many other things, her depictions of lesbian love, further reorienting the perspective and asserting the right to agency.
Afro-Cuban women writers found their voices after the revolution, fueled by the national effort to define Cuban culture. An additional factor to their booming success was the increased access to greater educational opportunities than ever before for all Cubans through the free education system. These works often seek to subvert the traditional stereotypes toward mulatto women, especially the idea of the exotic, sexualized mulatta that dominated representations of mulatto women before the revolution. An especially famous example is that of the 19th-century character Cecilia Valdés from the novel of the same name, who is also known as “the little bronze virgin”. She embodies sexuality and sensuality, as well as the perceived danger to marriages and families that might be damaged by her seductive ways. This has been combated by reorienting the perspective to that of the woman herself, which reinstates her subjectivity and denies such discourses that make her an object or commodity. Often the writer identifies sources of strength through cultural means, such as in the poem “Ofumelli” by Excilia Saldana, in which a mulatto woman, prized as a sexual object, is able to fall back on her Lucumi religion as a source of power, and rains down curses against her oppressor.
Another theme throughout AfroCuban women’s literature is the idea of the African motherland. Mother Africa is sometimes depicted as a physical mother figure, such as Minerva Salado’s poem “Song of the Acana Tree” in which the author expresses kinship with Africa. With other writers, such as poet Nancy Morejon, mother Africa represents what Mirar Adentro calls the “theme of origin”. From this second perspective, Cuba is the homeland, and Africa is the historical root that helps to explain identity. A consciousness of the past, including African heritage and slavery, are part of the construction of character today, which is often expressed by Morejon’s poetry. Two famous examples of such poetry by Morejon are “Black Woman” and “I Love My Master,” which illustrate traits that are characteristic of Morejon’s poetry: they call upon historical events and collective experiences to help establish identity as an AfroCuban and as a woman. Though such themes are prevalent among black and mulatta women writers, even white female writers often focus on themes of Africa and African cultural roots—Minerva Salado is one example. Some have explained this unique characteristic of Cuban literature as stemming from the fact that Cuban national culture is a transcultured one, in which neither the Spanish or African cultural elements are dominated or eliminated, but instead combined into a cohesive new culture. This unique characteristic allows non-black Cuban women to identify with the themes of AfroCuban women, and Davies argues that the real question is simply to what extent each author identifies with Africa and how she identifies herself as a Cuban.
The Special Period that began in the 1990s posed a considerable challenge to Cuban women writers. Paper and materials were scarce, and dwindling housing opportunities meant that many Cuban women had little personal space in which to write, as many lived in often cramped multi-generational homes. Hand-made “plaquettes” have helped to keep women’s literature afloat until joint publishing ventures could accommodate the needs of writers. Many Cuban writers endeavored to publish in other countries, such as France and Mexico. Despite serious setbacks, Cuban women writers have continued to write, develop, and go on to win national and international claim, including the National Critics Prize and the Casa de las Américas Prize.
Read more about this topic: Cuban Literature, Women's Literature