Identity, Memory, and Diaspora

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Description

This fascinating volume contains interviews with nineteen prominent Cuban-American artists, writers, and philosophers who tell their stories and share what they consider important for understanding their work. Struggling with issues of Cuban-American identity in particular and social identity in general, they explore such questions as how they see themselves, how they have dealt with the diaspora and their memories, what they have done to find a proper place in their adopted country, and how their work has been influenced by the experience. Their answers reveal different perspectives on art, literature, and philosophy, and the different challenges encountered personally and professionally. The interviews are gathered into three groups: nine artists, six writers, and four philosophers. An introductory essay for each group is included, and the interviews are accompanied by brief biographical notes, along with samples of the work of those interviewed.

Preface
Jorge J. E. Gracia

The Cuban Diaspora: A Brief Chronology

Part I. The Artists
Lynette M. F. Bosch

Identities
Baruj Salinas

A Sense of Place
Humberto Calzada

Art on Art
Emilio Falero

The Juggler
María Brito

If Quebec Were in the Tropics
Mario Bencomo

The Human Condition
Arturo Rodríguez

For the Children
Demi

A Search for Unity
Juan Carlos Llera

Landscapes of the Mind
Alberto Rey

The Artists' Work

Flow Up
Fuji-San
Baruj Salinas

Island in Crisis
Humberto Calzada

Across
Emilio Falero

Self-portrait as a Swan
María Brito

If Quebec Were in the Tropics II 
Mario Bencomo

Untitled
Arturo Rodríguez 

An Artist's First Painting
Demi 

Fear of Flight
Juan Carlos Llera 

Brown Trout—Hosmer Creek
Alberto Rey

Part II. The Writers
Isabel Alvarez Borland

Thinking in Images
Carlos Eire

What Sounds Good Also Rings True
Gustavo Pérez Firmat

A Baratan Experience
Pablo Medina

Writing Without Masks
Virgil Suárez

Escaping the Humors
Roberto Fernández

Crossing the Crest of Forgetting
Ana Menéndez

The Writers' Work

Treinta y Cinco
Carlos Eire

Fire in May
Tristeza de mamá
Gustavo Pérez Firmat

Driving Home
Rites of Spring
Russian Doll
Mirage
The Poet as an Old Man
Pablo Medina 

The Seed Collector
The Trouble with Frogs
Virgil Suárez

Nellie
Roberto Fernández

Travelling Fools
Ana Menéndez

Part III. The Philosophers
Jorge J. E. Gracia

Cuban, Hispanic, and Latina?
Ofelia Schutte

The Search for Identity Outside Miami
Jorge J. E. Gracia

Cuban American or Latin American?
Oscar Martí

Universalism or Particularism?
Ernesto Sosa

The Philosophers' Work

Identities in Tension
Ofelia Schutte
                                     
Ethnic Identity
Jorge J. E. Gracia

Breaking with the Past                              
Oscar Martí

Philosophy, the History of Philosophy, and Science                                       
Ernesto Sosa

Bibliography
About the Editors
Index 

Sujets

• Arts visuels
• Arts visuels
• Caribbean
• Latin America
• Philosophy
• Latin American

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 08 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780791478912
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

and

Identity, Memory, and Diaspora

SUNY series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture Edited by Jorge J. E. Gracia and Rosemary Geisdorfer Feal

Identity, Memory, and Diaspora

Voices of Cuban-American Artists, Writers, and Philosophers

Edited by Jorge J. E. Gracia Lynette M. F. Bosch and Isabel Alvarez Borland

S U N Y P TATE NIVERSITY OF EW ORK RESS

Cover art:El Morro, Alberto Rey.

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2008 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electro- static, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production by Judith Block Marketing by Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Identity, memory, and diaspora : voices of Cuban-American artists, writers, and philosophers / edited by Jorge J. E. Gracia, Lynette M. F. Bosch, Isabel Alvarez Borland. p. cm. — (SUNY series in Latin American and Iberian thought and culture) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-7914-7317-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Cuban American art. 2. American literature—Cuban American authors. 3. Cuban American philsophy. I. Gracia, Jorge J. E. II. Bosch, Lynette M. F. III. Alvarez Borland, Isabel.

NX512.3.C83I34 2007 700.89'6872910732—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2007013095

Contents

Preface

Jorge J. E. Gracia

The Cuban Diaspora: A Brief Chronology

Part I. The Artists

Lynette M. F. Bosch

Identities A Sense of Place Art on Art The Juggler If Quebec Were in the Tropics The Human Condition For the Children A Search for Unity Landscapes of the Mind

The Artists’ Work Baruj Salinas

Humberto Calzada Emilio Falero María Brito Mario Bencomo Arturo Rodríguez Demi Juan Carlos Llera Alberto Rey

Part II. The Writers

Baruj Salinas Humberto Calzada Emilio Falero María Brito Mario Bencomo Arturo Rodríguez Demi Juan Carlos Llera Alberto Rey

Flow Up Fuji-San Island in Crisis Across Self-portrait as a Swan If Quebec Were in the Tropics II Untitled An Artist’s First Painting Fear of Flight Brown Trout—Hosmer Creek

Isabel Alvarez Borland

Thinking in Images What Sounds Good Also Rings True

Carlos Eire

Gustavo Pérez Firmat

vii

xi

1

7 20 30 42 54 61 72 82 91

103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113

115

121

134

vi

Contents

A Baratan Experience Writing Without Masks Escaping the Humors Crossing the Crest of Forgetting

The Writers’ Work Carlos Eire Gustavo Pérez Firmat

Pablo Medina

Virgil Suárez

Roberto Fernández Ana Menéndez

Part III. The Philosophers

Pablo Medina Virgil Suárez Roberto Fernández Ana Menéndez

Treinta y Cinco Fire in May Tristeza de mamá Driving Home Rites of Spring Russian Doll Mirage The Poet as an Old Man The Seed Collector The Trouble with Frogs Nellie Travelling Fools

Jorge J. E. Gracia

Cuban, Hispanic, and Latina? Ofelia Schutte The Search for Identity Outside Miami Jorge J. E. Gracia Cuban American or Latin American? Oscar Martí Universalism or Particularism? Ernesto Sosa

The Philosophers’ Work Ofelia Schutte Jorge J. E. Gracia Oscar Martí Ernesto Sosa

Bibliography About the Editors Index

Identities in Tension Ethnic Identity Breaking with the Past Philosophy, the History of Philosophy, and Science

145 154 164 173

181 182 185 186 188 189 190 191 192 193 195 197 199

205

212

222

234 245

251 252 254 256

258

261 267 269

Preface

Contents

vii

For Cubans, the diaspora that began in 1959, with the triumph of Fidel Castro’s Revolution, and continues to the present, has been a protracted and painful process. They have left Cuba in waves and in any conceivable means of transportation, from airplanes to makeshift rafts. Many have lost their lives in the process and others have failed to reach their goal. But even those who have succeeded in getting to the Florida shore have felt displaced, scattered, and alienated; most have suffered loneliness and some even regret. Cubans have used different strategies to overcome their personal struggles. Some have created a myth of Olympian proportions about Cuba, the paradise they were forced to leave behind against their will, and to which they dream of returning. Some have found solace in political action against the forces that displaced them. Others have inten- tionally tried to forget their origins and to blend in and assimilate to the places where they landed. And still others wallow in nostalgia and memo- ries. All have had to ask themselves who they are and how they fit in their new environment. These are fundamental questions of identity that apply not just to individual persons, but also to groups. Those Cubans who live in the United States have had to face them every day and sometimes dramatically, for the country where they have chosen to reside is very different from the one they left in terms of language, culture, and values. So who are we, so-called Cuban Americans? Are we still Cuban in some sense? Have we become fully American? And what does it mean to be Cuban American? In this volume we pose these and similar questions to a group of prominent Cuban-American artists, writers, and philosophers. The past half a century has seen an unprecedented flowering of Cuban- American talent in the United States. The number of artists is counted in the hundreds, perhaps the thousands, the writers have achieved wide read- ership even outside the Cuban-American community, and some of the philosophers have joined the philosophical mainstream in the United States. How have they dealt with the diaspora and their memories? What have they done to find a proper place in their adopted country? And most pertinent for us here, how has their work been affected by the experience?

vii

viii

Preface

This volume is related to a larger project, a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Seminar that took place in Buffalo, June 11– 30, 2006, on the topic: “Negotiating Identities in Art, Literature, and Philosophy: Cuban Americans and American Culture.” It was directed by Lynette M. F. Bosch, Isabel Alvarez Borland, and I. In addition, Lynette Bosch and I organized an art exhibition at the University at Buffalo Art Galleries entitled, “Layers: Collecting Cuban-American Art,” June 11– September 9, 2006. In the exhibition, samples of three different art col- lections, two private and one institutional, sought to illustrate how Cuban-American art collectors also encountered issues of identity, memory, and diaspora as collectors and how they dealt with them in different contexts. The interviews included here are selected from a group con- ducted with various artists, writers, and philosophers, which had the purpose of adding a personal dimension to the NEH Seminar. The interviews are gathered in three groups, the first with nine artists, the second with six writers, and the third with four philosophers. Each group is preceded by an introductory essay and each interview is introduced with a brief biographical note about the author interviewed. At the end of each group, samples of the work of those interviewed are added. The choice of authors was guided by a desire to give a broad idea of the contribution of established figures who have struggled in some way with issues of Cuban-American identity in particular and social identity in general. The questions posed to them in the interviews were similar, although they often reflect particular situations and the nature of the work. Apart form the general questions mentioned earlier, some of the most frequently asked were: Who do you think you are and how is your work related to your identify? How did you come to be who you are? Do you regard yourself as Cuban American, as Latino or Latina, as Hispanic? Are you American, or qualified American? How has your identity been formed, how does it manifest itself, and how has the experience of the diaspora affected your work? What difficulties have you encountered, and how do you see these in relation to American culture? In spite of similar questions and often common experiences, the interviews are surprisingly different. Not only does each interview present us with a different take on art, literature, or philosophy, but most of them explore different challenges encountered by the authors. Sometimes these have to do with personal matters, but at other times they involve social and professional dimensions. The answers reveal striking differences be- tween the way the experience of Cuban Americans has informed their work. Mostly, the questions were treated as an occasion to get these authors to tell their stories, and what they consider important for under- standing their work.

Preface

ix

The volume begins with art because its use of nonlinguistic media makes its statement more indirect while at the same time more impacting. In literature, language is the medium, so we get closer to an explicit formulation of the issues with which this volume is concerned. Yet, litera- ture does not explain or teach, but often uses the description of experi- ence to entice the reader into the particularities of a situation. Finally, philosophy most openly formulates problems, whether conceptual or practical, and seeks to solve them. The volume, then, involves a progres- sion from the less explicit to the more explicit, and from the more expe- riential to the more conceptual. The preparation of a collection such as this involves substantial work of various sorts. Most interviews were first filmed and then tran- scribed. I am grateful to my wife, Norma Gracia, for filming most of the interviews with the artists and to Paul Symington for transcribing the filmed interviews. The cost of this process was funded through the Samuel P. Capen Chair in Philosophy, at the University at Buffalo. I am also grateful to various artists, art collectors, authors, and publishers for the permission to include works or parts of works here, and to the inter- viewed authors, who took the time for the interviews and consented to engage in a necessary, but nonetheless cumbersome editorial procedure. I am also grateful to Lisa Chesnel for her interest in this work and encouragement, to Judith Block for her care and attention in the produc- tion process, and to Susan Smith for preparing the index. Most of all, I am indebted to Lynette M. F. Bosch and Isabel Alvarez Borland, who have been extraordinary partners throughout the whole process. I have learned much from both of them, and I have enjoyed their partnership in the NEH Seminar and the compilation of this volume. It has been a great privilege to work with them and share their enthusiasm.

Jorge J. E. Gracia