Cuba and the Fall : Christian text and queer narrative in the fiction of José Lezama Lima and Reinaldo Arenas / Eduardo González.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

González, Eduardo, 1943-

Series:

New World studies.

New World studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lezama Lima, Jos--Criticism and interpretation.

Lezama Lima, Jos.

Arenas, Reinaldo, 1943-1990--Criticism and interpretation.

Arenas, Reinaldo.

Gay men's writings, Cuban--History and criticism.

Gay men's writings, Cuban.

Homosexuality in literature.

Fall of man in literature.

Homosexuality--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Homosexuality.

Homosexuality and literature--Cuba--History--20th century.

Homosexuality and literature.

Christianity and literature--Cuba--History--20th century.

Christianity and literature.

Physical Description:

xiv, 296 p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The literature of Cuba, argues Eduardo González in this new book, takes on quite different features depending on whether one is looking at it from "the inside" or from "the outside," a view that in turn is shaped by official political culture and the authors it sanctions or by those authors and artists who exist outside state policies and cultural politics. González approaches this issue by way of two twentieth-century writers who are central to the canon of gay homoerotic expression and sensibility in Cuban culture: José Lezama Lima (1910-1976) and Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990). Drawing on the plots and characters in their works, González develops both a story line and a moral tale, revolving around the Christian belief in the fall from grace and the possibility of redemption, that bring the writers into a unique and revealing interaction with one another. The work of Lezama Lima and Arenas is compared with that of fellow Cuban author Virgilio Piñera (1912-1979) and, in a wider context, with the non-Cuban writers John Milton, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Faulkner, John Ruskin, and James Joyce to show how their themes get replicated in González's selected Cuban fiction. Also woven into this interaction are two contemporary films--The Devil's Backbone (2004) and Pan's Labyrinth (2007)--whose moral and political themes enhance the ethical values and conflicts of the literary texts. Referring to this eclectic gathering of texts, González charts a cultural course in which Cuba moves beyond the Caribbean and into a latitude uncharted by common words, beyond the tyranny of place.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction: Personal Character, Authorship, and the Incidental Caribbean

Part One: Castle Dismal: Reinaldo Arenas as Boy and Girl

1 A House in the Woods

2 Pan's Labyrinth

3 Lady in the Hot Seat

4 A House of Sand

5 The A-Frame Agony

Part Two: The Lord's Envy: Lezama Lima as Satan Knows Best

6 Son of Gorgo

7 Mother Nero, Uncle Orpheus, and the Unborn

8 Paradiso as a Five-Star Inferno

Part Three: Planet Cuba up in the Clouds

9 Gargling the Tribe

10 Babel Hustle and Flow

11 Discordance

Notes

Bibliography

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-8139-2987-3

OCLC:

759159919