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Cubanisimo! is the first book to gather Cuban stories, essays, poems and novel excerpts in one volume that summarizes the richness and depth of a great national literature. From the turn of the century to the present, from Havana to Miami, New York, Mexico City, Madrid and beyond, the spirit and diversity of Cuban cultureconverge in one vibrant literary jam session. Cristina Garcia has ingeniously grouped her selections according to "the music of their sentences" into five sections named for Cuban dance styles.

Cubanisimo! begins with an elegant classical danz n section that includes poems and diaries from the father of Cuban literature, Jose Marti, and Antonio Benitez-Rojo's hallucinatory story A View from the Mangrove . As it moves to more contemporary dances, the book offers, among other delights, the essay by Alejo Carpentier that was the first to define magical realism; the scandalously sensual eighth chapter from Jose Lezama Lima's controversial 1966 novel Paradiso ; Ana Menendez's Little Havana-inspired story, In Cuba I was a German Shepherd ; a passage from Reinaldo Arenas's acclaimed memoir Before Night Falls and six witty musings-or mambos-on language from Gustavo Perez Firmat's Life on the Hyphen .

A brilliant introduction for readers who want to explore Cuban literature, as well as a collectible volume for those who love Cuba, Cubanisimo! is a celebration of Cuban culture, from the island to its farthest flung voices.

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Library Journal Review

When most of us think of literary Cuba, Hemingway comes to mind first. This, however, should not be the case. With this anthology of contemporary Cuban literature, editor Garcia (Dreaming in Cuban) introduces American readers to an impressive array of Cuba's finest writers of stories, essays, poems, and novels. Garcia has arranged her selections according to "the music of their sentences," in sections called "Danzon," "Rumba," "Son," "Mambo," and "Salsa." Danzon, for instance, was very much turn-of-the-century music and is, according to Garcia, best reflected in the work of Jose Marti, the fallen hero of Cuba's independence movement and the father of Cuban modernist literature. Other noteworthy selections include Antonio Benitez-Rojo's short story "A View from the Mangrove"; a passage from Jose Lezama Lima's controversial 1966 novel, Paradiso; Nancy Morejon's Havana-inspired poem "Love, Attributed City"; and an address by Guillermo Cabrera Infante on Lorca's visit to Havana in 1930. In the helpful introduction, Garc!a explains why she selected particular works for particular music categories and gives background on the authors for those unfamiliar with their work. This unique anthology-the first to gather the diversity of contemporary Cuban voices in one volume-should create a great interest among readers who want to acquaint themselves with the literary side of Cuba. Highly recommended for all literary collections.-Ron Ratliff, Kansas State Univ. Lib., Manhattan (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Cristina García was born in Havana and grew up in New York City. Her first novel, Dreaming in Cuban , was nominated for a National Book Award and has been widely translated. Ms. García has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University, and the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award. She lives in Los Angeles with her daughter.