Full Description
Offers a detailed picture of the lives of Cuban Americans through interviews with artists, writers, and philosophers.
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.
Contents
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
