Abstract
Taking into account the multiple perspectives from which it is possible to approach the analysis of the Latin-American essay, the Cuban case presents a singularity, especially when the genre was consolidated as thought on cultural identity in the 20th century. I am interested in constructing a corpus in which the idea of the Latin American is discussed and replaced by that of Cubanness. I have woven this tapestry of texts with three authors: Fernando Ortiz, Severo Sarduy and Virgilio Piñera. With regards to the work of these authors, I will focus on Ortiz’s Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar (1940); Sarduy’s Baroque (1974) and The Baroque and the Neobarroque (1974) and Piñera’s extensive poem The Weight of the Island (1943). As my hypothesis, I propose that Ortiz begins analysing Cuba as soon as he is able to stop talking about Latin America and he sets his own theoretical speculation within the framework of culturalization of the 20th century essay. The second point of my analysis is then the correlation between these texts and I will try to prove that Ortiz’s concept of transculturation is, at the very least, present in Sarduy’s work, if it is not what encourages it and gives it meaning. If it is possible for every book to have its counter book, a position that confirms a canon and that in its destruction also confirms it, I am interested in presenting Virgilio Piñera’s poem as the counter book to Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar. Finally, I am interested in making an inverse analysis to see to what extent Baroque’s theoretical underpinning may illuminate a reading on Ortiz’s text.
Keywords
essay; baroque; transculturation; Latin America; Cuba