A recurring theme in contemporary studies on memory is that of the memory trace, footprint or vestige. Having already undergone ample systematisation in philosophical thinking, what we may call a trace theory is now greatly impacting literary and cultural studies, bringing to light very original poetics. This notion is of great interest to me, and in this study I intend to link it to the subject of artists' autobiographies. In specific, my study focuses on two autobiographical works by contemporary Cuban authors, both of which, despite their differing literary styles, enable the readers to piece together a fragment of the island's recent cultural history. Following the traces left by the autobiographer, listening to the whisper of his intimate storytelling, inserting his subjective expression into the problematic perspective of a collective, are my main objectives in studying Inventario secreto de La Habana (2004) by Abilio Estévez and La fiesta vigilada (2007) by Antonio José Ponte.
Traces; ruins; autobiographical discourse; contemporary Cuban Literature