Roberto Fernández Retamar (9 June 1930 – 20 July 2019, Havana) was a Cuban poet, essayist, literary critic and President of the Casa de las Américas. In his role as President of the organization, Fernández also served on the

Council of State of Cuba The Council of State () of Cuba is a 31-member body of the government of Cuba, elected by the National Assembly of People's Power. It has the authority to exercise most legislative power between sessions of the National Assembly of People's Powe ...

. An early close confidant of Che Guevara and

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

, he was a central figure in Cuba from the 1959 Revolution until his death in 2019. Fernández also wrote over a dozen major collections of verse and founded the Casa de las Americas cultural magazine. Professor Joao Cesar Castro de Rocha, at the University of Manchester has described Retamar as "one of the most distinguished Latin American intellectuals of the twentieth century." In 1989, he was awarded the

National Prize for Literature A National Prize for Literature ( es, Premio Nacional de Literatura) is a kind of award offered by various countries. Examples include: * National Prize for Literature (Argentina) * National Literary Awards, Burma * National Prize for Literature ( ...

, Cuba's national literary award and most important award of its type.

On Caliban

Responding to the arielismo of

Jose Enrique Rodo Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya * Jose the G ...

, who used the Shakespeare created character Caliban as a metaphor for Latin American civilisation, Retamar in 1971 influentially set up instead Caliban as a symbol of the Cuban people, stating that: "Our symbol is not Ariel, as Rodó thought, but Caliban….I know no other metaphor more expressive of our cultural situation, of our reality".Quoted in A Vaughan, ‘’Shakespeare’s Caliban’’ (Cambridge 1991) p. 156

Works

Poetry Elegía como un himno, Havana, 1950 Patrias. 1949-1951, Havana, 1952 Alabanzas, conversaciones. 1951-1955, Mexico, 1955 Vuelta de la antigua esperanza, Havana, 1959 En su lugar, la poesía, Havana, 1959 Con las mismas manos. 1949-1962, Havana, 1962 Historia antigua, Havana, 1964 Poesía reunida. 1948-1965, Havana, 1966 Buena suerte viviendo, Mexico, 1967 Que veremos arder, havana, 1970. Published in Spain with the title Algo semejante a los monstruos antediluvianos A quien pueda interesar (Poesía 1958-1970), Mexico Cuaderno paralelo, Havana, 1973 Circunstancia de poesía, Buenos Aires, 1974 Revolución nuestra, amor nuestro, Havana, 1976 Palabra de mi pueblo. Poesía 1949-1979, Havana, 1980 Circunstancia y Juana, México, 1980 (consta de Circunstancia de poesía y Juana y otros poemas personales) Juana y otros poemas personales, Managua, 1981 Poeta en La Habana, Barcelona, 1982 Hacia la nueva, Havana, 1989 Hemos construido una alegría olvidada. Poesías escogidas (1949-1988), Madrid, 1989 Mi hija mayor va a Buenos Aires, Havana, 1993 Algo semejante a los monstruos antediluvianos. Poesías escogidas 1949-1988, Havana, 1994 Las cosas del corazón, Havana, 1994 Una salva de porvenir, Matanzas, Cuba, 1995 Aquí, Caracas, 1995 Esta especie de poema. Antología poética, Puerto Rico, 1999 Versos, Havana, 1999. Felices los normales. Poesías escogidas 1994-1999, Mexico, 2002. De una pluma de faisán. Poetas en mis poemas, Córdoba (Spain), 2004. Antología personal, Mexico, 2004. Nuestro fuego, Lima, 2006. Cinco poemas griegos, Havana, 2006. Lo que va dictando el fuego, Caracas, 2008. Conversa. Antoloxía 1951-1996, Vigo, 2009. Nosotros los sobrevivientes. Antología poética, Santiago de Chile, 2010. Vuelta de la antigua esperanza, Havana, 2010. Una salva de porvenir. Nueva antología personal, Buenos Aires, 2012. Circonstances de la poésie, París, 2014. Historia antigua, Havana, 2015. Essay La poesía contemporánea en Cuba. 1927-1953, Havana, 1954 Idea de la estilística, Havana, 1983 Papelería, Universidad Central de Las Villas, 1962 Ensayo de otro mundo, Havana, 1967 Introducción a Cuba. Historia, Havana, 1968 Calibán, Mexico, 1971 El son de vuelo popular, Havana, 1972 Lectura de Martí, Mexico, 1972 Para una teoría de la literatura hispanoamericana, Havana, 1975 Acerca de España. Contra la Leyenda Negra, Medellín, 1977 Introducción a José Martí, Havana, 1978 Algunos problemas teóricos de la literatura hispanoamericana, Cuenca, 1981 Para el perfil definitivo del hombre (prólogo de Abel Prieto), Havana, 1981 Entrevisto, Havana, 1982 José Martí: semblanza biográfica y cronología mínima (con Ibrahím Hidalgo Paz), Havana, 1982 Naturalidad y modernidad en la literatura martiana, Montevideo, 1986 Algunos usos de civilización y barbarie, Buenos Aires, 1989 Ante el Quinto Centenario, 1992 José Martí. La encarnación de un pueblo, Buenos Aires, 1993 Cuando un poeta muere, Matanzas, Cuba, 1994 Nuestra América: cien años, y otros acercamientos a Martí, Havana, 1995 Cuba defendida, Havana, 1996 Recuerdo a, Havana, 1998 La poesía, reino autónomo, Havana, 2000

References

Bibliography

* ‘’Caliban and Other Essays’’ (Minneapolis 1989) * ''Todo caliban'' San Juan, PR: Ediciones Callejon, 2002.

External links

Falleció el reconocido intelectual Roberto Fernández RetamarFallece en La Habana el poeta y ensayista Roberto Fernández RetamarLa Peña: Artists and Creators''World Literature Today'' Summer/Autumn 20021978 interview in ''Diacritics''1995 interview in ''Critical Inquiry''
1930 births 2019 deaths Latin Americanists Government ministers of Cuba 20th-century Cuban poets Cuban male poets Cuban essayists Male essayists 20th-century essayists 20th-century male writers {{Cuba-writer-stub

On Caliban

Works

See also

References

Bibliography

External links