Cuban American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or t ...

literature overlaps with both

Cuban literature Cuban literature is the literature written in Cuba or outside the island by Cubans in Spanish language. It began to find its voice in the early 19th century. The major works published in Cuba during that time were of an abolitionist character. Nota ...

and American literature, and is also distinct in itself. Its boundaries can blur on close inspection. Some scholars, such as Rodolfo J. Cortina, regard "Cuban American authors" simply as Cubans "who live and write in the United States."

Canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...

writers include

Reinaldo Arenas Reinaldo Arenas (July 16, 1943 – December 7, 1990) was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright known as a vocal critic of Fidel Castro, the Cuban Revolution, and the Cuban government. His memoir of the Cuban dissident movement and of being a ...

Rafael Campo Rafael Juan Campo y Pomar (24 October 1813 – 1 March 1890) was President of El Salvador 12 February 1856 – 1 February 1858.

Nilo Cruz Nilo Cruz is a Cuban-American playwright and pedagogue. With his award of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play '' Anna in the Tropics'', he became the second Latino so honored, after Nicholas Dante. Biography Early years Cruz was bor ...

Daína Chaviano Daína Chaviano () (born 19 February 1957, Havana)Profile
''Encyclopæd ...

, Carlos Eire, Roberto G. Fernández,

Gustavo Pérez Firmat Gustavo Pérez Firmat was born in 1949, Havana, Cuba, and raised in Miami, Florida. He attended Miami-Dade Community College, the University of Miami, and the University of Michigan, where he earned a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature. He taught a ...

, Cristina García,

Carolina Garcia-Aguilera Carolina Garcia-Aguilera (born July 13, 1949)page 87, ''Great Women Mystery Writers'', 2nd Ed. by Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay, 2007, publ. Greenwood Press, is an American writer born in Havana, Cuba. She has written seven (7) novels in a mystery s ...

Oscar Hijuelos Oscar Jerome Hijuelos (August 24, 1951 – October 12, 2013) was an American novelist. Of Cuban descent, during a year-long convalescence from a childhood illness spent in a Connecticut hospital he lost his knowledge of Spanish, his parents' ...

, Melinda Lopez,

Eduardo Machado Eduardo Oscar Machado (born June 11, 1953) is a Cuban playwright living in the United States. Notable plays by Machado include ''Broken Eggs'', '' Havana is Waiting'' and ''The Cook''. Many of his plays are autobiographical or deal with Cuba in ...

, Orlando Ricardo Menes,

José Martí José Julián Martí Pérez (; January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a Cuban nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the libera ...

Achy Obejas Achy Obejas (born June 28, 1956) is a Cuban-American writer and translator focused on personal and national identity issues, living in Benicia, California. She frequently writes on her sexuality and nationality, and has received numerous awards fo ...

Ricardo Pau-Llosa Ricardo Pau-Llosa (born May 17, 1954 in Havana, Cuba, lived in the United States since December 1960) is a Cuban- American poet, art critic of Latin American art in the US and Europe, art collector, and author of short fiction. Early life and ...

, and

Virgil Suárez Virgil Suárez (born January 29, 1962, Havana, Cuba) is a poet and novelist. He is a professor of English at Florida State University. He is one of the leading writers in the Cuban American community, known for his novels including ''Latin Jazz' ...

History

The literature of Cuban Americans may be read in light of

Cuban immigration to the United States Cuban immigration to the United States, for the most part, occurred in two periods: the first series of immigration of wealthy Cuban Americans to the United States resulted from Cubans establishing cigar factories in Tampa and from attempts to o ...

and/or

Cuban exile A Cuban exile is a person who emigrated from Cuba in the Cuban exodus. Exiles have various differing experiences as emigrants depending on when they migrated during the exodus. Demographics Social class Cuban exiles would come from various ec ...

. Cortina incorporates this history into his grouping of Cuban American literary output into "generations": neoclassical (circa 1800–1825), romantic (1825–1850), realist–naturalist (1850–1880), impressionist (1880–1910), avant-garde (1910–1940), existentialist (1940–1960), revolutionary (1960–1985), and postmodern (1985–). Cuban-American literature may be found in Spanish-language United States newspapers such as: * ''El Eco de Cuba'' (est. 1855 in New York) * ''El Horizonte'' (est. 1850 in New York by Miguel Teurbe Tolón) * ''El Mulato'' (est. 1854 in New York) * ''La Verdad'' (1848-1860, New York)

References

Bibliography

in English

* A. R. Hernández and Lourdes Casal. "Cubans in the United States: A Survey of the Literature" Estudios Cubanos Vol. 5 (1975). * (Anthology) *

* *

* Lillian D. Bertot. The Literary Imagination of the Mariel Generation. Miami: Cuban American National Foundation, 1995. * * (Anthology; includes writer biographies) * * Rodrigo Lazo. "Los Filibusteros: Cuban Writers in the United States and Deterritorialized Print Culture"

American Literary History For the history of American literature see American literature. ''American Literary History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the ...

15 (January 2003): 87-106. *

*

* (Essays by Jorge Febles, Gustavo Pérez Firmat, Iraida H. López, William Luis, Elena Rivero, Adriana Méndez Rodenas) *

*Armando Simon (2014) The Cult of Suicide and Other Scifi Stories. Raleigh: Lulu Press.

in Spanish

* 1982- (Founded by

Belkis Cuza Malé Belkis Cuza Malé (born 1942) is a Cuban-American writer, journalist, and painter, best known for her poetry. Biography She studied literature at the University of Santiago de Cuba beginning in December 1964. After marrying her first husband, s ...

and Heberto Padilla) * 1986- * González, Yara, “La poesía cubana en los Estados Unidos” in Culturas hispánicas en los Estados Unidos, eds. María Jesus Buxó Rey; Tomás Calvo Buezas (Cultura Hispánica Madrid, 1990) * Armando Simon, "Infidel!" Raleigh, Lulu Press, 2008.

External links