Fighting the Opposition
Lack and Excess in Cuban and Cuban-American Narratives of Selfhood
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3852440 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emma Staniland (University of Leicester, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 190-204 |
| Publication date | 2014-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Comparative American Studies An International Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1477-5700 • E-ISSN: 1741-2676 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1179/1477570014z.00000000083 |
| OpenAlex | W2041362537 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
This essay presents a comparative discussion of two novels — one Cuban, one Cuban-American and both by women writers — that examines the roles played by the oppositional tropes of lack and excess in their respective portrayals of post-revolutionary Cuban female identities. Zoé Valdés’ La nada cotidiana (1995) and Dreaming in Cuban by are examined here via three shared thematic concerns — food, the female gendered body, and artistic expression — in which portrayals of lack and excess serve as vehicles for revealing and negotiating the oppositions often identified as inherent to the ‘Cuban condition’. Ultimately, I argue, these two literary works challenge the simplistic dualisms often used as paradigms for demarcating female Cuban identities in the post-1959 context, both within the national border and throughout the Cuban-American diaspora
Aesthetics · Art · Diaspora · Literature · Narrative · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Cuban History and Society · Gender Studies · History · Latin American and Latino Studies · Latin American Literature Studies · Law
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |