Arts and Literature of Cuba

In addition to The Kingdom of This World, Carpentier’s most famous novels include 1953’s Los pasos perdidos ( The Lost Steps ), in which the protagonist, a musician, returns to his South American homeland after living in New York. He trav- els into the jungle, where he finds inspiration in a remote vil- lage whose inhabitants are seemingly untouched by history. El siglo de las luces (1962), published in English as Explosion in a Cathedral , deals with the French Revolution and its effects on the nations of the Caribbean. La consagración de la primavera (1978; The Consecration of Spring ), is an epic, time-shifting treatment of the Cuban Revolution. El arpa y la sombra (1979; The Harp and the Shadow ) imagines a love affair between Christopher Columbus and Spain’s Queen Isabella. Guillermo Cabrera Infante: Putting the Sonic in the “Boom” A part of the Latin American “Boom” generation, Guillermo Cabrera Infante is best known for his innovative use of lan- guage. His writings are explosions of sound and wordplay, full of alliteration, onomatopoeia, and colorful slang, with one allu- sion begetting another and a seemingly endless stream of puns. The following excerpt, from the novel Infante’s Inferno , gives an idea of Cabrera Infante’s unique style: Her laughter tinkled among the prowling panthers and still flamin- goes. Flaming. Goes. All green shall perish. Perish the thinker. Perishcope. I looked at her with my only eye. She sat back again: to look at me: see me better. Gradiva, what green eyes you’ve got! Proud she was. Maria Marga meeting a most lazar-like Lazarus near San Lazaro: have faith and ye shall rise again! Lazy Daisy kiss- ing leopards. Lepers. Mist metaphors.

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Arts and Literature of Cuba