Arts and Literature of Cuba

Over the next four decades, Cabrera published a wide range of writing, including volumes of essays, short-story collections, and novels. In the last category, a couple are espe- cially noteworthy. Vista del amanecer en el trópico (1974), published in English as A View of Dawn in the Tropics , is an experimental novel consisting of a series of vignettes that retell Cuban history from the perspective of the defeated rather than the victors. La Habana para un infante difunto (1979), published in English as Infante’s Inferno —the author assisted in the translation and provided the droll title—is a semiautobiographical coming-of-age novel. It, like much of Cabrera Infante’s other work, contains laugh-out-loud humor. But, again like much of his other work, there’s also a certain wistfulness, even melancholy. Cabrera Infante didn’t like life in exile. However, he swore that he would return to his native Cuba only after Fidel Castro was gone. He never got the chance. He died in 2005—11 years before the dictator he despised. Miguel Barnet: Pioneer of “Testimonio” A newspaper story caught Miguel Barnet’s eye. It was about an Afro-Cuban man who’d reached his 103rd birthday. The man, named Esteban Montejo, had been a cimarrón —a fugitive slave—and had later fought for Cuba’s independence from Spain. The year was 1963, and Barnet—born in Havana in 1940—was a rising poet and a recent university graduate with a degree in sociology. He tracked Montejo to a home for veter- ans and paid him a visit. He asked the old man to tell him about his experiences, tape recording their discussion. That first

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