The Social Life of Literature in Revolutionary Cuba : Narrative, Identity, and Well-being

This study explores the social functions of literature from the perspective of policymakers, writers, readers and residents in contemporary Cuba. It provides a new perspective on post-59 Cuban literature that underlines how cultural policy has made literature a hybrid activity between elite and mass culture, with inherent social, rather than aesthetic or political, value. Whilst many traditional studies of Cuban literature assume either its subjugation to politics and ideology or, conversely, its role in resisting political discourse via a rather naïve notion of artistic freedom, this project explores the varied, dynamic and multiple ways in which literature works in Cuban society: as a catalyst for identity construction aimed at consensus and belonging, but also as an instrument of self-differentiation and self-definition, even in the more recent context of a more market-oriented system. The study reviews policy from 1959 to the present, and presents contemporary case studies exploring the social functions of literature for writers, readers and ordinary Havana residents. Acknowledgments 6 Contents 8 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations Used 10 Chapter 1: Introduction: The Social Life of Literature in Contemporary Cuba: Negotiating Identity, Attaining Well-Being, and Surviving Social Change 11 The Special Place of Literature in the Cuban Revolution 16 This Study 23 Notes 28 Chapter 2: Culture, Identity, and Well-Being: Reviewing the Possibilities 29 Culture: Definitions and Issues 30 Culture: Subjectivity and Objectivity Reviewed 32 Cultural Practice: Beyond a Mere Survival Strategy 33 Culture: Structure and Agency Revisited 34 Culture and Ideology 36 Culture and Action 37 Identity and Community 38 I, We, and Them 40 Being and Behaving: Linking Identity, Cultural Models, and Action 41 Identity and Well-Being 43 Defining Well-Being 44 The “Cultural Turn” in Approaches to Well-Being 47 The Promise of Literature 49 Notes 54 Chapter 3: Social Change, Cultural Policy, and the Functions of Literature: Understanding Culture and Revolution in Cuba, 1959–1989 57 Cultural Policy and the Revolution, 1959–1989 58 The Writer Within Revolutionary Society 71 The Reader Within the Revolution 79 Textual Production and Society 82 The Value Systems of the Revolution: Coercion, Contestation, Conformity, or Cohesion? 88 Cubanía 90 Conciencia Revolucionaria 91 Voluntarism—Self-Sacrifice, Asceticism, and Heroism 92 Participation and Action 93 Individual and Collective Selfhood 94 Self-evaluation 95 Future Orientation 96 Egalitarianism 97 Humanism 98 Notes 100 Chapter 4: “La cultura es lo primero que hay que salvar”: Writers, Literature, and Well-Being in the Período Especial, 1990–2000 101 Cultural Policy in the 1990s 112 Writers Respond 113 The Moral and Material Foundations of Well-Being 120 Notes 129 Chapter 5: “La cosa esta que vino después”: Reading Testimonial Literature, Well-Being, and Narrative During the Batalla de Ideas 132 The Batalla de Ideas 134 The Study10 141 The Texts 143 Extract 1: Marta A. González, Bajo Palabra (1965) 144 Extract 2: Dora Alonso, El año 61 (1981) 144 Extract 3: Mercedes Santos Moray, La piedra de cobre (1978) 145 The Readers 145 The Findings 146 Axis One: From Context to Text 147 Axis Two: From Text to Reader 149 Axis Three: Reading Contexts and Communities 153 Axis Four: Leaving the Texts and Narrating the Self 155 Bridges to Cuba 162 Notes 167 Chapter 6: Subjective Well-Being and Culture as Everyday Practice in Contemporary Cuba, 2007–2012 170 A Nocturnal Map 170 Broadening the Definition of “Bienestar” 171 The Policy Environment in 2012 172 ¿Hay que Salvar la Cultura? 174 The Study: What Is SWB and How Do We Look for It? 179 SWB as Resilience and Adaptability 181 Culture and SWB 188 Notes 192 Chapter 7: Conclusion: The Promise of Well-Being Through Culture in Contemporary Cuba: Morality, Culture, and the Market 195 Culture and the Actualización 198 The Promise of Well-Being: Lessons for the Future? 204 Notes 208 Bibliography 209 Corpus of Primary Texts 224 Interviews 224 Chapter 3 224 Chapter 4 224 Chapter 5 224 Index 226 Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction: The Social Life of Literature in Contemporary Cuba: Negotiating Identity, Attaining Well-Being, and Surviving Social Change....Pages 1-18 Culture, Identity, and Well-Being: Reviewing the Possibilities....Pages 19-46 Social Change, Cultural Policy, and the Functions of Literature: Understanding Culture and Revolution in Cuba, 1959–1989....Pages 47-90 “La cultura es lo primero que hay que salvar”: Writers, Literature, and Well-Being in the Período Especial, 1990–2000....Pages 91-121 “La cosa esta que vino después”: Reading Testimonial Literature, Well-Being, and Narrative During the Batalla de Ideas ....Pages 123-160 Subjective Well-Being and Culture as Everyday Practice in Contemporary Cuba, 2007–2012....Pages 161-185 Conclusion: The Promise of Well-Being Through Culture in Contemporary Cuba: Morality, Culture, and the Market....Pages 187-200 Back Matter....Pages 201-222 This study explores the social functions of literature from the perspective of policymakers, writers, readers and residents in contemporary Cuba. It provides a new perspective on post-59 Cuban literature that underlines how cultural policy has made literature a hybrid activity between elite and mass culture, with inherent social, rather than aesthetic or political, value. Whilst many traditional studies of Cuban literature assume either its subjugation to politics and ideology or, conversely, its role in resisting political discourse via a rather naiv̈e notion of artistic freedom, this project explores the varied, dynamic and multiple ways in which literature works in Cuban society: as a catalyst for identity construction aimed at consensus and belonging, but also as an instrument of self-differentiation and self-definition, even in the more recent context of a more market-oriented system