IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 8 ENGLISH | Page 120

NP: How do you see the current
literary scene in Cuba, especially in
the light of the latest Book Fair?
LA: Maybe it is not very literary to say
it, but ultimately the literature has to do
with the people who read it. In the Book
Fair I realized that it was easier to find a
poster of Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo
than certain books. This event has been
focused more in merchandising than in
the authors and their readers. There are
many things around that tend to clog the
essential fact. Our book fair cannot be
compared to others in other parts of the
world that really focus on the literary
issues. In the literary scene it would
have been worth to decide what can be
called Cuban literature, because many
authors, especially the most important,
do not reside in Cuba anymore and they
are still writing from other places. Thus,
their works are somehow subject to
their own environments with the influences of other world. The Cuban literature has another serious problem: the
publishing issues. We do not find much
literary value even in works published
because they were rewarded at certain
literary contests. The competition systems has done much harm to our literature, because people do not write for the
reader. They simply write to win a
contest seeking the approval of a jury.
Often you know in advance who will be
in the jury and you write thinking about
what they like. That detracts a little the
literary fact and the levels of creation
decay when you write for competition
due to the lack of spontaneity. The
author would have given something
more valuable in another context. Often
the published book is a rare bird. Although the system of territorial publishing houses has allowed that many writ-

ers from provinces and in their municipalities to be visible now , it has a
downside that once their books are
published, but neither reviewed nor
commented in the press and with only a
few copies and no critics, the book is
virtually nonexistent and its author gets
lost in the everyday life.
NP: Why a literary work awarded in
a competition has not always a real
literary value?
LA: Well, that's what I told you before.
I remember that —while in the Literary
Training Center Onelio Jorge Cardoso— I went with the provincial boys to
a reading of stories by an author from
Havana. I remember his name, but I will
not disclose it here. The point is that the
written piece was abominable, but it had
deserved a prize by the Embassy of
Spain. The story was full of quotations
in English and references that only a
reader born and raised in Havana could
understand. It meant nothing to us.
Many people left the room; I did not
because where I was sitting was very
visible and I was ashamed that everybody would see me leaving. But I
should have left, because it was a reading that did not provide anything valuable. However, it was awarded. The next
day we spoke with one of the teachers at
the center and we wonder if it was the
way we should write, because most of
us do not write that way. It happened
again in the Cuba Pavilion with other
authors from Havana in poses that
turned literature into performances. I
think that literature is not a visual art
that allows you to do performances in
order to communicate; I conceive literature to be read, to be enjoyed by a reader and not through a performance.

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