IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 8 ENGLISH | Page 122

and then disappeared from the literary scene, for example, Maria Elena Yanes, who spent many years without writing and doing other things. Anton Arrufat is a living example of those who were missing in the Cuban literary circles, but they are also those who always were on the spotlight, because they were riding and have kept on riding the wave. There are pro-government authors, that are somehow supported by the government and have not been subject to any retaliation, as Abel Prieto, who wrote some interesting books in the 1980’ s, despite of being a very gray decade with a very bad published literature. In the 1990’ s, he returned with the novel“ El vuelo del gato” [ The Flight of the Cat ] and he is currently writing. On one side we have the usual and veteran authors. I always talk about one of them, Mirtha Yanes, who has plenty of critics’ awards and has been recognized in various genres, from essay to narrative, but has not been taken into account for the National Award of Literature and, therefore, no book fair has been devoted to her, although she has a broad narrative work that includes even books for children. There are differences between generations. The earliest generation at the revolutionary triumph suffered reprisals for some reason: sexual behavior, practicing any religion or an active political position. Throughout the 1990’ s started what I would call the Cuban thaw and authors of literary quality reappeared, some with more strength than others. After generation hit hard by everything that happened in the 60’ s in this country, a new generation with no previous reference to the revolution started to write in a context marked entirely by the Cuban revolutionary process. Its authors were born after the 70’ s and they are marked by that experience although they are located elsewhere in the world and in genres like science fiction. Within that group I would divide the authors from Havana, closed in and very tight universe that is difficult to be understood by the common reader without similar experiences. These authors are self-references. Amhel Echevarria, Raul Flores Iriarte, Dazna Novak and other nucleated around the center Onelio Jorge Cardoso. Some touch me and others do not touch me at all, because their works do not tell me anything and their literature is built on a structure or support like a building that has walls, but if you enter, there is nothing to discover. There are others who have something to say and I really admire, like Anna Lidia Serova. She is not among the writers who says things in the best way, but she always has something to provide in her stories and I think it’ s important. The literature made in province does not have many references as in the Havana milieu, perhaps due to the estrangement. Some literary works still preserve the connection to the rural context, although its characters tend to disappear. We all are writing another kind of literature, but in Havana it is the literature from the city and in province we still write about environments and conflicts within the small towns, which are reflected, for example, in the narrative on Santiago de Cuba and Holguin by Yunier Riquenes and Mariela Varona, respectively. In the group with something to say we find Maria Liliana Celorrio and especially Gleivis Choir, which I love for handling irony and humor so very well. I think that the literature brewing in the prov-
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