Abstract:
From an outside perspective, the Cuban dream of a "free" Latin America and world is nothing more than an anachronism bound to give way, sooner or later, to the currents of neoliberal globalization. Arthur Miller has said of Fidel Castro, "It is Don Quixote tilting at windmills which, worse yet, have collapsed into dust." Yet on the island, state control of the economy and censorship of artistic expression have only intensified in recent years.

Two authors who defy the regime in different ways, while also resisting emigration are poet Reina María Rodríguez, who seeks refuge in the apparently apolitical sanctuary of literature itself, and essayist Antonio José Ponte, who has openly assumed the role of Revolutionary gadfly and resident persona non grata. Both writers coincide in their use of deconstructionist strategies in their work.

Deconstruction has failed to find a niche in the rest of Latin America; on the whole, it was passed over in favor of poststructuralist theory of a more overtly ethical and political bent. Why, then, does it seem finally to have found a place in Cuban letters and intellectual thought? This talk seeks to answer this question through a consideration of the work of Rodríguez and Ponte.

Photo credits: Antonio Eligio Fernández ("Tonel") "Mundo soñado" [Dream World] (1995) Museo de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.

Dierdra Reber
Ph.D. candidate
Hispanic Studies
University of Pennsylvania

Currently writing dissertation on representations of affect and
the market in Latin American literature and film.

American Association of
University Women
Dissertation Fellow
2004-2005