7 ms·

Cuba's Lack of Literature

56 points by Thevet 9y ago

laura2013 9y ago
My last Feria del Libro was over 12 years ago and it was great! I got American Psycho, a Nightcrawler comic book, and thriller novel (now or never by elizabeth adler). Perhaps this was due to my ignorance as a young Cuban and not being able to learn about what was going on in the literary world outside the country. The Cuban Government censors many things, in my opinion, I wanted to know what specific works the author thinks should be available.
dsign 9y ago
Visiting second-hand bookstores during the nineties was my hobby, in my hometown in that peculiar Caribbean island. There wasn't much to read, except a lot of old science books translated from Russian. And mixed with those, some western textbooks printed at the same press than the Russian ones (I have always wondered if those were reproduced with permission). For lack of juvenile literature, I developed a hobby of deciphering foreign textbooks during my teenager days... But those were the nineties, and now is now. These day, bookstores only sell "souvenir literature", dreadful works about and by the dictatorship ideologues that ordinary Cubans regard with indifference at best ...
pessimizer 9y ago
Can't pirate literature travel by thumbdrive? Maybe there's no desire for contemporary literary fiction and its endless turmoil about coming to terms with guilt, in a country where most people don't feel guilty.
- ch4s3 9y ago
  Assuming that assertion is true, which I doubt, surely they must have some interesting conflicts in their societies and lives that international literature could speak to, if only a little. There's quite a bit happening in Latin American literature that may well speak to Cubans, but is unavailable on the island. And since the government control which books can be brought into Cuba, I doubt demand is the root of the issue.
- zabuni 9y ago
  It's weird, because Cubans manage to pirate all manner of other things through El Paquete, a system where pirated content is sneakernet'ed throughout Cuba. But looking at the list of files: http://paquetedecuba.com/ http://paquetedecuba.com/ Literature doesn't appear to be on the list. Either they aren't popular or they might be seen as propaganda, and incur the wrath of the officials.
patkai 9y ago
Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a good friend of Fidel, his books must be available in bookshops.

56 points by Thevet 9y ago

laura2013 9y ago

My last Feria del Libro was over 12 years ago and it was great! I got American Psycho, a Nightcrawler comic book, and thriller novel (now or never by elizabeth adler). Perhaps this was due to my ignorance as a young Cuban and not being able to learn about what was going on in the literary world outside the country. The Cuban Government censors many things, in my opinion, I wanted to know what specific works the author thinks should be available.

dsign 9y ago

Visiting second-hand bookstores during the nineties was my hobby, in my hometown in that peculiar Caribbean island. There wasn't much to read, except a lot of old science books translated from Russian. And mixed with those, some western textbooks printed at the same press than the Russian ones (I have always wondered if those were reproduced with permission). For lack of juvenile literature, I developed a hobby of deciphering foreign textbooks during my teenager days... But those were the nineties, and now is now. These day, bookstores only sell "souvenir literature", dreadful works about and by the dictatorship ideologues that ordinary Cubans regard with indifference at best ...

pessimizer 9y ago

Can't pirate literature travel by thumbdrive? Maybe there's no desire for contemporary literary fiction and its endless turmoil about coming to terms with guilt, in a country where most people don't feel guilty.

ch4s3 9y ago
Assuming that assertion is true, which I doubt, surely they must have some interesting conflicts in their societies and lives that international literature could speak to, if only a little. There's quite a bit happening in Latin American literature that may well speak to Cubans, but is unavailable on the island. And since the government control which books can be brought into Cuba, I doubt demand is the root of the issue.
zabuni 9y ago
It's weird, because Cubans manage to pirate all manner of other things through El Paquete, a system where pirated content is sneakernet'ed throughout Cuba. But looking at the list of files: http://paquetedecuba.com/ http://paquetedecuba.com/ Literature doesn't appear to be on the list. Either they aren't popular or they might be seen as propaganda, and incur the wrath of the officials.

patkai 9y ago

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a good friend of Fidel, his books must be available in bookshops.