Smoke and Mirrors: Generic Manipulation and Doubling in &lt;i&gt;Dancing to “Almendra”&lt;/i&gt;

Amanda Ruth Waugh Lagji

doi:10.33596/anth.316

Abstract

This paper explores Mayra Montero’s novel Dancing to “Almendra” as a specifically postcolonial revision of the classic detective novel. Through an examination of the novel’s generic characteristics, I argue that elements that might be at first considered mere postmodern play—the conflation of the real and the performed or the illusion, anachronistic film references, the implantation of historical figures and cinematic personas alike into an otherwise fictional detective narrative—serves the novel’s socially committed, political critique. The doubling and smoke and mirrors that structure the novel ultimately serve to show the truth more clearly, as the postmodern play of performance, smoke, and mirrors breaks down only when confronted with the mutilated body and, by extension, Havana’s political landscape on the brink of revolution.

Highlights

Cover Page Acknowledgments I'd like to thank Professor Rachel Mordecai for her feedback on the first draft of this article, as well as the journal's anonymous reviewers
The motifs of smoke and mirrors recur throughout Dancing to “Almendra” as Joaquin confronts several mysterious connections—New York to Havana, Yolanda and Rodney to Trafficante, his brother Santiago to the imminent revolution
The fact that an objective perspective and narrative closure are refused in Dancing to “Almendra” suggests that the novel shares both postmodern aesthetics and politics; the novel is more focused on how the illusion—the smoke and mirrors of Cuban politics and crime—works rather than revealing the underlying “truth” of the act

Summary

Introduction

Cover Page Acknowledgments I'd like to thank Professor Rachel Mordecai for her feedback on the first draft of this article, as well as the journal's anonymous reviewers. Dancing to “Almendra” plays with doubling, parodying, and mirroring thematically through the character pairings of Porrata’s father and brother and George Raft and Juan Bulgado.

Results

Conclusion