Writing Conflict to End Conflict: Reconciliatory Writing in Cristina García’s "Dreaming in Cuban," "The Agüero Sisters," and "King of Cuba"

Inger Pettersson

doi:10.37536/reden.2019.1.1375

Abstract

The building of bridges between Cuba and the US has been ongoing for a long time, not least by artists. Reconciliation work preceding the commencement of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US encompasses, for example, novelist Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban (1992), The Agüero Sisters (1997), and King of Cuba (2013). I argue that these novels take on the task of lessening polarizations with the aspiration of furthering reconciliation processes through concentrating on the divisiveness between families and politics within the Cuban communities, focusing on the island Cubans and the US Cuban diaspora. García writes conflict to end conflict and this is, I claim, her strongest contribution to the reconciliation processes. In the last part of the article I briefly discuss how I use the concept of translation to theorize the relationship between fiction and reality.

Highlights

I wanted to give a more nuanced voice to the sixty-year shouting match between Cuba and its exiles. (Jorge Santos, “Multi-hyphenated identities on the road”: An Interview with Cristina García)
Reconciliation work preceding the commencement of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US encompasses, for example, novelist Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban (1992), The Agüero Sisters (1997), and King of Cuba (2013)
I argue that these novels take on the task of lessening polarizations with the aspiration of furthering reconciliation processes through concentrating on the divisiveness between families and politics within the Cuban communities, focusing on the island Cubans and the US Cuban diaspora

Summary

DREAMING IN CUBAN

One of the complexities involved in Cuban (American) identity is, strongly political, which, for example, political scientist María de los Angeles Torres points out as she protests against “the either/or dichotomy of my identity – a dichotomy that [in Cuban America] demands that I choose sides” (15). Dreaming in Cuban was a finalist for the National Book Award, securing its position within the corpus of US Latina/o fiction. Ylze Irizarry writes in 2007 that the novel “was pivotal in the career of its author and a watershed moment for Latina/o literature” (Irizarry n.p.). Marta Caminero-Santangelo finds that Dreaming in Cuban is “perhaps the best-known work to date by a Cuban American who is the product of exile from Castro’s regime” (177). The novel portrays the divisive effects on families and individuals resulting from the 1959 overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro’s coming to power.

Inger Pettersson

WRITING CONFLICT TO END CONFLICT