Remembering Cuba&apos;s Past / Discovering Its Future: Giving Voice to Memory in Uva de Aragón&apos;s <i>The Memory of Silence</i>

Jeffrey C. Barnett, null

doi:10.13169/intejcubastud.8.1.0097

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International Journal of Cuban Studies

Volume 8, Issue 1

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Remembering Cuba's Past / Discovering Its Future: Giving Voice to Memory in Uva de Aragón's The Memory of Silence

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Author(s): Jeffrey C. Barnett

Publication date (Print): Spring 2016

Journal: International Journal of Cuban Studies

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: historical fiction, memoir, diaspora, exile, reconciliation, cultural relativity

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Abstract

As a historical novel, Uva de Aragón's The Memory of Silence explores the divergences and commonalities in the lives of twin sisters separated at the outset of the Cuban Revolution and as such complicates and enriches our understanding of Cuba's future. As the reader re-lives momentous events since the Revolution, one comes to the realisation that the true value of the work lies in its balance of perspective. It would be inaccurate to say that the novel offers an objective view of modern-day Cubans (both those in exile and on the island). Instead, it offers two intentionally subjective views that culminate in a synthesis of understanding: namely, that geo-cultural bonds are greater than geo-political differences. In the end, The Memory of Silence is a book of hope, but a hope that can only be realised once memory has been un-silenced.

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Jeffrey C. Barnett

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): intejcubastud

Title: International Journal of Cuban Studies

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 17563461

ISSN (Electronic): 1756347X

Publication date (Print): Spring 2016

Volume: 8

Issue: 1

Pages: 97-108

Affiliations

Washington and Lee University, USA

Article

Publisher ID: intejcubastud.8.1.0097

DOI: 10.13169/intejcubastud.8.1.0097

SO-VID: 7e93ae7a-baa3-48fb-8871-e54029592219

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Works Cited

Andalzúa, Gloria. ‘How to Tame a Wild Tongue’. Borderlands/La frontera . San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1987. Print.
Anderson, Benedict Richard O' Gorman. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism . New York: Verso, 2006. Print.
Barnett, Jeffrey C. ‘Prospero's Orphans in Uva de Aragón's “Not the Truth, Not a Lie”’ Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal 5.1 (2007). http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/anthurium/vol5/iss1/. Web. 1 Jan. 2008.
Carpentier, Alejo. El reino de este mundo . México: Edición y Distribución Ibero Americana de Publicaciones, 1949. Print.
de Aragón, Uva. The Memory of Silence . Intro. and Trans. by Jeffrey C. Barnett. Chico: Cubanabooks, 2014. Print.
de Aragón, Uva. ‘Roundtrip’. No puedo más y otros cuentos . Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1989. 89–96. Print.
de Aragón, Uva. ‘Ni verdad ni mentira’. Ni verdad ni mentira y otros cuentos . Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1977. 13–23. Print
Menton, Seymour. ‘Christopher Columbus and the New Historical Novel’. Hispania 75.4 (October 1992): 930–940. Print.
Rulfo, Juan. Pedro Páramo . 1955. Foreword Susan Sontag. Trans. Margaret Sayers-Peden. New York: Grove, 1994. Print.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Andalzúa, Gloria. ‘How to Tame a Wild Tongue’. Borderlands/La frontera . San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1987. Print.

[2] Anderson, Benedict Richard O' Gorman. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism . New York: Verso, 2006. Print.

[3] Barnett, Jeffrey C. ‘Prospero's Orphans in Uva de Aragón's “Not the Truth, Not a Lie”’ Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal 5.1 (2007). http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/anthurium/vol5/iss1/. Web. 1 Jan. 2008.

[4] Carpentier, Alejo. El reino de este mundo . México: Edición y Distribución Ibero Americana de Publicaciones, 1949. Print.

[5] de Aragón, Uva. The Memory of Silence . Intro. and Trans. by Jeffrey C. Barnett. Chico: Cubanabooks, 2014. Print.

[6] de Aragón, Uva. ‘Roundtrip’. No puedo más y otros cuentos . Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1989. 89–96. Print.

[7] de Aragón, Uva. ‘Ni verdad ni mentira’. Ni verdad ni mentira y otros cuentos . Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1977. 13–23. Print

[8] Menton, Seymour. ‘Christopher Columbus and the New Historical Novel’. Hispania 75.4 (October 1992): 930–940. Print.

[9] Rulfo, Juan. Pedro Páramo . 1955. Foreword Susan Sontag. Trans. Margaret Sayers-Peden. New York: Grove, 1994. Print.