This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
What do we understand by the term 'myth'? How can the various theoretical definitions of the term be applied to modern Cuba, in relation to image projected from Cuba to the outside world, and the image projected upon Cuba? How do the inevitable forces of politics, history and conflict in Cuban literature and film relate to theoretical models of myth and mytholigisation? Are the figures of, for example, Che Guevara and José Martí, elements of the creative poetic myth explored by Lezama Lima, the secular ‘canonisation’ explored by Lévi-Strauss, or the ‘ideological abuse’ of Roland Barthes? This module examines a variety of textual media created during the Cuban revolution era, and explores the degree to which the texts employ the persuasive language of rhetoric in the creation of mythical ‘truths’ concerning the revolutionary history.
2 hours per week
Essay - 100%
Matthews, H. (1969) The Cuban Story. New York: George Braziller Publishers;
Cabrera Infante, G. (2001) Tres tristes tigres. Editorial Seix Barral;
Cabrera Infante, G. (1999) Mea Cuba. Ediciones Alfaguara;
Posse, A. (2004) Los cuadernos de Praga. Barcelona: Random House Mondadori
Film - Ya Kuba, dir. Mikhael Kalatozov
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
Students will have acquired a detailed knowledge of the concept of the myth, as it appears in the writings of selected authors;
Students will have examined the means by which the theoretical perspective can be viewed within the dimension of Cuban revolutionary history;
Students will have acquired a knowledge of a diverse elements of the writings of a number of Cuban writers and film directors, and of a variety of textual media – essay, novel and film of the period;
Students will have acquired a detailed knowledge of 20th Century Cuban history, especially the conflict between art and politics.
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