About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherYale University Press

ISBN-100300167067

ISBN-139780300167061

eBay Product ID (ePID)84351407

Product Key Features

Book TitleCuban Fiestas

Number of Pages376 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicPopular Culture, Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Customs & Traditions, Caribbean & West Indies / Cuba, Holidays (Non-Religious)

Publication Year2010

IllustratorYes

GenreSocial Science, History

AuthorRoberto Gonzalez Echevarria

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.1 in

Item Weight24.9 Oz

Item Length0.9 in

Item Width0.6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2010-016179

Reviews"In Cuban Fiestas , Roberto Gonzlez Echevarra shows that the fiesta cubana , as represented in classic paintings, memorialized in Cuban novels both early and late, re-enacted in nightclubs and on film, and even performed on the field of dreams of Cuba's national sport of baseball, is a presence whose force, despite history and within history, stands tall and prevails."-Rolena Adorno author The Polemics of Possession in Spanish American Narrative, "Roberto Gonzlez Echevarra's critical work is monumental. Polemical and lucid, it is among those that have most contributed to the renewal of Latin American criticism over the past thirty years."--Edmundo Paz Soldn, author of Turing's Delirium, "A jewel of a book, written by a Renaissance man. At once learned and passionate, Cuban Fiestas is a meditation on art and its engagement with time and place, those two vectors that intersect in our minds and hearts and determine who we are."-Carlos Eire, author of Waiting for Snow in Havana, "Roberto González Echevarría is the leading critic of Hispanic literature-American and Iberian-now living. His synthesis of contemporary critical modes with the classical and romantic traditions of interpretation is original and influential. As a mediator between Spanish language and English language literatures, he is beyond comparison."-Harold Bloom, "Roberto González Echevarría's critical work is monumental. Polemical and lucid, it is among those that have most contributed to the renewal of Latin American criticism over the past thirty years."-Edmundo Paz Soldán, author of Turing's Delirium, "This combination of personal anecdote and traditional literary criticism makes for interesting reading. The book is comprehensive, providing an encyclopedia account of Cuban fiestas. . . . Exciting and well researched, this book is a must for those interested in the Caribbean and Cuba."--R. Ocasio, CHOICE, "A jewel of a book, written by a Renaissance man. At once learned and passionate, Cuban Fiestas is a meditation on art and its engagement with time and place, those two vectors that intersect in our minds and hearts and determine who we are."--Carlos Eire, author of Waiting for Snow in Havana, "InCuban Fiestas, Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria shows that thefiesta cubana, as represented in classic paintings, memorialized in Cuban novels both early and late, re-enacted in nightclubs and on film, and even performed on the field of dreams of Cuba's national sport of baseball, is a presence whose force, despite history and within history, stands tall and prevails."Rolena Adorno authorThe Polemics of Possession in Spanish American Narrative, "In Cuban Fiestas , Roberto González Echevarría shows that the fiesta cubana , as represented in classic paintings, memorialized in Cuban novels both early and late, re-enacted in nightclubs and on film, and even performed on the field of dreams of Cuba's national sport of baseball, is a presence whose force, despite history and within history, stands tall and prevails."-Rolena Adorno author The Polemics of Possession in Spanish American Narrative, "Roberto Gonzlez Echevarra's critical work is monumental. Polemical and lucid, it is among those that have most contributed to the renewal of Latin American criticism over the past thirty years."-Edmundo Paz Soldn, author of Turing's Delirium, "Roberto González Echevarría's critical work is monumental. Polemical and lucid, it is among those that have most contributed to the renewal of Latin American criticism over the past thirty years."--Edmundo Paz Soldán, author of Turing's Delirium, "Roberto Gonzlez Echevarra is the leading critic of Hispanic literature--American and Iberian--now living. His synthesis of contemporary critical modes with the classical and romantic traditions of interpretation is original and influential. As a mediator between Spanish language and English language literatures, he is beyond comparison."--Harold Bloom, "In Cuban Fiestas , Roberto Gonzlez Echevarra shows that the fiesta cubana , as represented in classic paintings, memorialized in Cuban novels both early and late, re-enacted in nightclubs and on film, and even performed on the field of dreams of Cuba's national sport of baseball, is a presence whose force, despite history and within history, stands tall and prevails."--Rolena Adorno author The Polemics of Possession in Spanish American Narrative, "Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria is the leading critic of Hispanic literatureAmerican and Iberiannow living. His synthesis of contemporary critical modes with the classical and romantic traditions of interpretation is original and influential. As a mediator between Spanish language and English language literatures, he is beyond comparison."Harold Bloom, "Roberto Gonzlez Echevarra is the leading critic of Hispanic literature-American and Iberian-now living. His synthesis of contemporary critical modes with the classical and romantic traditions of interpretation is original and influential. As a mediator between Spanish language and English language literatures, he is beyond comparison."-Harold Bloom, "In Cuban Fiestas , Roberto González Echevarría shows that the fiesta cubana , as represented in classic paintings, memorialized in Cuban novels both early and late, re-enacted in nightclubs and on film, and even performed on the field of dreams of Cuba's national sport of baseball, is a presence whose force, despite history and within history, stands tall and prevails."--Rolena Adorno author The Polemics of Possession in Spanish American Narrative, "This combination of personal anecdote and traditional literary criticism makes for interesting reading. The book is comprehensive, providing an encyclopedia account of Cuban fiestas. . . . Exciting and well researched, this book is a must for those interested in the Caribbean and Cuba."-R. Ocasio, CHOICE, "Roberto González Echevarría is the leading critic of Hispanic literature--American and Iberian--now living. His synthesis of contemporary critical modes with the classical and romantic traditions of interpretation is original and influential. As a mediator between Spanish language and English language literatures, he is beyond comparison."--Harold Bloom, "Roberto González Echevarría is the leading critic of Hispanic literature-American and Iberian-now living. His synthesis of contemporary critical modes with the classical and romantic traditions of interpretation is original and influential. As a mediator between Spanish language and English language literatures, he is beyond comparison."-Harold Bloom

SynopsisA luminous history of Cuba's most dynamic and defining rituals and the ever-improvisational character of Cuban culture In the Cuban town of Sagua la Grande, a young Roberto González Echevarría peers out the window of his family home on the morning of the Nochebuena fiesta as preparations begin for the slaughter of a feast day pig. The author recalls "watching them at a distance, though thinking, fearing, that once I grew older I would have to participate in the whole event." Now an acclaimed scholar of Latin American literature, González Echevarría returns to the rituals that defined his young life in Cuban Fiestas . Drawing from art, literature, film, and even the national sport of baseball, he vividly reveals the fiesta as a dynamic force of both destruction and renewal in the life of a people. Roberto González Echevarría masterfully exposes the distinctive elements of the fiesta cubana that give depth and coherence to more than two centuries of Cuban cultural life. Reaching back to nineteenth-century traditions of Cuban art and literature, and augmenting them, in the twentieth, with the arts of narrative, the esthetic performances of sport and entertainment in nightclubs, on the baseball diamond, and in movie theaters, Cuban Fiestas renders the lilting strains of the fiesta and drum beats of the passage of time as keys to understanding the dynamic quality of Cuban culture. González Echevarría's explorations are also illuminated by autobiographical vignettes that unveil the ever-shifting impact of the fiesta on the author's own story of exile and return., A luminous history of Cuba's most dynamic and defining rituals and the ever-improvisational character of Cuban culture In the Cuban town of Sagua la Grande, a young Roberto Gonz lez Echevarr a peers out the window of his family home on the morning of the Nochebuena fiesta as preparations begin for the slaughter of a feast day pig. The author recalls "watching them at a distance, though thinking, fearing, that once I grew older I would have to participate in the whole event." Now an acclaimed scholar of Latin American literature, Gonz lez Echevarr a returns to the rituals that defined his young life in Cuban Fiestas . Drawing from art, literature, film, and even the national sport of baseball, he vividly reveals the fiesta as a dynamic force of both destruction and renewal in the life of a people. Roberto Gonz lez Echevarr a masterfully exposes the distinctive elements of the fiesta cubana that give depth and coherence to more than two centuries of Cuban cultural life. Reaching back to nineteenth-century traditions of Cuban art and literature, and augmenting them, in the twentieth, with the arts of narrative, the esthetic performances of sport and entertainment in nightclubs, on the baseball diamond, and in movie theaters, Cuban Fiestas renders the lilting strains of the fiesta and drum beats of the passage of time as keys to understanding the dynamic quality of Cuban culture. Gonz lez Echevarr a's explorations are also illuminated by autobiographical vignettes that unveil the ever-shifting impact of the fiesta on the author's own story of exile and return.

LC Classification NumberGT4825.A2G66 2010