Литература двух Америк (Jun 2020)
Letter from Cuba. Rafael Alberti and María Teresa León in Havana
Abstract
The article considers the newly unearthed facts about the transatlantic travel of the Spanish writers Rafael Alberti and María Teresa León and their stay in Havana in the spring of 1935. They visited Cuban writers Juan Marinello, Regino Pedroso and José Manuel Valdés Rodríguez imprisoned in Castillo Del Principe. Analysis of the prestigious Madrilenian literary review Gaceta Literaria shows that by that time Marinello was a well-known author in Spain, although he was practically unknown in the Soviet Union. Pedroso and Valdés Rodríguez deserved little attention in Spanish press, but, unlike Marinello, they had established contacts with the Soviet writers’ organizations. At the same time, all of them collaborated with writers and periodicals in the United States and other Latin American countries. The image of these Cuban intellectuals in the Spanish press, their participation in transnational Spanish-American cultural networks require a detailed analysis and help to understand to what extent the Spanish writers in question were involved in American literary associations during the trip. Alberti and León, as well as their Cuban colleagues, shared anti-imperialist views. Alberti compared the US imperialism to the Spanish colonization of America. At the same time, the Spaniards’ attitude to Cuba (and Spanish-American countries in general) was deeply influenced by Hispanoamericanism. Alberti and León interpreted Hispanoamerica as “their own” space, and their stay in Cuba motivated them to further participate in Cuban solidarity campaigns. María Teresa León’s letter to the Soviet Hispanist, critic and translator F. Kelin written in Havana is published in the addendum.
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