For women writers of the Caribbean as well as for larger marginalized communities, the relationship between oral traditions and written texts is a part of the defining thread of Caribbean historiography. This article draws on Waugh and Hutcheon to examine the use of such texts by women writers of the Hispanophone Caribbean in order to highlight narrative strategies of historically marginalized groups to contest hegemonic constructions of the nation.
Discusses the emergence of an Afro-Cuban aesthetic. Notes the major contributions of Cuban writers Félix Tanco, Antonio Zambrana, Nicolás Guillén, Miguel Barnet, and others to the literary movement. Remarks that these authors give us a view of Latin American history from "below the deck of a slave ship" - a view that is very different from the traditional one.;
Argues that the discipline of a total political and social revolution, it is stated, requires the self-discipline (in no way synonymous with control) and responsibility of the writer, as of any other citizen, in ensuring that the initial premises of the revolution are not betrayed, either by selfish failings on the part of the creator or by dogmatic temptations of functionaries. (Author)
