Iraida H. López - Böcker

Since travel restrictions from the United States to Cuba began to ease, thousands of Cuban exiles and Cuban Americans have been able to reunite with family and visit their homeland. Yet the subject of return in the Cuban diaspora remains understudied.In this one-of-a-kind volume, Iraida López explores various narratives of return by the one-and-a-half generation - those who left Cuba as children or adolescents - and the ways in which the desire for homecoming is manifested both abroad and inside Cuba. Including memoirs, semi-autobiographical fiction, and visual arts, many of these works feature a physical arrival in Cuba while others depict a metaphorical or vicarious experience through fictional characters or childhood reminiscences. Impossible Returns ends by looking at how Cubans still living on the island depict returning émigrés in their own narratives, which have evolved from exclusionary to accommodating.Through a critical reading of works by artists and writers like María Brito, Carlos Eire, Cristina García, Ana Mendieta, Gustavo Pérez Firmat, and Achy Obejas, López highlights the affective ties as well as the tensions underlying the relationship between émigrés and their native country.

While the stories and resettlement patterns of Cubans who have left their home island have been widely documented, the subject of return in the Cuban diaspora remains understudied. In this one-of-a-kind volume, Iraida Lopez explores various narratives of return by those who left Cuba as children or adolescents. Including memoirs, semi-autobiographical fiction, and visual arts, many of these accounts feature a physical arrival on the island while others depict a metaphorical or vicarious experience by means of fictional characters or childhood reminiscences. As two-way migration increases in the post-Cold War period, many of these narratives put to the test the boundaries of national identity. Through a critical reading of works by Cuban American artists and writers like Maria Brito, Ruth Behar, Carlos Eire, Cristina Garcia, Ana Mendieta, Gustavo Perez Firmat, Ernesto Pujol, Achy Obejas, and Ana Menendez, Lopez highlights the affective ties as well as the tensions underlying the relationship between returning subjects and their native country. Impossible Returns also looks at how Cubans still living on the island depict returning emigres in their own narratives, addressing works by Jesus Diaz, Humberto Solas, Carlos Acosta, Nancy Alonso, Leonardo Padura, and others. Blurring the lines between disciplines and geographic borders, this book underscores the centrality of Cuba for its diaspora and bears implications for other countries with widespread populations in exile.

The first anthology of poetry, prose, and drama by second-generation Cuban American writers.Let's Hear Their Voices brings together works by ten distinguished and emerging Cuban American writers of the "second generation"-writers who were born between 1960 and the mid-1980s in the United States to Cuban parents or have a mixed ethnic background. Called "ABCs" (American-Born Cubans) or "AmeriCubans," these writers experiment with different formal approaches and lace their work with Cuban Spanish to give voice to hybrid identities and cultural legacies within the contemporary multicultural United States. An introduction by Iraida H. López identifies key tropes in their poetry, prose, and drama, and provides an overview of Cuban American literature since the 1960s. With both original and previously published pieces by award-winning authors-including President Obama's Second Inaugural Poet, Richard Blanco-the volume makes a welcome contribution to the fields of Latinx and American literature, as well as critical discussions across disciplines about the intersections of latinidad with race, class, gender, and sexuality.

The first anthology of poetry, prose, and drama by second-generation Cuban American writers.Let's Hear Their Voices brings together works by ten distinguished and emerging Cuban American writers of the "second generation"-writers who were born between 1960 and the mid-1980s in the United States to Cuban parents or have a mixed ethnic background. Called "ABCs" (American-Born Cubans) or "AmeriCubans," these writers experiment with different formal approaches and lace their work with Cuban Spanish to give voice to hybrid identities and cultural legacies within the contemporary multicultural United States. An introduction by Iraida H. López identifies key tropes in their poetry, prose, and drama, and provides an overview of Cuban American literature since the 1960s. With both original and previously published pieces by award-winning authors-including President Obama's Second Inaugural Poet, Richard Blanco-the volume makes a welcome contribution to the fields of Latinx and American literature, as well as critical discussions across disciplines about the intersections of latinidad with race, class, gender, and sexuality.