The New Man in Cuba: Culture and Identity in the Revolution

The Cuban Revolution of 1959 not only brought Fidel Castro to power, it transformed Cuban cultural identity, with a new notion of
Cubanness
for men and women that Che Guevara defined as the
New Man.
In Serra’s examination of political speeches and award-winning novels that perpetuated this new identity during the formative years of the Castro regime, she traces the rise and fall of the
New Man,
arguing that writers during this period simultaneously contributed to identity creation while criticizing its problematic aspects, even as they appeared to be singing the praises of the regime. Grounded in poststructuralist theories, including feminist, gender, and cultural studies, the book focuses on five pivotal works of the period:
Volunteer Teacher
(1962),
Memories of Underdevelopment
(1965),
The Children Say Goodbye
(1968),
Sacchario
(1970), and
The Last Woman and the Next Combat
(1971), showing how each of these works responds to a particular campaign, moment of crisis, or ideological process. Further, the epilogue interprets four recent novels by Leonardo Padura Fuentes as openly criticizing the New Man. This is the first monograph to make available to English readers the Spanish literary and political texts that laid the basis for revolutionary culture and identity but were almost ignored because of the Cuban Revolution’s controversial history. Serra’s study of a little explained cultural idea helps elucidate the resilience of the revolution to this day.