Abstract

RODRIGUEZ NAVAS, Ana. "GOSSIP OF THE LETTERED CITY": NOSTALGIA, EXILE, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CUBAN CANON IN CABRERA INFANTE'S ESSAYS. perifrasis. rev.lit.teor.crit. [online]. 2022, vol.13, n.25, pp.207-224.  Epub Feb 27, 2022. ISSN 2145-8987.  https://doi.org/10.25025/perifrasis202213.25.13.

Rafael Rojas claims that Guillermo Cabrera Infante's literary project "consists in aestheticizing the rumors and gossip of the lettered city". Engaging with recent gossip theory and Svetlana Boym's work on nostalgia, I view Cabrera as leveraging gossip's illicit pleasures to recirculate suppressed stories and reinserting himself into the Cuban canon. Cabrera's gossip becomes common knowledge, preserving the memory of numerous Cuban intellectuals and consolidating Cabrera's own canonical status. Cabrera thus validates gossip as a nostalgic act: enduring rather than ephemeral, and a potent narrative strategy rather than merely an aesthetic posture.

Keywords : Guillermo Cabrera Infante; gossip; nostalgia; canon; Cuba.

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