Double Crossings: Cuba and Haiti in the Writings of Antonio Benítez Rojo

Elzbieta Sklodowska (Washington University, Saint Louis)

In this paper I will attempt to delve into some more complex and subtle representations of Haiti and Haitians by focusing on two short stories by a Cuban writer, Antonio Benítez Rojo: “Heaven and Earth” (1967) and “Full Moon in Le Cap” (1998) for which the presence of Haitian workers in Cuba and the Haitian Revolution serve, respectively, as historical prisms through which the Caribbean identify of Cuba is explored. In view of the totality of Benítez Rojo’s work—historically minded and traversed by a web of inter-Caribbean connections—it seems worthwhile to open the door to these textual explorations in which Cuban and Haitian destinies and cultures become intertwined, as part of the vast complex of the Atlantic World. Within the remarkably diverse domain of the Caribbean, far from being the two wings of one bird, Haiti and Cuba, separated by the narrow stretch of the Windward Passage, share more than just the usual coordinates of the region, such as colonial legacy of slavery and plantation economy and African-based cultural heritage steeped in centuries of violent “hybridizations.” And Haiti’s presence in Cuba is more than just symbolic. Ever since the 1791 slave uprising Haiti has remained in Cuban imaginary a source of constant anxiety, bewilderment and fascination. Cuban nation-building, literary and popular discourses are often ambivalent in their perception of the neighboring nation, ranging from fear of the other Haiti to unwavering admiration for its heroic struggle for racial equality and emancipation.

Elzbieta Sklodowska - Washington University, Saint Louis

Elzbieta Sklodowska (PhD Washington University 1983) is a Randolph Family Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. She also serves as General Co-Editor for Latin American Literature for Revista de Estudios Hispánicos. Her fields of interest include nineteenth- and twentieth century Caribbean narrative; literary and cultural theory; Cuban narrative and culture; poetics and politics of memory; testimonial literature. She has published widely on topics pertaining to Spanish American literature (60 articles or book chapters), including the following books: Testimonio hispanoamericano: historia, teoría, poética; La parodia en la nueva novela hispanoamericana (1960-85); Todo ojos, todo oídos: control e insubordinación en la novela hispanoamericana (1895-1935). She has co-authored or co-edited the following books: Huellas de las literaturas hispanoamericanas (co-authored with J. Garganigo, R. de Costa, G. Sabat-Rivers, A. Luiselli, B. Heller); La presencia de la literatura latinoamericana en Polonia (co-authored with Elzbieta Milewska and Irena Rymwid-Mickiewicz); Roberto Fernández Retamar y los estudios latinoamericanos (edited with Ben Heller). Her latest book, published by Iberoamericana-Vervuert is Espectros y espejismos: Haití en el imaginario cubano.