Ordoñez, A. (2022). The Myth and Disenchantment: Literature and Power in Revolutionary Cuba. Mexico. Paidos. 232 pp.

Literature and Power in Cuba: Is the Revolution Over?

Abstract

On January 1, 1959, the guerrilla troops led by Commander Fidel Castro made their triumphant entry into Havana after several years of struggle and the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's regime. The triumph of the Revolution was met with enthusiasm in Cuba and almost everywhere else in the world. The renewal of the political, social, and economic life of the Caribbean island had been long anticipated, and the prospects were promising with the new government. However, when Fidel declared that his Revolution was socialist and based on Marxism-Leninism, the enthusiasm waned, particularly, logically, in the United States, as they suddenly realized that having a socialist state at their doorstep would complicate their lives, just as they later complicated life for the Cubans.