Inventions of Caliban: Culture, Humanism, and Posoccidentalismo in Roberto Fernández Retamar
The goal of this research is to analyze the different critical dimensions of the writing of Roberto Fernández Retamar. We are guided by the hypothesis that in the anti-colonial texts of the Cuban poet, one intuits a heterogeneous and non-essentialist reading of the Latin-American culture, which is e...
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University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
2020-08-01
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Series: | Catedral Tomada: Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana |
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Online Access: | http://catedraltomada.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/catedraltomada/article/view/424 |
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doaj-331d7a93485047deb49975ffb6d9d63d2021-09-02T11:22:38ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghCatedral Tomada: Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana2169-08472020-08-0181412610.5195/ct/2020.424187Inventions of Caliban: Culture, Humanism, and Posoccidentalismo in Roberto Fernández RetamarCarlos Aguirre Aguirre0Universidad Nacional del San Juan - CONICETThe goal of this research is to analyze the different critical dimensions of the writing of Roberto Fernández Retamar. We are guided by the hypothesis that in the anti-colonial texts of the Cuban poet, one intuits a heterogeneous and non-essentialist reading of the Latin-American culture, which is embedded with the elaboration of a metaphoric concept of Caliban, able to disorganize the cultural dichotomies of the colonial modernity. In the first part, we verified how the particularity of “Caliban” consists in his capacity of resisting any cultural derivation and unilateral writing, being related with what Jacques Derrida defines as différence. Secondly, we reflect on the humanism developed by Fernández Retamar with the well-known trope: the anticolonial humanism conceived from a relationship of aggressiveness between the “own” and the “other”. Finally, we analyzed the impact of the notion “posoccidentalismo” suggested by the Cuban in his criticism of the Latin-American post colonialism. We agree with Caliban; a symbol is not an authority of the absolute. On the contrary, it is a tool that wants to undo scriptural and epistemic modes offered by the western culture, and that takes form, within the work of Fernández Retamar, in an anticolonial and post western humanism, which is still budding.http://catedraltomada.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/catedraltomada/article/view/424calibanhumanismodifféranceposoccidentalismocultura |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Carlos Aguirre Aguirre |
spellingShingle |
Carlos Aguirre Aguirre Inventions of Caliban: Culture, Humanism, and Posoccidentalismo in Roberto Fernández Retamar Catedral Tomada: Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana caliban humanismo différance posoccidentalismo cultura |
author_facet |
Carlos Aguirre Aguirre |
author_sort |
Carlos Aguirre Aguirre |
title |
Inventions of Caliban: Culture, Humanism, and Posoccidentalismo in Roberto Fernández Retamar |
title_short |
Inventions of Caliban: Culture, Humanism, and Posoccidentalismo in Roberto Fernández Retamar |
title_full |
Inventions of Caliban: Culture, Humanism, and Posoccidentalismo in Roberto Fernández Retamar |
title_fullStr |
Inventions of Caliban: Culture, Humanism, and Posoccidentalismo in Roberto Fernández Retamar |
title_full_unstemmed |
Inventions of Caliban: Culture, Humanism, and Posoccidentalismo in Roberto Fernández Retamar |
title_sort |
inventions of caliban: culture, humanism, and posoccidentalismo in roberto fernández retamar |
publisher |
University Library System, University of Pittsburgh |
series |
Catedral Tomada: Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana |
issn |
2169-0847 |
publishDate |
2020-08-01 |
description |
The goal of this research is to analyze the different critical dimensions of the writing of Roberto Fernández Retamar. We are guided by the hypothesis that in the anti-colonial texts of the Cuban poet, one intuits a heterogeneous and non-essentialist reading of the Latin-American culture, which is embedded with the elaboration of a metaphoric concept of Caliban, able to disorganize the cultural dichotomies of the colonial modernity. In the first part, we verified how the particularity of “Caliban” consists in his capacity of resisting any cultural derivation and unilateral writing, being related with what Jacques Derrida defines as différence. Secondly, we reflect on the humanism developed by Fernández Retamar with the well-known trope: the anticolonial humanism conceived from a relationship of aggressiveness between the “own” and the “other”. Finally, we analyzed the impact of the notion “posoccidentalismo” suggested by the Cuban in his criticism of the Latin-American post colonialism. We agree with Caliban; a symbol is not an authority of the absolute. On the contrary, it is a tool that wants to undo scriptural and epistemic modes offered by the western culture, and that takes form, within the work of Fernández Retamar, in an anticolonial and post western humanism, which is still budding. |
topic |
caliban humanismo différance posoccidentalismo cultura |
url |
http://catedraltomada.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/catedraltomada/article/view/424 |
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AT carlosaguirreaguirre inventionsofcalibanculturehumanismandposoccidentalismoinrobertofernandezretamar |
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