The New Man in Cuba: Culture and Identity in the Revolution (review)

The New Man in Cuba by Ana Serra is a very well researched and detailed study that examines the politics of Cuban culture and the need of many Cuban authors, artists, and other intellectuals to create the concept of a "New Man." The "New Man" meaning a new revolutionary spirit that has emerged from the revolution. This book which is subtitled, Culture and Identity in the Revolution, consist of 210 pages and begins with a preface and an introduction organized around 5 chapters as well as an epilogue that examines different aspects behind the ideal of the "New Man" and how it became a reality for many Cuban intellectuals during the first decade of the revolution. The well detailed preface and the introduction explain how this project began as a personal and intellectual quest and eventually became part of a doctoral dissertation coming to fruition in this highly sophisticated and well researched book. The introduction that follows the preface is a summary of the Cuban Revolution that began in 1959 and still continues today. The epilogue is a retrospective look at the "New Man" that focuses on the possible reasons as to why this ideal never became a reality.

According to Serra, a new concept and ideal of "Cubanness" materialized after 1959 that Che Guevara identified and later coined as the "New Man." In an attempt to understand this concept, Serra's book focuses mostly on many of the political speeches and novels that perpetuated this new identity during the most important and defining years after Fidel Castro's arrival to power. Ana Serra's text focuses on some of the most important works of the revolution including Volunteer Teacher (1962), Memories of Underdevelopment (1965), The Children Say Goodbye (1968), Sacchario (1970), and The Last Woman and the Next Combat (1971).

In the first chapter of the book the author concentrates on the literary campaign of 1961. This campaign constituted the most important event of what could be considered a Cultural Revolution. Serra examines a variety of documents ranging from simple images to speeches and other forms of testimonial art that demonstrate the complex process that characterized this particular aspect of the revolution, especially in regards to the relationship that existed between the literacy workers and the students themselves. Ana Serra states that some of the biggest challenges of the revolution occurred when the volunteer teachers tried to embody many of the peasant's values such as simplicity, honesty and strength. This reality as Serra explains can be traced to the relationship between the guerrilla fighter and the image of the peasants seen in books such as Che Guevara's Pasajes de la guerra revolucionaria. A similar example according to Serra can be seen in Daura Olema's novel Maestra voluntaria. This novel that became the winner of of the Casa de las América's prize in 1962 attempts to create the image of the "New Man" in the form of a Literacy Campaign volunteer who tries to teach the revolutionary values to the peasants and at the same time wants to genuinely improve on his revolutionary potential.

The second chapter of Serra's book examines the relationship that takes place between the Cuban intellectuals and the new revolutionary government. In this instance Serra's book focuses on the 1967 book Memorias del subdesarrollo of Edmundo Desnoes. Many of the changes that took place as a result of the new government involvement are the centerpiece of this chapter. Some of these changes include the nationalization of most printing presses, the systematic control of most media venues and most importantly, the creation of new cultural institutions with specific policies geared to safeguard the Revolution. However, according to Serra no other document, as previously mentioned, is more symbolic of what was happening in Cuba than Memorias del subdesarrollo. This particular text examined by Serra rectifies some of the previous works of Desnoes and attempts to demonstrate in a literary form many...