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12 Postcards from Abroad The Cuban Special Period through Spanish Eyes Ana Serra Since the time of the Special Period (roughly 1990–2005), Cuba has attracted international attention as the last bastion of socialism in the Western world. Spain is arguably among the countries that have evidenced the greatest interest in Cuba. A 1993 Cuban government decree allowing Cuban writers and artists to publish and exhibit their work abroad opened the Spanish market to Cubans living on the island, causing a veritable publishing boom. In addition, the active promotion of tourism by the newly created Cuban Ministry of Tourism (April 1994) invigorated the already steady flow of visitors from Spain to Cuba; and Cuban laws facilitating foreign capital investment brought a large number of Spanish companies to the island. Changes in Cuba triggered a response in Spain whereby the number of Spanish publications on Cuba increased considerably , especially in the fiction genre, and public debate over the state of the Cuban revolution was revived. The intensity of Spanish-Cuban relations is not new: the strong bond between the two countries dates back to an exceptionally long period of Spanish domination of Cuba relative to other countries in the region, with the exception of Puerto Rico. Since the so-called disaster, as the loss of the Cuban colony was termed in Spain, the Spanish people have proven that Cuba occupies a very strong position in the country’s imagination. Likewise, the Spanish influence on Cuba remained prevalent in the postcolonial period, when the Spanish population in the island continued to thrive and extend its influence, to the point that Fernando Ortiz spoke of “Cuba’s second reconquest by Spain”; after successive waves of Spanish migration, during the Spanish Civil War as well as during the decades of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, Spaniards collectively perceived Cuba as a familiar place, despite the divergent trajectories of the two countries. With the transition to democracy in Spain, Cuba embodied the achievement of the leftist utopia that many viewed as having been thwarted with the demise of the Second Republic and the Civil War. On the other hand, Postcards from Abroad: The Cuban Special Period through Spanish Eyes 209 Spain has also been the recipient of numerous Cuban immigrants, particularly since the 1990s. The “Grandchildren Law” (Ley de nietos) has made it possible for close to 200,000 Cubans to apply for Spanish citizenship, as descendants of Spanish immigrants who immigrated to the island between 1936 and 1955. Most of the new Spanish citizens from Cuba will immigrate to Spain in the foreseeable future. Thus the circle of exchanges of population and ideas between the two countries continues. This essay addresses an important aspect of Cuba’s internationalism and transnationalism, namely how the island nation is perceived by other countries , particularly Spain. As a cultural critic, my role is not to analyze international relations policies, but to examine representations and opinions that at times reflect, inform, and shape those policies. I have chosen two novels about Cuba by Spanish authors who are widely popular, not only as fiction writers and essayists, but as bloggers and outspoken editorialists. One of them is Belén Gopegui’s El lado frío de la almohada (2004, The cold side of the pillow); and the other is Rafael Argullol’s Davalú o el dolor (2001, Davalú, or Pain, first published in Catalan as Davalú o el dolor: crònica d’un duel). As I show, their perceptions are echoed and commented on by other fiction writers and numerous readers on the Internet and in print sources in Spain, and in the case of Gopegui, in Cuba as well. The latter writer was invited to the 2010 International Book Fair in Havana. In other words, both novels are paradigmatic examples of influential representations of Cuba as it is perceived in Spain. My title—“Postcards from Abroad”—attempts to evoke the often peculiar relationship between visitors to Cuba and the island nation itself. For the tourist who selects a postcard, the image on the front captures an important aspect of the country being visited. On the back of the postcard, the brief self-narrative reconstructs the tourist’s experience of the place. Similarly, El lado frío de la almohada and Davalú o el dolor, both by authors who visited Cuba during the Special Period, are like postcards, showcasing how Spanish progressive intellectuals have engaged with, or imagined, that transitional period in Cuba. The two writers selected images they found emblematic...

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