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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: March 30, 2020 at 11:01:34 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-LatAm]: Kornweibel on García, 'Gothic Geoculture: > Nineteenth-Century Representations of Cuba in the Transamerican Imaginary' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Ivonne M. García. Gothic Geoculture: Nineteenth-Century > Representations of Cuba in the Transamerican Imaginary. Columbus > Ohio State University Press, 2019. x + 170 pp. $59.95 (cloth), ISBN > 978-0-8142-1395-7. > > Reviewed by Karen Kornweibel (East Tennessee State University) > Published on H-LatAm (March, 2020) > Commissioned by Casey M. Lurtz > > The political, economic, and cultural relationship between the United > States and Cuba is a long and fraught one. The nineteenth century in > particular saw an increasing fascination with Cuba on the part of its > northern neighbor, a fascination heightened in the context of slavery > and Manifest Destiny. From a US perspective, Cuba was a coveted, but > complicated, bit of real estate, particularly as the conflict over > slavery intensified. Many Cubans--particularly those in exile in the > United States--had strong and varied opinions about the benefits and > dangers of relationships the island might have with the United > States. From the perspective of Cubans hoping to throw off the > Spanish yoke, the United States had varied potential as a model, or > ally, or nation to join, or threat to future sovereignty. The United > States played a crucial role in how versions of Cuban identity were > developed in the nineteenth century even as the island played a > significant role in how US identity was renegotiated during the same > period. > > In her book,_ Gothic Geoculture: Nineteenth-Century Representations > of Cuba in the Transamerican Imaginary, _Ivonne M. García details > representations of Cuba from the literary archive from the 1830s to > 1890s. García's study builds on the foundation of a growing body of > scholarship that furthers our understanding of the literary and > historical realities of the Americas by moving beyond national > literatures to examine how shared experiences in the "New World," > like colonialism and slavery, led to analogous complexities in the > way systems of race, gender, and nation developed. Positioning > herself within this conversation, García employs the term > "transamericanity" to capture this idea and her work is based on the > "transamerican imaginary" that is most notably characterized in the > nineteenth century by the geoculture of slavery. Her title, _Gothic > Geoculture,_ refers to what she effectively argues is the gothic > nature of the representations of Cuba in the nineteenth-century > transamerican imaginary. As she explains in the introduction, > "_Gothic Geoculture_ focuses on the juncture where the gothic and > transamericanity meet, and where slavery, race, gender and > nationality become imbricated discourses that not only serve to > explain and justify, but also to challenge, US imperialist expansion > in the region" (pp. 13-14). > > García effectively situates her study in the historical and cultural > context. Focusing on a number of different genres including travel > guides, letters, novels, short stories, and essays, she explores how > cultural production by both US and Cuban writers during this period > drew on gothic themes such as "monstrosity, doubleness, corruption, > possession, and infection" to represent Cuba as dangerous and/or > imperiled (p. 5). García then discusses what these representations > reveal about the political and cultural relationship between the > island and the United States, and the breadth of genres covered lends > strength to her overall argument. Although she frames the chapters as > case studies--the first four of which focus on nuanced and apt close > readings of pairs of texts by different authors, with the final one > dedicated to several works by José Martí--her analysis has a clear > arc as she demonstrates the way in which the nature of the > gothicization of Cuba changed over time, most notably toward the end > of the nineteenth century. > > Each of García's chapters develops a central aspect of gothic > geoculture to further delineate the gothicization of Cuba in the > transamerican imaginary over the course of the nineteenth century. > The travel narratives of William Cullen Bryant and Nathaniel Parker > Willis, García demonstrates, depict Cuba as a "corruptive > gothiscape," an unhealthy and often monstrous environment that > threatens to infect or destroy visitors. Her close reading of the > texts highlights how, from the perspective of the traveler from the > north, the island functions as a destabilizing location where both > climate and inhabitants can corrupt, particularly due to the blurring > of categories (of race, gender, etc.) and the impact of the "Black > Legend" that served to "weld the geoculture of slavery onto the Cuban > landscape and people" (p. 41). García then develops the idea of > "gothicized souths," examining abolitionist works by Martin R. Delany > and Louisa May Alcott. In one of her most interesting arguments, > García shows how Delany and Alcott depict the island as being even > more dangerous than the US South--"as a kind of south of the South" > (p. 47). This serves the abolitionist stance of these authors by > reinforcing the island's dangerousness and demonstrating how > southerners, like Cubans, are implicated in slavery and corrupted by > it. Chapter 3 continues with the idea that Cuba is a threat because > its people and geography have been corrupted by slavery. García > explains that Sophia Peabody's _Cuba Journal_ (w. 1833-5) and her > sister Mary Peabody Mann's _Juanita: A Romance of Real Life in Cuba > Fifty Years Ago _(1887) express "transgressive hauntings" brought > about by their experiences on the island. Clearly indicating the > extent of the threat posed by the island in these instances of the > transamerican imaginary, García notes that "the novel suggests that > US principles are not invulnerable and must be protected against > Cuba's corruptive influence" (p. 86). Thus she shows how Cuba becomes > an important part of both pro-, and in this case anti-, imperial > arguments in the United States. In turning her critical eye to the > "gothic emplotments" in Cirilo Villaverde's _Cecilia Valdés_ (1839) > and _The Story of Evangelina Cisneros, Told by Herself_ (1898), > García demonstrates a transition from threatening associations of > Cuba with monsters and infection in Villaverde's novel to works like > Cisneros's that employ the gothic to cast Cuba as the damsel in > distress that should be rescued by US imperialism. The chapter on > José Martí presents a late version of nineteenth-century gothic > geoculture where the United States becomes the threat and the Cuban > observer goes "inside the monster," presenting a "decolonial > transamericanity" as a counterdiscourse to US imperialism (p. 121). > While her reading of Martí is not her most groundbreaking argument, > his work is essential to understanding Cuba in this context, and > García's discussion of Martí's use of monstrosity and other gothic > themes offers further evidence of his anti-imperialism and commitment > to Cuban independence. > > In her conclusion, García notes that by documenting the literary > gothic in the transamerican context, her study helps to decolonizie > the gothic, which had long been understood using US- or > British-centered models. While García's work does present new > readings of the gothic that others might engage to productively > complicate our understanding of the genre, this work does not > explicitly engage in a rethinking of the genre. Ultimately, _Gothic > Geoculture_ is most significant for how it enriches our understanding > of nineteenth-century representations of Cuba, offering what García > calls a "literary 'prequel' to historical and cultural scholarship on > representations of Cuba immediately before and after the Spanish > American War" (p. 15). This prequel highlights the "vexed" nature of > the relationship between Cuba and the United States in the nineteenth > century (p. 146). Understanding more of this story contributes to a > deeper understanding of the current, and no less "vexed," > relationship between the two nations. > > Citation: Karen Kornweibel. Review of García, Ivonne M., _Gothic > Geoculture: Nineteenth-Century Representations of Cuba in the > Transamerican Imaginary_. H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews. March, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54404 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
