HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND CUBANIA IN THE DRAMA OF ABELARDO ESTORINO by JOSEPH WILLIAM GOLDSTEIN (Under the Direction of José B. Álvarez IV) ABSTRACT Through this study, I present the first thorough and comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuban playwright Abelardo Estorino’s published works. Although the author is now widely recognized as one of the most important Cuban dramatists of the twentieth century, I assert that it is only within the last few years that his plays have begun to receive the amount of critical attention they merit. In my analysis, I consider a wide range of topics in Estorino’s drama, which is almost entirely concerned with specifically national issues. However, I pay special attention to totalitarian government, machismo, and race, which are three predominant themes in his plays. I demonstrate that these matters are either addressed in an immediate contemporary context, or set within a remote or partially imaginary temporal frame. I also show how the playwright has sought to develop an ideological dialogue with his audience, according to which the author’s personal vision of Cubanness, or cubanía, is emphasized. Owing to the many and rapid changes that have taken place on the island since the advent of the revolution, I fully consider the historical context in which Estorino’s plays were first presented—or were meant to be presented—to the public, and in this way I demonstrate the common audience concerns to which such works were meant to allude. Likewise, I take into account the historical settings of the plays themselves, and in this way I discover the ideological intent which underlies the implicit comparison in Estorino’s drama between past national realities and present-day ones. INDEX WORDS: Estorino, Cuba, theater, teatro, cubanía, history, historical, historia, drama, contestatory, contestatario, dissident, disidente, metatheater, metateatro, machismo, revolutionary, revolucionario, racism, racismo, government, society, gobierno, sociedad, sexism, sexist, sexismo, sexista, censorship, censura, reader response, audience reception, realism, hyperrealism, realismo, hiperrealismo, theater of the absurd, teatro del absurdo, El peine y el espejo, El robo del cochino, Las vacas gordas, La casa vieja, Los mangos de Caín, La dolorosa historia del amor secreto de don José Jacinto Milanés, Ni un sí ni un no, Morir del cuento, Que el diablo te acompañe, El tiempo de la plaga, Vagos rumores, Parece blanca, El baile, Las penas saben nadar HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND CUBANIA IN THE DRAMA OF ABELARDO ESTORINO by JOSEPH WILLIAM GOLDSTEIN B.A., Armstrong Atlantic State University, 1995 M.A., Appalachian State University, 1999 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2006 © 2006 Joseph William Goldstein All Rights Reserved HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND CUBANIA IN THE DRAMA OF ABELARDO ESTORINO by JOSEPH WILLIAM GOLDSTEIN Major Professor: José B. Álvarez IV Committee: Lesley Feracho Elizabeth Wright Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2006 iv DEDICATION I dedicate this doctoral thesis to the memory of my maternal grandmother Dorothy Haas. She did not finish her doctoral degree, but she always believed that I could complete mine. I also dedicate this work to my paternal grandmother Florence Goldstein, whose support has been absolutely necessary for making reality my dream of earning a Ph.D. Finally, I dedicate this investigation to the memory of Gary Fodor, former Spanish instructor at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia. His impact upon my life has been unmeasurable. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge first of all my major professor José B. Álvarez IV, who believed in me when I had very little faith in my ability to complete this project. He showed me that I was capable of doing more than I had suspected. I am grateful to Stacey Casado for assisting me to develop a higher level of intellectual rigor. I thank José Luis Gómez-Martínez for having stimulated my interest in Hispanic thought, and for his ready disposition to consult with me. I appreciate Lesley Feracho’s recommendations for helpful texts to consult, and am thankful to Elizabeth Wright’s assistance and inspiration throughout the years. I especially thank Noel Fallows and all faculty members who were involved in giving me an extra year here in order that I might complete this study. I am grateful for the support and guidance that I have received from numerous family, friends, instructors, and faculty. During the years I have worked and studied here at the Department of Romance Languages, I have made friends and have had wonderful experiences that I will never forget. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 2 1956-1961: “Variaciones machistas sobre familias provincianas.”.............................32 El peine y el espejo..................................................................................................33 El robo del cochino .................................................................................................50 3 1962-1965: Experimentation, criticism, and marginalization......................................71 Las vacas gordas.....................................................................................................73 La casa vieja............................................................................................................91 Los mangos de Caín ..............................................................................................110 4 1965-1979: “Los años jodidos.” ................................................................................121 El tiempo de la plaga.............................................................................................124 La dolorosa historia del amor secreto de don José Jacinto Milanés....................141 5 1980-1989: Political rehabilitation and artistic growth. ............................................167 Ni un sí ni un no ....................................................................................................172 Morir del cuento....................................................................................................187 Que el diablo te acompañe....................................................................................209 Las penas saben nadar..........................................................................................222 6 1990-1999: Revisiting the past in new and innovative ways.....................................238 vii Vagos rumores.......................................................................................................241 Parece blanca........................................................................................................245 El baile ..................................................................................................................261 7 CONCLUSIONS........................................................................................................269 8 APPENDIX: CORRESPONDENCE WITH ABELARDO ESTORINO..................273 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................278 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Abelardo Estorino stands out as one of the most important Cuban playwrights of the twentieth century, arguably as important as Virgilio Piñera, José Triana and Reguera Saumell. For this reason it is somewhat surprising that a comprehensive critical study of his plays has not been done prior to this one. Perhaps the main reason stems from the fact that over the years Estorino’s creative output has experienced numerous changes with regard to dramatic technique, thematic content and political perspective. This means that the literary researcher who attempts to base her investigation on any one of these categories will not find a common element present throughout the entire body of the author’s work. Another possible reason is that Cuban theater as a whole is only now beginning to receive the full critical attention that it merits. Whatever the case, the time has come for a thorough critical review of the totality of Estorino’s theater. As mentioned earlier, over the years the author’s work has evolved so much that at first glance it might appear to be insurmountably difficult to find a thread of continuity. However, this is not so. All of his published plays, perhaps with the exception of La dama de las camelias (2000), focus on Cuban reality and explore various themes of national identity. In other words, he consistently presents his own personal vision of cubanía, or essential Cubanness. In order to properly understand the full significance of this concept in Estorino’s work, one must take into account the historical context of each play, whether in terms of the setting of the action, or with regard to the particular period in national history during which the work was first presented to the public. This means that cubanía is of a necessity historically contextualized, so that any 2 discussion of it must take into account the impact of history. Therefore, this study investigates, in an integrated manner, aspects of both