Literary Musings: Pedro Juan Gutierrez

In a few weeks, I'm going to Cuba- part holiday, part work. I'm looking forward to both. We're staying at an all-inclusive resort. I never dreamed that I'd ever go on one of these sorts of holidays. It always seemed like a distasteful way to travel. But now, traveling with a 2.5 year old and 4 month old baby, it seems quite appealing. I'm going to balance out the pedestrian aspects of this sort of holiday with a bit of academic work and serious photography while I'm there. Phew. Now I feel better about all of those free drinks at the swim up bar!

I'm in the process of setting up an interview with the Cuban author Pedro Juan Gutierrez, author of The Dirty Havana Trilogy, and The Insatiable Spiderman. Why would you not want to read a book that has been described as "lewd, impious and brilliant"?

 


He's a very interesting fellow. So far in emails he is warm, personable, approachable. He's also a visual artist in addition to being a "cult writer" as the Times Literary Supplement hailed him as. What exactly makes a cult favourite? What are the essential qualities of a cult classic? Is it because it is "in your face," because it goes against the grain and depicts a world that is generally denied by the status quo? I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

The most striking aspect of Gutierrez's work is its unapologetic look at poverty. It doesn't linger on the financial aspect of poverty but rather on the way that financial strife impoverishes humanity, pushes people in certain directions, debases, how it eats away at every facet of existence. It looks at what happens when people lack not only the basic necessities of living, but also, and more importantly the way in which poverty's position vis a vis wealth robs them of their dignity, but asserts another sort of dignity, a dirtier, grittier dignity. Gutierrez's work examines this tension. Poverty produces both decadence-- excess-- and decay. The graphic aspect of his novels examines and depicts this process. His novels are love letters to the people who have been subsumed by poverty's greedy destruction.

I am interested in Gutierrez's experience with being a novelist who writes in a controversial manner in a communist/socialist country. He is often compared to Charles Bukowski and I'm wondering how such a bohemian spirit copes within the rigid confines of restrictive social politics. How does an author who has been hailed in various ways as a literary genius cope with having most of his work banned in his own, beloved country? What happens when one is faced with disillusionment with the very thing, or ideal that one loves the most? How does a brilliant mind cope when things fall apart? 

I'm interviewing him because I'm going on holidays to Cuba, and I'm currently writing a Latin American Literature course, and I'm including one of these novels (not sure which one yet) in the course. Having an interview available for the students would be a great asset to the course and the course experience for them.

xo Jo