Review: Poetry and Politics: Two Books on Nicolás Guillén

Reviewed Work(s): Nación y mestizaje en Nicolàs Guillén. by Nancy Morejón; Self and
Society in the Poetry of Nicolás Guillén. by Lorna V. Williams
Review by: Vera M. Kutzinski
Source: MLN, Vol. 98, No. 2, Hispanic Issue (Mar., 1983), pp. 275-284
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2906167
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 Poetry and Politics: Two Books
on Nicolas Guillen

Vera M. Kutzinski

Nancy Morej6n, Nacion y mestizaje en Nicolas Guillen.

La Habana: Uni6n de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, 1982. 331 pp.
Lorna V. Williams, Self and Society in the Poetry of Nicolas Guillen.
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982. 177 pp. $15.50.

Nicolas Guillen's eightieth birthday has occasioned quite a few interesting

presents which deserve close attention not only from Latin-Americanists,
but particularly from Afro-Americanists. Both Casa de las Americas and the
Revista de Literatura Cubana, a journal recently launched by Angel Augier,
Jose Antonio Portuondo and Roberto Fernandez Retamar, devoted their
latests issues to Guillen. In addition, the event was honored, both in Cuba
and in the United States, with the publication of two book-length studies
of Guillen's work, Nancy Morej6n's Naci6n y mestizaje en Nicolas Guillen and
Lorna Williams' Self and Society in the Poetry of Nicolds Guillen. Although
both studies share a predominantly socio-historical perspective with only
occasional and quite limited ventures into more advanced forms of modern
literary criticism, they nevertheless differ substantially, not only in the
scope and rigor of their respective analyses, but also, and perhaps more
importantly, in terms of the critical and/or cultural ideologies each author
brings to bear on her subject. These differences and the ways in which
they shape the arguments of Morej6n and Williams are already reflected
in the two titles and tell us much about the current state of both Latin-
American and Afro-American cultural and literary criticism-Guillen, we
may recall, is equally claimed by both disciplines and literary traditions,
and thus presents a good example of the extent to which they overlap.
It is interesting in this respect, and not entirely without consequences,
that Williams prefers not to commit her terminology and her critical cat-
egories to the specific cultural context she is studying. Her choice of "self'
and "society," probably two of the broadest and most general critical cat-
egories available, is somewhat unfortunate in that it already establishes,
right from the very beginning of her book, a significant distance between
her own critical commentary and the poetry she examines, and this dis-

275

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276 VERA M. KUTZINSKI

tance, as we shall see, goes well beyo

Morej6n's point of departure, as she s
Fernandez Retamar's warning that it
impossible, to adopt for the study o
historical and literary categories whi
metropolitan (i.e., European or euroc
liams' terminological choices are not
but they also do very little to defin
Guillen's poetry and its immediate h
sion created here is rather one that
mostly acontextual critical framewor
on the other hand, readily evoke the
drawn, which, as she proceeds to s
much the same way as it generated N
laudable absence of a cultural and
Morej6n's study as a whole, is refresh
it situates both poet and critic within
creates problems of a different kind
directly related to the current "re-wr
tiated by the Castro regime.
Morej6n's fairly elaborate study tra
cultural (and political) nationalism
synonymity of the two concepts of nac
in Motivos de son and such early ess
most recent work, El diario que a di
the book move from an introductory
acion and mestizaje in the context of
to a consideration of his concept of n
and "Tengo" (Chapter Two) and a det
tion primarily in relation to the poet
The final chapter, which is preced
apellido" and other poems in the sam
is devoted to the relationship betwee
informs not only West Indies Ltd., bu
which Guillen's poetic and journalist
fore gives a very elegant closure to w
However, the well-conceived struct
certing way by the very chapter whi
nation point: the reading of "El apell
Morej6n's argument clearly builds up
The chapter is crucial to the author's
assumption that nacion and mestizaj
teristic interchangeability embraces
mensions of Cuban cultural history
they are to his ideology and thus to

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 M L N 277

independent cultu
rhetorical point o
mestizaje both wit
extended framew
is the idea of tran
Counterpoint as an
Morej6n, with Or
misconception of
culturation, she c
burden of implic
the differences b
for reciprocity a
the Spanish conq
periences of socia
Passage) is highly
roneous, but pop
Africans, the Spa
Caribbean and So
unified group. It
presence in Latin
According to Mor
of slavery and th
which, especially
reluctance, lies at
and for a more
from the United
Ortiz, regarded th
is particularly re
that indigenism w
image that would
and thus serve th
Cuba's annexatio
Guillen's (and Mo
culture for Cuba's
of what she deplo
to the exact histo
seems somewhat
the result of her
beginning of the
nants of Native A
icance.
What is most important, then, to Morej6n's own perspective on trans-
culturation as a viable definition of the process which establishes Cuba as
a culturally independent nation while at the same time firmly attaching it
to the cultural context of the Caribbean is the conviction that this concept

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278 VERA M. KUTZINSKI

as it informs Guillen's poetics, aesthe

in conflict with issues of racial identity
This is to say, at least not since the tr
are encouraged to believe, has effecti
from its previous idealistic status as
p6sito" (p. 41) into a national reality,
Guillen the position not only of a nat
be easy at this point to criticize Mor
exaggerated, view of the actual achiev
while such criticism and skepticism s
altogether distract from the larger p
nection with Guillen's ideological pos
both his poetry and his prose, that th
specifically in Cuba, be viewed not in is
to its African past, but instead be sit
context, which is no longer African
insistence is both valuable and valid esp
debate about what it is that constitutes the distinctiveness of the Afro-
American literary canon and about the appropriateness or inappropriate-
ness of the very term itself.
It has been argued, time and again, that the cultural syncretisms, spe-
cifically in the Caribbean, but also in other Latin American countries such
as Brazil, have counteracted, if not entirely prevented, the development
of "authentic" black literatures in those regions. The absurdity of this
argument and its many versions, which are indebted to the claims certain
historians have attempted to make for the relative absence of race prejudice
in Latin America, is fairly evident: It implies, by means of a curious in-
version, that the more racially oppressive the social environment, the more
authentic the kind of black literature it produces. Such a formulation may
admittedly be somewhat extreme. However, we ought to consider for a
moment-and Morej6n's apt discussion of the terminological and ideo-
logical differences between such categories as "Afro-American," "Afro-
Hispanic" and "Afro-Cuban" presents a perfect occasion for this-that
what is commonly labeled "authentic" black literature is invariable a lit-
erature which defines itself (or is defined, for the matter) in contrast to,
rather than in connection with, other kinds of American literature, what-
ever they may be. Although Morej6n's insistence on the term "afrohis-
panico" as a most accurate description of Cuban culture may be brushed
off as political rhetoric or criticized for its apparent, and perhaps inevitable,
reductiveness, it helps remind us of the dire need for a more unified and
precise terminology especially when dealing with such broad concepts as
"American culture," "Latin American culture" or "Afro-American cul-
ture." Even more significantly, Morej6n's book, partly because of the in-
tensely ideological tone of her own rhetoric, alerts us to the political con-
notations of certain terminological constructs and choices and thus to the

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 M L N 279

inevitably politica
for the majority o
language and thus
distinct political d
affected by and p
ideal" and a "lengu
To the extent that
the interconnecte
"poesia negra" wh
and truest form o
serves Morej6n as
movement on the
Cesaire's Cahier d'u
though not very su
Antillian movemen
while at the same
distinctly nation
differences betwee
they are as radica
not entirely convi
members of the A
like Cesaire is the
modality in orde
(p. 83), if only be
not in the work o
poetry of Cesaire.
more specific and
has made her poin
response to the in
culture in no way
to "lo cubano." It i
that it was possibl
tions (p. 93).
However, Morej6n
ideological project
alectical approach
within and as part
itself with Marxis
ample of an artist
vanguardist politi
the point where h
dimensions of nat
is, of course, that
equivalent to an a
about such an equ

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280 VERA M. KUTZINSKI

racial issues to class issues led, at least

States, to a growing disillusionment of
munist Party and its policies. In additi
slavery did not precipitate the disappea
in the United States nor in Cuba, show
lationships between racism and econom
and problematic than both Morej6n a
admit. It is at this point that Morej6n'
dogmatic. Given the ideological allegian
as this book is indeed representative of t
aries between the social and historical
the one hand and the kind of social/soc
poetry on the other to be blurred to su
any possible discrepancies between lite
be conveniently precluded.
What is dangerous about such a collaps
versa, at the level of political ideology
monious fusion leaves ultimately no mo
for literature, as social and political crit
why Morej6n, at the very moment in
upon to show exactly how the two concep
their purely ideological status and eme
gories or principles should attempt to s
reading for a critique of language, and
pointing and of no small consequence t
the issue of names and of naming, of de
y culturas," is crucial to Guillen's (and C
and for an authentic cultural voice that would formulate and inscribe that
identity. It would therefore have presented a perfect opportunity for the
author to explore in greater depth the intricate relationship between lan-
guage (and thus literature) and ideology, between both literary and political
rhetoric and authority, in the context of a socialist regime. But Morej6n
chooses not to tackle such questions, and we need not speculate on the
reasons for her obvious reluctance to go beyond the protective conser-
vatism of literary sociology. But it nevertheless remains regrettable that,
in this particular case, the combination of vanguardist literature and van-
guardist politics was not more successful in engendering what may be called
vanguardist literary criticism.
Compared to Nacion y mestizaje en Nicolds Guillen, Lorna Williams' Self
and Society in the Poetry of Nicolds Guillen deserves a certain amount of credit
for its more cautious and less ideologically committed assessment of the
extent to which Guillen's poetry may be viewed as an accurate portrayal
of social realities in post-revolutionary Cuba. At the same time, however,
it has to be taken into consideration when drawing such a comparison that
Morej6n, as member of the Uni6n de Escritores y Artistas, is in a far more

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 M L N 281

difficult positon t
comings of her st
scholarship. Morej
which would comp
may not be excusa
context. Quite in c
pretends to be "an
the same time reso
mately unable to c
(that is, about lang
is distressing beyo
The fact that Self
exception of sever
length study of t
matically invests t
material as well as
with the responsi
unable to consult t
far only available i
A significant part o
onstrated awarenes
with current work
American and Afr
knowledge does no
and cliches, but it
alternatives. Willi
well have develope
llen's poetry by fla
whose concept of p
word" (p. 1). It is
it to others to con
To be sure, Guillen
but it is so in man
believe, and this re
as self-referentiali
literary and/or aes
One can only hope
dimensions either
subsumed, as it w
or that they are n
open up any possi
misconceptions is
This kind of term
general tendency t
with a relentless o

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282 VERA M. KUTZINSKI

monplaces. Under the questionable aus

ory, whose problematic assumptions a
"colonial subject" and the "metropol
outline the general theoretical paramet
to explain the intricate historical and
llen's poetry by reducing them to var
the alienation of the "black self' from
estrangement of the "average Cuban"
nialism and then as the product of Un
the alienation of one social class from
be accused of factual inaccuracies here,
oversimplified description of Cuban cu
of issues which modern black literature in the Americas continues to con-
front. In addition, such formulations seem to be unfortunate examples of
what Morej6n, along with Ortiz, Fernandez Retamar and even Guillen
himself, rejects as fundamentally eurocentric concepts.
In the three chapters which comprise the first part of her book entitled
"The Presence of the Past," Williams introduces us to what she indentifies
as Guillen's "inquiry into the nature of the black self." Regrettably, the
author's comments on the relationship between oral and written traditions
and between music and literature do not develop into a more detailed
discussion of the Afro-Antillean movement. In much the same way, the
work of Fernando Ortiz and Lydia Cabrera, not to say anything about
Alejo Carpentier, is only mentioned in passing and mostly relegated to the
notes. Instead, Williams chooses to rely on the authority of several disser-
tations, mostly Dellita Lowry's, whose survey of the poetry of Guillen and
Langston Hughes in connection with Afro-American folk music is prob-
lematic at best. It may be added that her list of dissertations on Guillen is
as incomplete as her bibliographical account of anthologies and translations
of Guillen's poems: The very first English translation of Guillen's poetry
by Langston Hughes and Ben Frederick Carruthers (Cuba Libre. Poems by
Nicolds Guillen, 1948) is missing from her collection of sources in much the
same way as there is no mention of the dissertations by Maria Constan de
Pontrelli ("The Criollo Poetry of Nicolas Guillen," Yale, 1958), Ian Smart
("The Creative Dialogue in the Poetry of Nicolas Guillen: Europe and
Africa," UCLA, 1975) and S. Davis ("Development of Poetic Techniques
in the Works of Nicolas Guillen," Princeton, 1975). But such omissions are
relatively negligible when compared to some of Williams' truly outrageous
claims. In her second chapter, "The African Presence," she informs us on
the one hand that in a poem like "Son numero 6" "the primacy of Yoruba
culture is upheld through the force of repetition" (p. 16) after just having
insisted that "[f]or most blacks living in the Americas, Africa is the con-
tinent from which one's ancestors came, but it is hardly the place where
one seeks poetic inspiration in the present" (p. 15). Regardless of the open

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 M L N 283

contradiction bet
that repetition, i
Yoruba (!) culture
invalidated by alm
beginnings to the
no longer serves a
is not just an ove
implies, here and
literature has und
writers started to
ties by a Europe u
to be more specif
guardist moveme
modernism on t
Instead, Guillen's
tilation and psych
of Stanley Elkins
indicate that this
literature, and on
been how Guillen'
itself, as well as de
But no excursions
result of William
float freely in a s
of relevant histor
In the chapters w
situation of black
Williams moves "T
part of her book
shift of emphasis
an exaltation of b
the whole more s
much of Guillen's
kinds of superfic
invite. Unlike Mo
of Guillen's more
the fact that som
the revolutionary
instance, points t
tendency to focus
rather than evalu
population under
like this that the
of theme and com

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 284 VERA M. KUTZINSKI

potential. Nonetheless, Williams' general

which hardly ever seeks recourse to Pro
its own critical biases and misconceptions
ings are not as easily understandable within
or political, and even less excusable than
rej6n's study. As it is, there is much wor
language.
Yale University

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