Transgression in selected plays of Gerardo Fulleda León
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2022-10-03T20:35:31Z
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Abstract
Transgressive literatures are those literatures which implicate and resist political
hegemony. In the post-colonial context, they may overtly or covertly seek to
unsettle or undermine power on matters of race, culture, history, and national
identity. In 1959, the Cuban Revolution opened doors for many Cubans, one of
whom, Gerardo Fulleda León, would become one of Cuba’s most prominent
contemporary playwrights. His plays are continuous revisitations of the Cuban
past and a repository of the Afro-Cuban struggle and vision for freedom and
equality. But, since 1959, the Cuban government has claimed that it solved its
racial problems and refuses to tolerate opposition to this view. This study
therefore investigates how Fulleda, as an Afro-Cuban writer, navigates this taut
political space to speak on behalf of the marginalised black population while
maintaining allegiance to the Revolution. It aims to discover how his racial
politics challenge and/or aid revolutionary/post-revolutionary Cuba. This is the
first detailed study of the dramaturgy of Gerardo Fulleda León in the English
language. It selects three of Fulleda’s most prominent works—Ruandi (1977),
Plácido (1982), and Chago de Guisa (1989)—and provides marronage, hybridity,
and psychoanalytic criticisms respectively. The analyses point to literary themes
and devices used to effect subversive purposes on the issue of race, history, and
national identity in Cuba. They conclude that the writer’s purpose is not to
contradict the Revolution, but to facilitate the fulfilment of its ideals on race and
race relations by vindicating, legitimating, and fostering racial consciousness
among Afro-Cubans.
Keywords: Darrelstan Fitzwarren Ferguson; Transgression; Transgressive
Literature; Gerardo Fulleda León; Afro-Cuban Theatre; Cuban Revolutionary
Theatre; Twentieth-Century Cuban Theatre