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BOOK PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION:
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A PAN-ANTELLANO PERSPECTIVE |
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And the range of the book is also very wide -- the intellectual
range -- he has a lot of different kinds of methods and cultural dimensions
that come into play in this book. It´s very historical, it´s
very alert to the historical context in which he is writing about. He develops
theoretical ideas quite independently sometimes of the material at hand.
He develops lines of thinking about key theoretical questions of our time.
And he has really intelligent interpretations of literature and of music
in this book throughout. And that´s another to me very valuable and
very cherished quality the book has. Another thing that I think is commendable about it, is that it takes a pan-antellano perspective. In other words, while Puerto Rico is the crux, Puerto Rican culture and nationality is the heart of what he is investigating, Puerto Rico is seen in very integral relationship to Cuba and the Dominican Republic. When I say antellano I mean antellano hispano, the Spanish Caribbean. So that by drawing in and by giving ample attention to Cuban literature and music and Dominican literature and music, you have along with salsa, which is the central concern of the book, you have lengthy and intelligent discussions of la trova from Cuba and of merengue in the Dominican Republic. In addition, to Luis Rafael Sánchez and Juan GelpÍ as literary figures, critics and writers, you have Fernando Ortiz, José Lezama Lima, Pedro Henriquez Ureña and Pedro Vergés as major, there is major discussion of their work in the book. And very significantly pan-antellano, no solamente en la cuestión de las islas pero también aquÍ, la diáspora, this Caribbean in New York. |
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