ADDRESSING LOSS AND NOSTALGIA: TWO CUBAN DIASPORIC NOVELS OF THE NINETIES

Abstract

My study analyzes two texts that are essential for understanding the Cuban literary diaspora in the 1990s. By looking at the representation of the migrant experience in both Jesus Diaz's novel La piel y la mascara (1996) and Inventario secreto de La Habana (2004) by Abilio Estevez, I examine their significance for the corpus of diasporic literature that has been central to Cuban society for the past sixty years. My article addresses not only the way in which these works are contextualized as part of a diasporic literature tradition, but also how loss and nostalgia play an influential role in shaping the identity of the migrant subject.