Imaginary Connections of the Elusive Havana (1968-2017)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the concept of an elusive Havana in the cultural imaginary of the second half of the 20^th century by focusing on essays, documentaries, books, and other cultural productions associated with María Zambrano, Alejo Carpentier, Dulce María Loynaz, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and Anna Veltfort. The questions animating this work are: Why does Havana become elusive for writers with differing levels of proximity to the city? How do they articulate the traces of that elusive Havana? My essay proposes that beyond the conception of an open, permissive, hospitable city, the epitome of the tourist space and even a sanctuary for people from different parts of the world, another city coexists, not only understood as a disdainful, rough, and sullen space, but also as a space that seeks to avoid itself, that withdraws, excuses itself and becomes elusive or violent. Like the representation of the city in the landscapes of the painter René Portocarrero, in the elusive Havana, the confusion is given by motley and overlapping meanings, colors, and textures. The plethora of experiences and sensations reaches levels of supersaturation that end up as mirages: The city simulates a complete transparency, but it is precisely in that excess wherein lies the disguise.