Anti-Exceptionalism in Detective Fiction, Speculative Fiction, and Graphic Novels

doi:10.1017/9781009168359.039

38 - Anti-Exceptionalism in Detective Fiction, Speculative Fiction, and Graphic Novels

from Part V - Cuba and Its Diasporas into the New Millennium

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 August 2024

Emily A. Maguire

Edited by

Vicky Unruh and

Jacqueline Loss

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Vicky Unruh: Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Jacqueline Loss: Affiliation:
University of Connecticut

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Summary

Departing from a detailed examination of a new enthusiasm for the genre of science fiction among Cuban writers in the aftermath of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, this chapter analyzes major trends and themes in detective fiction, speculative fiction (including its subgenre cyberpunk), and graphic novels in the pre- and post post-1989 periods, along with their relationship to other bodies of knowledge and literary production, on the island and elsewhere. Through the examination of work by writers as diverse as José Miguel Sánchez (Yoss), Daína Chaviano, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Jorge Enrique Lage, and Arturo Infante, among several others, the chapter demonstrates how these writers not only register the changing temperatures of ideology, morality, and everyday realities in ways that challenge Cuban exceptionalism, but also project dreams for a better planet, less tempered by utopian discourses of the past.

Keywords

Cuban detective fiction Cuban speculative fiction Cuban cyberpunk Cuban graphic novels José Miguel Sánchez (Yoss) (1969–)Daína Chaviano (1957–)Leonardo Padura Fuentes (1955–)Jorge Enrique Lage (1979–)Arturo Infante (1977–)

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Cuban Literature , pp. 594 - 608

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009168359.039 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2024

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