Haydée Santamaría, Cuban Revolutionary

出版者:Duke University Press Books

作者:Margaret Randall

页数:248

出版时间:2015-8-14

价格:USD 17.97

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9780822359623

具体描述

Taking part in the Cuban Revolution's first armed action in 1953, enduring the torture and killings of her brother and fiancé, assuming a leadership role in the underground movement, and smuggling weapons into Cuba, Haydée Santamaría was the only woman to participate in every phase of the Revolution. Virtually unknown outside of Cuba, Santamaría was a trusted member of Fidel Castro's inner circle and friend of Che Guevara. Following the Revolution's victory Santamaría founded and ran the cultural and arts institution Casa de las Americas, which attracted cutting-edge artists, exposed Cubans to some of the world's greatest creative minds, and protected queer, black, and feminist artists from state repression. Santamaría's suicide in 1980 caused confusion and discomfort throughout Cuba; despite her commitment to the Revolution, communist orthodoxy's disapproval of suicide prevented the Cuban leadership from mourning and celebrating her in the Plaza of the Revolution. In this impressionistic portrait of her friend Haydée Santamaría, Margaret Randall shows how one woman can help change the course of history.

Review

"Haydée Santamaría, Cuban Revolutionary is essential reading for all involved in the struggles for social justice, and for those devoted to literature, the arts, and imagination as a core ingredient in realizing another world. In Margaret Randall's literary hands, Haydée is a study of an ordinary, yet remarkable woman redefining herself through commitment to revolutionary change and to the people she loved. It is also a magnificent and sorrowful meditation on revolution, loss, gender, and art. A major and outstanding book."

(Bernardine Dohrn, activist, academic and clinical law professor, retired)

"In her personal and passionate book, Margaret Randall dares to speak out about the pained silence surrounding Haydée Santamaría, perhaps the most important female figure of the Cuban revolution. Drawing on archives, interviews, memories, and imagination, Randall brings this complex woman to life, both to honor her quiet idealism and to mourn her death by suicide, which made it impossible for her to be seen as a proper national hero. This book opens the door to much-needed scholarship about the trauma suffered by women who sought to bring about social transformations on the island."

(Ruth Behar, author of Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in between Journeys)

"Santamaría’s story is one which should be told, and Randall does so vividly and insightfully."

(Publishers Weekly)

“[T]he past is sometimes hard to put away, as Randall’s loving elegy to Haydée Santamaría shows. … Her life story demonstrates the heavy costs that prolonged revolutionary struggles can extract even from their apparent victors. A feminist sensibility adds poignancy to Randall’s tender, impressionistic portrait of a self-effacing and melancholic yet much revered Cuban fighter.”

(Richard Feinberg Foreign Affairs 2015-09-01)

“Margaret Randall brings a poet’s voice to her work. She captures history, gleans it from correspondence, interviews, and research, but imbues it with an uncommon lyrical quality. … Both of Randall’s recent books make Cuba come alive. These books are well timed with the restoration of diplomatic relations and the easing of travel restrictions. They convey the vibrant history of revolutionary change. They also give human dimensions to the heroes of that revolution, reminding us what they risked, the losses they suffered, and what they were able to achieve.”

(Alice Embree The Rag Blog 2015-09-01)

“The life of Haydée Santamaría was divided between a few days of heroism and decades of bureaucratic toil. A new biography by the poet and activist Margaret Randall, who knew and loved her, tells stories of courage and sacrifice that sometimes make her sound too amazing to be true.”

(Lorna Scott Fox Bookforum 2015-09-15)

作者简介

Margaret Randall is the author of dozens of books of poetry and prose, including Che on My Mind, and the translator of When Rains Became Floods: A Child Soldier's Story, both also published by Duke University Press.

用户评价

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我必须承认，初读时我对这种近乎诗意的散文体叙事感到一丝困惑，它更像是意识流文学的体现，而非传统意义上的传记。然而，一旦适应了这种节奏，我便完全被它俘获了。作者的语言功力深厚，大量运用了隐喻和象征，使得一些看似寻常的事件都染上了史诗般的色彩。特别是关于人物情感张力的捕捉，简直是教科书级别的示范。书中对一些关键转折点的处理，没有做过多的直接阐释，而是通过环境光线的变化、人物一个不经意的动作，将情绪的暗流汹涌地表现出来。这种“留白”的艺术处理，极大地激发了读者的想象空间，让人必须主动参与到文本的建构中去。它不是被动接受信息，而是一场主动的、精神上的探险。那些关于忠诚、背叛与自我牺牲的探讨，都被包裹在华丽而又精准的辞藻之下，显得既沉重又轻盈，体现了一种极高的文学自觉性。

这本书的结构设计非常大胆，它不像是一部传统的单人传记，更像是一幅宏大的群像画。作者巧妙地将主角的个人轨迹，嵌入到更广阔的社会和国际背景之中，使得每一次个体的抉择都折射出时代的巨大洪流。我非常欣赏这种“大处着眼，小处落笔”的处理方式。书中的篇章之间的过渡处理得极为流畅，即使涉及到不同的时间线和空间场景，阅读体验也从未被打断。作者对于权力和理想之间关系的探讨，尤其深刻，他没有将权力简单地描绘成腐蚀性的恶魔，而是展现了它如何成为一种必要的工具，以及如何改变持有者的心智模式。阅读过程中，我多次停下来，不是为了查阅脚注，而是为了消化那些句子中蕴含的丰富信息量。那种阅读完一个段落后，需要深吸一口气，整理思绪的感觉，恰恰是优秀作品带给读者的独特体验。

从历史文献研究的角度来看，这本书无疑展现了极高的学术严谨性，但最吸引我的是它如何将冷峻的史实转化为具有强烈感染力的故事。作者似乎花费了海量时间去挖掘那些不为人知的小细节，这些细节如同散落在历史长河中的珍珠，被串联起来，形成了一条清晰而又充满张力的叙事链条。我特别赞赏作者在处理复杂政治事件时所保持的那种微妙的平衡感——既没有完全偏向任何一方，也没有陷入那种平庸的“客观中立”，而是通过对人物动机的深度挖掘，让读者理解每一步行动背后的复杂驱动力。书中的一些章节，对特定历史时期的社会肌理描绘得入木三分，让你能真切地感受到那个时代普通民众的喜怒哀乐，而不仅仅是关注宏大叙事中的几个核心人物。这种对微观历史的关注，使得整部作品充满了生命力和真实感，远超一般人物传记的范畴。

与其说这是一本传记，不如说这是一次对“革命精神”本质的哲学思辨。作者在字里行间流露出的那种对信念的执着和对自我牺牲的理解，具有极强的穿透力。他没有回避人物性格中的阴影面和局限性，反而将这些不完美之处作为理解其伟大成就的关键入口。这种坦诚的叙事态度，使得人物形象更加立体可信。书中的一些论述，特别是关于文化与政治相互作用的分析，极具启发性，迫使读者重新审视我们习以为常的一些观念。文字的韵律感极强，读起来有一种古典美感，节奏的掌控犹如一位技艺精湛的音乐家在指挥一场复杂而宏大的交响乐，高潮迭起，低回婉转，每一个音符都恰到好处。它不仅记录了一个人的生平，更像是一堂关于如何面对历史、如何坚守初心的深度课程。