Así en la paz como en la guerra

Así en la paz como en la guerra. It is a seminal collection of short stories by the renowned Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante, first published in 1960 by Ediciones R in Havana. The work captures the turbulent social and political atmosphere of Cuba in the 1950s, particularly during the final years of the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship and the burgeoning Cuban Revolution. These narratives blend sharp social critique with innovative literary techniques, marking a crucial early phase in Cabrera Infante's career before his later masterpieces like Tres tristes tigres.

Publication and background

The stories in Así en la paz como en la guerra were largely written and published individually in various magazines during the 1950s, a period when Cabrera Infante was actively involved with the underground opposition to the Batista regime. Many first appeared in the influential Bohemian magazine Carteles, where he worked, and later in the revolutionary publication Revolución. The collection was assembled and published shortly after the triumph of the 26th of July Movement, reflecting the immediate post-revolutionary intellectual climate in Havana. This period also saw Cabrera Infante serving as the founding editor of the cultural supplement Lunes de Revolución, a role that positioned him at the center of Cuba's literary scene. The book's publication coincided with a moment of intense artistic ferment, involving figures like Virgilio Piñera and Antón Arrufat, though Cabrera Infante's relationship with the Castro government would later deteriorate significantly.

Structure and content

The collection is structured as a series of vignettes and longer stories that collectively paint a portrait of a society in moral and political decay. Notable stories include "Un rato de tenmeallá," which depicts a grotesque party among the Havana elite, and "En el gran ecbó," a narrative steeped in the rituals of Afro-Cuban Santería. The content often focuses on the lives of prostitutes, corrupt officials, and disillusioned intellectuals, providing a gritty counter-narrative to official propaganda. Recurring settings include the seedy bars of Havana and the tense urban landscapes familiar from the era of Batista's secret police. The work operates as both a literary document and a historical chronicle of the pre-revolutionary period, with direct allusions to events like the attack on the Presidential Palace.

Literary style and themes

Cabrera Infante employs a fragmented, cinematic style in these stories, showing early signs of the linguistic experimentation and playful intertextuality that would define his later work. The prose often incorporates elements of collage, black humor, and rapid shifts in perspective, influenced by modernist writers like James Joyce and John Dos Passos. Central themes include the absurdity of violence, the corruption of power, and the performative nature of politics, whether under the Batista dictatorship or in the early days of the Cuban Revolution. The title itself, echoing the phrase from the Lord's Prayer, ironically juxtaposes the promised "peace" of the regime with the pervasive "war" of everyday repression and social strife. This focus on the grotesque and the mundane critiques both the old order and hints at ambivalence toward the new revolutionary project.

Critical reception and legacy

Upon its release, the book was hailed as a breakthrough in Cuban narrative, praised for its formal innovation and unflinching social realism by critics within Cuba and in Latin American literary circles. It established Cabrera Infante as a leading voice of his generation alongside contemporaries like Severo Sarduy and Reinaldo Arenas. However, its critical standing became complex as Cabrera Infante became an exile and a vocal critic of Fidel Castro, with the book often re-evaluated through the lens of his later political stance. Today, it is considered an essential text for understanding the development of the Latin American Boom and the specific literary response to the Cuban Revolution. Scholars often analyze it in relation to works like Carlos Fuentes's La región más transparente and the early stories of Julio Cortázar.

Adaptations

While not as widely adapted as Cabrera Infante's novel Tres tristes tigres, elements of the collection have influenced other artistic works. The cinematic quality of the stories has been noted by filmmakers, and the book's atmosphere permeates certain Cuban films from the 1960s that dealt with revolutionary themes, such as those by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. In theater, the story "En el gran ecbó," with its focus on Santería, has been staged in experimental theatrical productions in Havana and Miami. The book's title and thematic concerns also resonate in later Cuban exile literature and cultural critiques, creating a lasting intertextual legacy within the broader canon of Latin American literature.

Category:1960 short story collections Category:Cuban short story collections Category:Books by Guillermo Cabrera Infante