SARGASSO


Mexico as well as Cuba and the Dominican Republic. I

used to study literature as an art of the Latin American

world, and Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico

as specifically Antillean countries. The critical issues

that made me more aware of the Caribbean as a geographical

and cultural entity was the Cuban Revolution. I became

more interested in countries such as Jamaica and Haiti

and St. Croix. My readings of the literature of this

region had been limited because the literature of these

countries is not very accessible. When I went to Cuba to

be part of the jury of Casa de Las Americas, I spent a

few days in Jamaica. There I came in contact with some

Jamaican writers and started discovering Jamaica's culture.

I was very interested and tried to have a more complete

knowledge of their literature by reading on my own. It

must be pointed out that Cuba's Casa de Las Americas has

done an enormous job of disseminating Caribbean literature.

It has granted awards to poets from these islands and

published their works. Many times it has published

,Spanish translations. In the case of Jamaica, Barbados

and Trinidad, many of their books are published in London

and don't circulate in the rest of the Caribbean. Our