Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García
"Dreaming in Cuban" is the debut novel by Cristina García, exploring the complex lives of three generations of Cuban women as they navigate their identities and experiences in a post-revolutionary world. The story centers on Celia del Pino, who, from her home in Cuba, writes unsent letters to a lost lover, reflecting her unfulfilled desires and hopes amidst the backdrop of political turmoil. Through Celia, the novel delves into themes of survival and hope, particularly as her family becomes fractured by differing political ideologies following the Cuban Revolution of 1959.
The narrative also follows her daughters, Felicia and Lourdes, who face their own struggles with trauma, loss, and cultural dislocation after leaving Cuba for the United States. Felicia finds solace in music and Santeria, while Lourdes grapples with emotional scars and the quest for the American Dream. Their experiences culminate in the journey of Lourdes's daughter, Pilar, who, raised in Brooklyn, seeks to connect with her Cuban roots and embrace her bicultural identity.
Through vivid storytelling and rich symbolism, "Dreaming in Cuban" addresses the themes of cultural identity, family bonds, and the complexities of the immigrant experience, making it a poignant exploration of women's resilience in the face of adversity.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García
First published: 1992
The Work
Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia’s first novel, chronicles the lives of three generations of women as they strive for self-fulfillment. This bittersweet novel also illustrates the Cuban American immigrant experience in the United States, focusing on the search for cultural identity in exile. In Cuba, for twenty-five years, the matriarch Celia del Pino writes letters to Gustavo, a long lost lover. She never sends the self-revealing correspondence, and stops writing in 1959, at the time of the Cuban Revolution, when the family becomes divided by politics and her granddaughter Pilar is born.
Celia, who believes that “to survive is an act of hope,” sublimates her unfulfilled romantic desires by imagining herself as a heroine of the revolution. In need of recognition, she supports Fidel Castro devotedly. As her husband Jorge del Pino leaves her to join their daughter Lourdes in the United States, she spends her days scanning the sea for American invaders and daydreaming about a more exciting life.
Felicia, Celia’s youngest daughter, abused and abandoned by her first husband Hugo Villaverde, suffers from fits of madness and violence. A stranger to herself and her children, she seeks refuge in music and the Afro-Cuban cult of Santeria; after becoming a priestess, she finds peace in death. Lourdes, Celia’s eldest daughter, raped and tortured by the revolutionaries, loses her unborn son. She escapes from Castro’s Cuba with her husband Rufino del Puente and their daughter Pilar. Emotionally unfulfilled, she develops eating disorders; while her family dreams of returning to Cuba, she supports the anti-Castro movement, establishes a chain of Yankee Doodle bakeries, and focuses on achieving the American Dream.
Raised in Brooklyn, in conflict with her Americanized mother, Pilar identifies with her grandmother Celia in Cuba. She visits the homeland in search of her true identity and, as she receives Celia’s legacy of letters and family stories, she becomes aware of the magic inner voice that inspires artistic creativity. Pilar returns to America with a positive self-image, accepting her double identity as a bilingual and bicultural Latina.
Dreaming in Cuban represents the coming-of-age memoir narrative. Through recollections and nostalgic remembrances, the novel illustrates issues of identity and separation, women’s survival strategies, and cultural dualism.
Bibliography
America. CLXVII, July 18, 1992, p. 39. A review of Dreaming in Cuban.
Belles Lettres. VIII, Fall, 1992, p. 15. A review of Dreaming in Cuban.
Boswell, Thomas D. The Cuban American Experience: Culture, Images and Perspectives. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Allanheld, 1984.
The Christian Science Monitor. March 24, 1992, p. 13. A review of Dreaming in Cuban.
Davis, Thulani. “Fidel Castro Between Them: Dreaming in Cuban.” The New York Times Book Review, May 17, 1992, 14.
Eder, Richard. “Cuban Revolution Tugs on Family Ties.” Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1992, p. E10. Generally laudatory discussion of García’s novel. Eder praises García’s realistic passages as “exquisite” but observes that she is sometimes “indulgent and awkward” in her use of magical elements.
Gann, L. H., and Peter J. Duignan. The Hispanics in the United States: A History. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1986. An overview of the history and culture of the various groups of Hispanic immigrants to the United States. Of particular interest in relation to Dreaming in Cuban is chapter 6, “The Cubans,” which deals with the Cuban-born population of the United States.
García, Christina. “. . . And There Is Only My Imagination Where Our History Should Be: An Interview with Christina García.” Interview by Iraida H. Lopez. Michigan Quarterly Review 33 (Summer, 1994): 604-617. García discusses her background as a Cuban immigrant in New York City and the influence her ethnic identity has had on her writing. She also addresses the political situation in Cuba, as well as the strong anti-communist feelings of the Cuban population in Miami. A useful supplement to the novel.
García, María Cristina. “Adapting to Exile: Cuban Women in the United States, 1959-1973.” Latino Studies Journal 2 (May, 1991): 17-33. This scholar (who is not the author of Dreaming in Cuban) suggests that Cuban women in exile, faced with the necessity of working to support their families, have experienced expanded roles in the United States. Willing to work for low wages, these women have secured more jobs than their male counterparts, and have achieved political and economic clout. Published before Dreaming in Cuban, the article provides excellent background for the novel’s political base.
Kirkus Reviews. Review of Dreaming in Cuban, by Cristina García. 60 (January 1, 1992): 7. Brief, hostile review that claims that the novel “lacks sufficient freshness of insight to be consistently compelling.”
Migration World Magazine. XX, Number 2, 1992, p. 39. A review of Dreaming in Cuban.
Miller, Susan. “Caught Between Two Cultures.” Newsweek 119 (April 20, 1992): 78-79. Describes García’s visit to Cuba in 1984 as the impetus for writing Dreaming in Cuban. García is quoted saying that Latino immigrants are bringing a new voice to literature in English, one that is enriched by its dual heritage.
Mitchell, David T. “National Families and Familial Nations: Communista Americans in Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 15 (Spring, 1996): 51-60. Mitchell analyzes Pilar, the main character in García’s novel. He explores Pilar’s failure to belong to either family or nation, expressions of her artistic struggle, and the contradictory coexistence of national and family unity Pilar experiences upon her return to Cuba.
The New Yorker. LXVIII, June 1, 1992, p. 86. A review of Dreaming in Cuban.
Pérez Firmat, Gustavo. Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban American Way. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.
Publishers Weekly. CCXXXIX, January 13, 1992, p. 46. A review of Dreaming in Cuban.
Stavans, Illan. “The Other Voice.” The Bloomsbury Review 12 (July, 1992): 5. Discusses the emergence of literature by Hispanics writing in English, including Cristina García. The author, a Mexican novelist and critic, argues that Hispanic writers often travel between the United States and their native countries, making assimilation into the mainstream difficult and cultural longing a predominant theme.
Ugalde, Sharon Keefe. “Process, Identity, and Learning to Read: Female Writing and Feminist Criticism in Latin America Today.” Latin American Research Review 24, no. 1 (1989): 222-232.
Unterburger, Amy, ed. Who’s Who Among Hispanic Americans, 1992-1993. 2d ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. A brief notation on Cristina García includes personal information about the author, including names of family members, educational background, and details about her career as a journalist.
The Washington Post Book World. XXII, March 1, 1992, p. 9. A review of Dreaming in Cuban.
Weiss, Amelia. Review of Dreaming in Cuban, by Cristina García. Time 139 (March 23, 1992): 67. Rapturous commentary on the novel. States of García that, “Like a priestess, in passages of beautiful island incantation, she conjures her Cuban heritage” from across the political and physical gulf separating Cuba and the United States.