Memorias Del Subdesarrollo.

“Memorias del subdesarrollo,” a  novel by Cuban author Edmundo Desnoes. The story narrates through a journal, or diary kept by an aristocrat at the triumph of the Cuban Revolution at the very end of 1959. Unlike the rest of his family our protagonist does not leave the island and watches the coming events ‘curios’ of what has happened or is going to happen. In 1966 Edmundo Desnoes published one of the well-known Cuban novels of all time and of his generation of the 1950’s. The focus on the Cuban revolution or the opposition from Miami Cubans was not what drove the story to success; in fact it was the complete opposite. Our protagonist, a Cuban aristocrat who watches in horror as his entire social class vanishes in an exodus and with much hurry. Sergio stays behind not just to feel free like as an individual, but because he senses something unique and irreproducible. This world created by Edmundo Desnoes is one of constant contradictions and questions. The most important aspect of the novel is the way that the novel tells you about the social changes that are happening in a spontaneous way: ‘dialecticamente’

One of the most entertaining events in the story is the event of the cane Sergio acquires. The cane with the head of a dog that he names “Fiddel”, pronounce “Fidel” who Sergio has a rather long conversation with, this event in the story is controversial to say the least and it is a push at censorship. It is here where we see the “subdesarrollo” of the novel, in other words the underdevelopment. The intellectual is done away with in the story, as censorship is the main reason why this is happening. The individual whose reality is based on books and literature is squashed by the revolution. Coincidently it is an independent Cuban director named Miguel Coyula that is currently directing “Memorias del Desarrollo.” I am not clear on the specifications or on the date of release but it is a presumed sequel to “Memorias del subdesarrollo” that takes place in New York instead of Habana Cuba. You can find out more on Miguel Coyula’s movie here www.myspace.com/memoriasdeldesarrollo