The Importance of Abel Prieto’s Literary Work Highlighted at El autor y su obra

Abel Prieto was the writer who graced the afternoon of January 18 at El autor y su obra, a literary exchange space organized by the Cuban Book Institute, which took place at the Hart Theater of the José Martí National Library.

The work of the president of Casa de las Américas was the subject of debate among those invited to the event. The nuances of his narrative and the foundations of his stories, as well as the unprejudiced reflection of reality through humor and the construction of lively characters, were some of the topics that were the focus of the event.

The writer and art critic, Marilyn Bobes, offered an approach to the novelistic of the honoree. «Abel Prieto’s novels are unclassifiable in a world where originality is gradually being lost among the clichés of globalization and its hegemonic pretensions,» she said.

Bobes also called for a closer study of the role of female characters, always empowered and capable of overcoming the after-effects of patriarchy.

Miguel Barnet, for his part, recognized the talent and virtue of an essayist and writer, whom he considers a unique and singular being.

«All his literary work achieves a masterful communion between introspection in the history of everyday life and poetic fiction. His characters, all of them original, never before seen in Cuban storytelling, novels or painting, have the gift of appearing without masks in the theater of neighborhood life and the popular imagination,» he said.

In turn, essayist, storyteller, and art professor Francisco López Sacha, recalled the fundamental contributions of Abel Prieto’s short stories and highlighted the conjunction between the fantastic and the real in his writings and considered Viajes de Miguel Luna as one of the greatest parodic novels of Cuban literature.

Abel appreciated the recognition and took the opportunity to share experiences and anecdotes of his work as Minister of Culture. He also remembered Roberto Fernández Retamar, highlighted the stamp of Armando Hart, and recalled his surprise when Fidel Castro once remembered one of his characters at a particular moment. 

Abel Prieto’s literary work includes the short stories Los bitongos y los guapos (1980), Noche de sábado (1989), the novels El vuelo del Gato (1999), and Viajes de Miguel Luna (2012), which in the opinion of the exhibitors, who graced the event, give him a prominent place in Cuban literature.