Making Prophecy: Time in José Lezama Lima&apos;s Cultural Thought

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International Journal of Cuban Studies

Volume 9, Issue 2

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Making Prophecy: Time in José Lezama Lima's Cultural Thought

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Author(s): Robert S. Lesman

Publication date (Print): Winter 2017

Journal: International Journal of Cuban Studies

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: José Lezama Lima, Cuban literature, history, time, the Cuban Revolution, Catholicism

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Abstract

In his many essays on literary and cultural topics, the Cuban writer José Lezama Lima (1910–1976) develops a complex system of ideas about history and time. Lezama objects to simplistic ways of conceptualising temporality and favours a flexible notion of time. His way of thinking on the subject is bound up with his preference for literary or generally artistic expression as opposed to what he sees as the problematic ontological claims of historiography. He privileges the artistic image as a force that can transcend linearities and determinisms. Lezama sees the image as essentially future-oriented, as a force that makes possible an arc of Cuban cultural progress that stretches forward in time.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Robert S. Lesman

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): intejcubastud

Title: International Journal of Cuban Studies

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 17563461

ISSN (Electronic): 1756347X

Publication date (Print): Winter 2017

Volume: 9

Issue: 2

Pages: 196-211

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Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, USA

Article

Publisher ID: intejcubastud.9.2.0196

DOI: 10.13169/intejcubastud.9.2.0196

SO-VID: 30c65eed-1bb1-4db5-a1df-b97087170994

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History

Bibliography

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Comments

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[1] Areta Marigó, Gema (2001) Introduction , Verbum. Seville: Renacimiento.

[2] Castro, Fidel (30 June, 1961) Discurso Pronunciado Como Conclusión de las Reuniones con los Intelectuales Cubanos . Havana: Biblioteca Nacional. Available at http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1961/esp/f300661e.html. (Accessed 14 November 2017.)

[3] Castro, Fidel (1993) La historia me absolverá . Havana: Pensamiento Nacional.

[4] Castro, Fidel (1955) ‘Manifiesto no. 1 del 26 de Julio al Pueblo de Cuba’, Havana: Fidel Soldado de las ideas. Available at http://www.fidelcastro.cu/es/documentos/manifiesto-no-1-del-26-de-julio-al-pueblo-de-cuba. (Accessed 14 November 2017.)

[5] Castro, Fidel (2006) Proclama del Comandante en Jefe al Pueblo de Cuba, Havana. Available at http://www.granma.cu/granmad/secciones/siempre_con_fidel/art-021.html. (Accessed 14 November 2017.)

[6] Derrida, Jacques (1992) Acts of Literature . New York and London: Routledge.

[7] González Echevarría, Roberto (2010) ‘Lo cubano en Paradiso’, Letral 4: 61–78. Available at http://www.red-redial.net/referencia-bibliografica-65892.html. (Accessed 14 November 2017.)

[8] Heller, Ben (1997). Assimilation/Generation/Resurrection: Contrapuntal Readings in the Poetry of José Lezama Lima . Lewisburg, PA and London: Bucknell University Press.

[9] Hernández Busto, Enrique (2008) ‘Lezama: La letra y el espíritu’. Aldabonazo en Trocadero 162 . Ed. William Navarrete and Regina Ávila. Valencia: Aduana Vieja. (2008) 63–73.

[10] Levinson, Brett (1996) Secondary Moderns: Mimesis, History, and Revolution in Lezama Lima's ‘American Expression’ . Lewisburg, PA and London: Bucknell University Press.

[11] Lezama Lima, José (1945) ‘Después de lo raro, la extrañeza’, Orígenes 6 (Summer): 51–5.

[12] Lezama Lima, José (1949) ‘La otra desintegración’. Orígenes 21 (Spring): 60–1.

[13] Lezama Lima, José (1952) ‘Alrededores de una antología’, Orígenes 31: 63–8.

[14] Lezama Lima, José (1953) ‘Secularidad de José Martí’. Orígenes 33: 3–4.

[15] Lezama Lima, José (1977a) ‘Confluencias’. Obras completas . Tomo II. Mexico City: Aguilar. 1208–28.

[16] Lezama Lima, José (1977b) ‘Conocimiento de salvación’. Obras completas . Tomo II. 246–9. Mexico City: Aguilar.

[17] Lezama Lima, José (1977c) ‘La imagen histórica’. Obras completas . Tomo II. Mexico City: Aguilar, 843–52.

[18] Lezama Lima, José (1977d) ‘Las imágenes posibles’. Obras completas . Tomo II. Mexico City: Aguilar, 152–82.

[19] Lezama Lima, José (1977e) ‘Mitos y cansancio clásico’. Obras completas . Tomo II. Mexico City: Aguilar, 279–301.

[20] Lezama Lima, José (1977f) ‘Sierpe de Don Luis de Góngora’. Obras completas . Tomo II. Mexico City: Aguilar. 183–213.

[21] Lezama Lima, José (1977g). ‘X y XX‘ . Obras completas . Tomo II. Mexico City: Aguilar. 135–51.

[22] Lezama Lima, José (1988) ‘Se invoca al Ángel de la Jiribilla’, In Abel Prieto (ed.) Confluencias . Havana: Letras Cubanas.

[23] Lezama Lima, José and José Rodríguez Feo (1944). Editorial. Orígenes 1 (Spring) 5–7.

[24] Lezama Lima, José and José Rodríguez Feo (1947) ‘Cuatro años’. Orígenes 16 (Winter): 46.

[25] Marx, Karl (1994) The Communist Manifesto . Selected writings. Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett.

[26] Pellón, Gustavo (1985) José Lezama Lima's Joyful Vision: A Study of Paradiso and Other Prose Works . Austin: University of Texas Press.

[27] Ramírez, David Ricardo ‘La nación religiosa: Cuba según la poética teleológica de José Lezama Lima’. Perífrasis 2.3: 22–39.

[28] Rojas, Rafael (2006) Tumbas sin sosiego: Revolución, disidencia y exilio del intelectual cubano . Barcelona: Anagrama.

[29] Salgado, César. ‘Fantasticidad y sobrenaturaleza: Confluencias de Lezama y Borges en la esfera de Pascal’, Pterodáctilo 3: 71–81.