by Jerome du Bois and Catherine King
Thanks, patient readers, for staying with us. As usual, go to the sidebar for orientation, and to The Return posting for a more detailed table of contents. A few notes of clarification.
First, some of the names we use belong to real people, such as Yasmani Oliva, the inspiration for the whole thing; and Carlos Lage Davila and Yoan Capote and Abel Barroso. But the usual disclaimers apply; our characters are free creations of our two minds, bear no resemblance to real people, and are probably more unruly and free than some real people.
Second, we are well aware that racism against blacks and other dark people exists in Cuba. That is why Flash No More --a key mover of the plot's events, an avatar of Chango, or archaic Greek half-god, half-human, who becomes fully human by the end of the novel-- is as black as we could make a human being. As Kiku Ybarra proclaimed: "Love sees all colors! Passion claims no race!"
Third, some may object to the use of marijuana as partial financial fuel for a revolution. Our suggestion is for the reader to do some research on rum, molasses, slaves, and tobacco, for starters; and then, later, when the revolution is over and we're all passing some kind of congratulations around, we'll compare the relative human damage done by these various substances and practices. In the meantime, we follow this credo about Cubans, and about anybody who stands for the future: "They're ready for anything, they waste nothing, and they use everything."
And now, taste some more New Mango.
Posted by Jerome at August 22, 2005 05:31 PM | TrackBack