The Cuban writer Edmundo DesnoesAuthor of the novel that inspired the screenplay for the film Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968) by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, He died in the United States at the age of 93.
The news was announced by the Hannah Arendt International Institute of Artivism on its social networks.
Without specifying the cause of his death, the note said: “With the pride of knowing that he is one of the best writers of his generation, whose most famous novel served as the screenplay for one of the most famous films of Cuban cinema, INSTAR. “ says goodbye with respect and deep admiration.
He was born in Havana on October 2, 1930 and studied in the United States, which enabled him to settle in Caracas in 1953 as an English teacher. From there began his association with the magazine Orígenes, around which the most important intellectuals of the pre- and post-revolutionary period gathered.
After Fidel Castro came to power, he returned to the island where He worked as editor of the newspaper Revolución and its supplement Lunes de Revolución (1959-1965), which was closed by the dictator.and as an official of the Ministry of Education in the National Editorial (1960).
He then continued to contribute to various publications and give lectures at home and abroad, while at the same time publishing a work translated into several languages.
As an art critic, he wrote essays and reviews until In 1979 he went into exile to live in New York.
His novel El cataclismo (1965) was considered a symbolic history of the revolution, but his most transcendent work of the period was Memories of underdevelopment (1966). Other of his books include the poems Everything is in Fire (1952); the stories of Guianí, Indian Farmer (1964) and an essay production in which Lam: Blue and Black (1963), Point of View (1967) and To See You Better, Latin America (1972) stand out.
In 2010, Cuban filmmaker Miguel Coyula made a film of his novel Memories of Developmentwhich became one of the most important titles in contemporary independent Cuban cinema.
After hearing the news of the writer’s death, Coyula told DIARIO DE CUBA: “The line between him and his most famous figure, Sergio de Memorias… always remained blurred. It is difficult not to see Edmundo “Desnoes” as more than a literary character, very controversial. He never hesitated to burn the ships. He was also a great provocateur. And yet, with Sergio-Edmundo, ambiguity has always existed and will continue to exist.”
“In a time of collectivist narratives, Memories of Underdevelopment meant steadfastly clinging to subjectivity as the only possible freedom. Be critical of everything, everyone and yourself. For me, Sergio is an individual who does not fit into any society or political system. One could say that Edmundo brought Dostoyevsky’s Memories of the Underground and Camus’s The Stranger to Cuba, because although he never denied these influences, his creation broke stereotypes of Cubanness and folklorism, with Sergio being a phenomenon of organic denial typical for the island,” he pointed out.
In 2003, Desnoes returned to Cuba after a 22-year absence to serve on the jury of the Casa de las Américas literary prize.
About his generation’s experiences, he told La Marea magazine in 2021: “We had the hope of the leader, that was fundamental. But after Raúl, I don’t think a passion, a promise can be awakened.”
Referring to Miguel Díaz-Canel, he added: “The current president has a healthy look and a good haircut, but I don’t think he will go beyond that.”