Recovery of an Anthology: España canta a Cuba

Abstract

This article analyses the poetic anthology España canta a Cuba, published in Paris in 1962 by the anti-francoist publishing house Ruedo Ibérico. An hommage to the Cuban revolution, this anthology has been hardly studied, in spite of the presence of reknowned poets like Rafael Alberti, Blas de Otero, Gabriel Celaya, Jaime Gil de Biedma, José Ángel Valente and Carlos Barral, who contributed a poem that has never been republised elsewhere. This antology is relevant in order to understand not only the ideological inclination of the Spanish literature in the late francoism and the transatlantic cultural relations of the period, but also the evolution of a certain epic and politically committed conception, so important at times in the 20th century, of the creative process in poetry. In addition, the study of this anthology will help to understand the chronology of the “poesía comprometida” in the context of the different post-war generations of poets.