The Global Baggage of Nostalgia in Cristina Garcia's Dreaming in Cuban

Abstract

Since its publication and nomination for National Book Award in 1992, Dreaming in has enjoyed a great deal of critical interest within and outside of academy. novel was quickly canonized and incorporated into fields of Latino/a and ethnic American literature, as evinced by its inclusion in numerous anthologies, such as Masterpieces of Latino Literature (1994), Brooklyn Reader: Thirty Writers Celebrate America's Favorite Borough (1994), Little Havana Blues: A Cuban-American Literature Anthology (1996), and Latino Reader: An American Literary Tradition from 1542 to Present (1997). novel was even adapted for stage in 1999 at American Place Theatre in New York City. Cristina Garcia's first novel also soon became subject of numerous doctoral dissertations, earliest of which were completed in 1993 and 1995 by David Thomas Mitchell and Ibis del Carmen Gomez-Vega, shortly after book's publication, indicating early academic acceptance of Garcia's novel. This essay, however, takes issue with critical reception of Dreaming in Cuban, in particular, celebratory reading of migration theme in novel. By reading against grain of this discourse, I will highlight textual ambivalence of nostalgia that has been glossed over by critics and imaginative limits novel places on Pilar's act of dreaming in Cuban in a globalized context. critical discussion surrounding Dreaming in includes a variety of approaches, particularly feminist and postcolonial readings. This body of criticism generally argues that Garcia's novel challenges coherence of concepts such as nation, history, and patriarchy. More importantly, these interpretations are guided by a desire to locate travel as beneficial and enabling reconnection. Dreaming in Cuban's popularity within academic discourse closely linked to representation of and migration within novel. Pilar emerges as embodiment of a migratory subject; critics articulate her identity as culturally in-between and, therefore, capable of moving physically and psychically between locations of and US. Underpinning all of these readings of Garcia's novel interpretation of Pilar's journey to as a positive and recuperative move that facilitates communication across generational and geographical lines. (1) The loss incurred by exile linguistic, cultural, and historical (Alvarez-Borland 46). return consequently provides Pilar with access to a family history as well as culture that she was previously lacking; she can now preserve that family history and in process know her own identity and place in this long and fascinating saga (Payant 174). More specifically, then, this return represented as a reclamation of identity, such that when Pilar leaves behind at end of novel, she takes with her a new sense of self: the journey home to allows her to translate and define herself (Gomez-Vega 99). Indeed, Pilar described as traversing the path from to ethnicity (Alvarez-Borland 48). While traveling to provides her with full knowledge of her ancestry, of who she is (Gomez-Vega 98), criticism accepts logic behind Pilar's decision to return to US. This logic takes form of a declarative statement: Although home, New York more (Vasquez 24). Despite Pilar's hyphenated existence, criticism agrees that Pilar does not belong in real Cuba (Payant 173). Pilar's choice to return to US deemed inevitable; she has acquired knowledge she needed, so it time to leave. Celia's at end of novel consequently depicted as a necessary step for Pilar to fully develop her new identity and independence from Cuba. Since Pilar has inherited mission of recording family history, Celia's death represents rebirth and regeneration rather than an act of despair (O'Reilly Herrera 90). …

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