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Climbing Mountains in the Rich Literary Landscape of Cuba By Oona Thommes Paredes
Juanamaría Cordones-Cook, Associate Professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, traveled to Cuba this past February to film a special documentary as part of Tentatively entitled The Landscapes of Nancy Morejón, it is a biographical and bibliographical account of Cuban poet and essayist Nancy Morejón’s rise from humble beginnings to a leading world literary figure. It highlights her artistic achievements against the backdrop of the various human, spiritual, intellectual, and physical milieus that forged her creative development. Professor Cordones-Cook's long-standing relationship with her subject enables her to produce such definitive work. She has presented and published widely, in academic and non-academic circles alike, on the work of Nancy Morejón, often with the personal collaboration of the poet herself. In 2002, she edited a major anthology for Wayne State University Press that draws from five decades of the poet's work, called Looking Within/ Mirar Adentro: Selected Poems, 1954-2000 . It includes lesser-known poems, some never before published, and features a special introduction by Cordones-Cook. However, filming an interview in Cuba is a more involved affair that requires juggling a multitude of elements successfully. Securing permission to film in outdoor places and to obtain archival material, Professor Cordones-Cook was able to showcase the island's diverse cultural heritage and its influence on Nancy Morejón. This includes the Afro-Caribbean religion of Santería , which is often described as a syncretism of ancient Yoruba (West African) practices and Catholic symbolism. Her research brought her not only to various historical archives and historically relevant sites, but also to the Museo Histórico de Guanabacoa, a museum of Afro-Cuban religions, as well as a famous babalawo or Santería “priest” in the same town. Important vestiges of this religion and its history, one that reflects the struggles of Cuban blacks, have been recognized in the poet's work. As such, she filmed ritual dances and dramatizations of myths about the orishas or deities Changó, Oggún, Oyá, Yemayá, and Oshún, by the world-famous dance group Olorum de Lázaro Ros, part of Cuba's Centro Nacional de Música Popular (National Center for Popular Music). She also met with Rogelio Martínez Furé, Director of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional (National Folklore Ensemble), which has long featured Yoruba traditions in its productions. Other distinctly Cuban areas of culture were also important to the project. Professor Cordones-Cook researched music for the documentary film, selecting music and songs by Marta Valdés, performed by her and by Elena Burke, as well as music written for the flute and played by Richard Egües. Valdés, Burke, and Egües are all icons of 20th -century Cuban music. She also filmed several important figures of Cuba's literary scene, including playwright Gerardo Fulleda León, essayist Inés María Martiatu Terry, poet and dramatist Georgina Herrera, and feminist journalist Gladys Egües, all of whom count themselves in Nancy Morejón's “inner circle” of fellow writers and artists. She worked on book procurement for the Nancy Morejón Special Collection, visiting book dealers of new and old books to find early and rare editions of Nancy Morejón's works including Richard trajo su flauta y otros argumentos (“Richard brought his flute and other arguments”) , Octubre imprescindible (Essential October) , and Piedra pulida (Polished stone). Finally, assisted by MU English doctoral student Lisa Rathje, the Afro-Cuban Voices component of the collection was enriched by the filming of new oral histories, including personal and autobiographical accounts and reflections of living Afro-Cuban intellectual leaders.
By Professor Cordones-Cook's reckoning, the end results of this brief field research trip far exceeded the goals she initially proposed. She found herself developing new avenues of scholarship and This trip to Cuba was made possible through the generous support of the Research Council, the Office of the Dean of Arts and Science, the Office of the Vice Provost of International Programs, the Office of the Vice Provost of Research, the International
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