Spared Angola: Memories from a Cuban-American Childhood

Virgil Suarez

Jan 1997 · Arte Publico Press

About this eBook

pared Angola: Memories from a Cuban American Childhood is a powerful and original first collection of autobiographical stories, essays and poems. The successful novelist here lays bare the makings of his conscience as a writer and human being, detailing the psychological pressure of male expectations, family gender battles, emigration and adjusting to a new culture. Hoping to spare their only child the fate of thousands of young Cubans conscripted to fight in the revolution in Angola, Su‡rezÕs parents left Cuba, unaware of the sentence destiny would impose instead. Su‡rezÕs compelling piece invokes the agony and frustration borne of growing up in terminal exile and cultural limbo. From anguish and turmoil, the artist has wrought one of the most eloquent and commanding voices of contemporary American literature.

About the author

VIRGIL SUçREZ is the highly praised author of numerous works about the Cuban-American experience. They are: Infinite Refuge (2002), The Cutter (1998), Spared Angola: Memoirs of a Cuban-American Childhood (1997), Going Under (1996), Havana Thursdays (1995), Welcome to the Oasis and Other Stories (1992) and Latin Jazz (1989). He is the co-editor of the best-selling anthology, Iguana Dreams: New Latino Fiction (Harperperennial Library, 1992), the first anthology of Cuban-American writers, Little Havana Blues (Arte Pœblico Press, 1996), and a collection of contemporary Latino poetry, Paper Dance: 55 Latino Poets (Persea Books, 2000). He is a professor of creative writing at Florida State University in Tallahassee.