“They still think Sci-Fi is an adolescent fad”

September 22, 2014 4:02 AM

This might explain why I have a special weakness for Cuban Sci-Fi in particular. Cuba is the only country in the Spanish-speaking word that has built itself—for better or worse—following a scientific model. My weakness, for the most part, has been nothing but a desire to find out if Cubans, during Fidel Castro’s half-century of control, have dreamed Sci-Fi dreams.

At BoingBoing, Ilan Stavans talks about his discovery of Cuban science fiction. In the comments, some pushback and links on the same subject as well as Spanish language science fiction in general.
posted by MartinWisse (4 comments total)

I wouldn't really call that pushback, but maybe it is by Boing Boing commenting standards.
posted by thelonius at 4:58 AM on September 22, 2014

Thanks, an interesting read, and I automatically perk up if I hear someone was influenced by the brothers Strugatsky (who should be much better known in the English-speaking world than they are).

> I wouldn't really call that pushback

Well, it is in the sense that it's pushing back against his rather silly statement that there isn't much Spanish-language sf apart from what he's personally discovered. But on the whole, it's far less annoying than most Stavans I've read (in theory I approve of him, but in practice I often find myself rolling my eyes when I read him).
posted by languagehat at 8:40 AM on September 22, 2014

Currently reading Roadside Picnic [1] (in the new, SF Masterworks English translation). It's great, but has me wonder if the original story was also set in such an American sounding town.

[1] It's what's S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is based on, you know!
posted by MartinWisse at 1:16 PM on September 22, 2014

MartinWisse, it's been a while since I read it, but my impression is that the book is actually technically set in...Canada, I think it was? As in the Brother Strug wrote it that way.
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:05 PM on September 22, 2014