{"id":100243,"date":"2016-07-11T14:33:53","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T18:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=100243"},"modified":"2016-07-11T19:02:53","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T23:02:53","slug":"literature-in-castros-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Lockwood on the baseball field with Castro, 1964. \u00a9 2016 Lee Lockwood\/TASCHEN.<\/p><\/div>\n

Late in 1959, the photojournalist Lee Lockwood flew\u00a0to Cuba to witness the end of Batista\u2019s regime. After a long search, he found Fidel Castro, who had only just seized power. The two had an immediate rapport, and in successive trips over the next decade, Lockwood found that Castro granted him unprecedented access to the island; in 1965, he\u00a0sat for a marathon seven-day interview. First published in 1967, Lockwood\u2019s portrait of Castro stands as arguably the most penetrating document that exists of the man. Lockwood died in 2010; this month, in light of the new course in U.S.<\/em> relations with Cuba and the paucity of historical context,<\/em>\u00a0Taschen is reissuing his interviews in<\/em>\u00a0Castro\u2019s Cuba: An American Journalist\u2019s Inside Look at Cuba 1959\u20131969<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0including hundreds of photographs, many of them previously unpublished. The excerpt below covers Castro\u2019s opinions on literature, arts, and culture in Cuba. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

Is there any attempt to exert control over the production of art in Cuba? For example,\u00a0in literature?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

All manifestations of art have different characteristics. For example, movies are different from\u00a0painting.\u00a0Movies are a modern industry requiring a lot of resources. It is not the same thing to make\u00a0a film as it is to paint a picture or write a book. But if you ask whether there is control\u2014no.\u00a0<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

One thing that is surprising is the amount of creative freedom given to your\u00a0artists, the painters and sculptors, as compared with other Socialist countries. However, this liberalism seems to apply to a lesser extent to literature.<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

Because literature involves the publication of books. It is principally an economic problem. The\u00a0resources that are available are not sufficient for all the needs for the printing of textbooks, for\u00a0example, schoolbooks, reference works, books of a general nature. That is, we cannot waste\u00a0paper. That is one of the limiting factors. This doesn\u2019t mean that the political factor doesn\u2019t have\u00a0its influence, too. A book that we did not believe to be of some value wouldn\u2019t have a chance of\u00a0being published.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The 1964 Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed housing project in Santiago de Cuba was designed by a group of Cuban architects using prefabricated panels as part of the trend of importing Eastern European precast construction systems. The fa\u00e7ade\u2019s design shows a sensitive climate approach by using latticework panels to filter the strong sunlight. 1967. \u00a9 2016 Lee Lockwood\/TASCHEN.<\/p><\/div>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

In other words, an author who wrote a novel that contained counterrevolutionary\u00a0sentiments couldn\u2019t possibly get it published?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

At present, no. The day will come when all the resources will be available, that is, when such a\u00a0book would not be published to the detriment of a textbook or of a book having universal value in\u00a0world literature. Then there will be resources to publish books on the basis of a broader criterion,\u00a0and one will be able to argue whatever one wishes about any theme. I, especially, am a partisan\u00a0of the widest possible discussion in the intellectual realm.\u00a0Why? Because I believe in the free man, I believe in the well-educated man, I believe in the\u00a0man able to think, in the man who acts always out of conviction, without fear of any kind. And I\u00a0believe that ideas must be able to defend themselves. I am opposed to the blacklists of books,\u00a0prohibited films, and all such things.<\/p>\n

What is my personal ideal of the kind of people that we\u00a0wish to have in the future? People sufficiently cultivated and educated to be capable of making\u00a0a correct\u00a0judgment about anything without fear of coming into contact with ideas that could\u00a0confound or deflect them. For example, how do we think of ourselves? We think that we could\u00a0read any book or see any film, about any theme, without changing our fundamental beliefs; and if\u00a0there is in a book a solid argument about something that could be useful, that could be positive,\u00a0that we are capable of analyzing and evaluating it.\u00a0May all the men and women of our country be like this in the future! That is the kind of man we\u00a0wish to shape. If we did not think like that, we would be men with no faith in our own convictions,\u00a0in our own philosophy.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

But such an atmosphere is not possible at the present time?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

It would be an illusion to think so. First on account of the economic problems involved, and\u00a0second\u00a0because of the struggle in which we are engaged.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

Is it also in the name of that \u201cstruggle\u201d that the Cuban press writes so one-sidedly\u00a0about the United States?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

I am not going to tell you that we don\u2019t do that. It\u2019s true, everything that we say about the\u00a0United States refers essentially to the worst aspects, and it is very rare that things in any way\u00a0favorable to the United States will be published here. We simply have a similar attitude to\u00a0the attitude of your country. I mean that we always try to create the worst opinion of everything\u00a0there is in the United States, as a response to what they have always done with us. The\u00a0only difference is that we do not write falsehoods about the United States. I told you that we\u00a0emphasize the worst things, that we omit things that could be viewed as positive, but we do\u00a0not invent any lies.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

But it amounts to the same thing. By emphasizing only our bad qualities, you\u00a0create\u00a0a distortion that is the equivalent of a lie.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

That depends on what you mean by \u201clie.\u201d I agree that it is a distortion. A lie is simply the willful\u00a0invention of facts that do not exist. There is a difference between a distortion and a lie, although\u00a0unquestionably they have some effects of a similar kind.\u00a0This is not ideal. But it is the result of realities that have not been imposed by us. In a world of\u00a0peace, in which genuine trust and respect among peoples existed, this wouldn\u2019t happen. And we\u00a0are not responsible for this situation.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

But if you persist in promoting these distortions, which encourage only hostile\u00a0feelings\u00a0in your citizens, how can you ever expect to have peace?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

Again, we are not the ones responsible. It is the United States who cut all relations\u00a0with Cuba.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A banner for the OLAS conference on the 1959 Ministry of State building quotes Guevara, just a few months before his death, 1967. \u00a9 2016 Lee Lockwood\/TASCHEN.<\/p><\/div>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think that has anything to do with the question.<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

I am simply fulfilling my duty of speaking to you with complete frankness when I tell you how\u00a0things are from our side. I have the honesty to speak like this\u2014how many leaders of the United\u00a0States would speak in the same terms?<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

You are most frank. But I would like to insist on this point a bit longer. In my\u00a0personal\u00a0opinion, you have more to gain by keeping your society open to knowledge\u00a0of all kinds about the United States than by persisting in painting a distorted\u00a0image\u00a0of us. For example, in recent years there has been an increasing effort\u00a0on the part of our government to support the Negroes\u2019 fight for civil rights, and\u00a0strong legislation has been passed. This is something which could also be covered\u00a0by the Cuban press, besides the fact that there are Negroes rioting in California,\u00a0or that the Ku Klux Klan is marching in Georgia and Alabama, which is the only\u00a0kind of thing you ever publish here.<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

It is my understanding that news of that legislation was published here, although naturally we\u00a0have a substantially different point of view about it than you do. We believe that the problem of discrimination has an economic content and basis appropriate to a class society in which man is\u00a0exploited by man.<\/p>\n

This is clearly a difficult, complex problem. We ourselves went through the experience of\u00a0discrimination.\u00a0Discrimination disappeared when class privileges disappeared, and it has not cost\u00a0the revolution much effort to resolve that problem. I don\u2019t believe it could have been done in the\u00a0United States. It would be a little absurd to speak at this moment of a revolution there. Perhaps\u00a0there will never even be a revolution in the United States, in the classic sense of the word, but\u00a0rather evolutionary changes. I am sure, for example, that within five hundred years North American\u00a0society will bear no similarity to the present one. Probably by that time they won\u2019t have problems\u00a0of discrimination.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

But why not speak of the revolutionary changes in the United States too? Why not\u00a0tell the Cuban people the whole story?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

Because altogether there have not been any evolutionary changes in a positive sense in the\u00a0United States. But rather, politically speaking, a true regression. From our general point of view\u00a0the policy of the United States, above all her foreign policy, has advanced more and more\u00a0toward an ultrareactionary position.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

We were not talking about United States foreign policy.<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

In reality that is what affects us most.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

Since we\u2019re on the subject, it also seems to me that anybody who has a point of view\u00a0substantially different from the governmental line about almost anything has very\u00a0little opportunity to express himself in the press here. In fact, there is extremely little\u00a0criticism of any kind in the Cuban press. It seems to be an arm of the government.<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

Well, what you say is true. There is very little criticism. An enemy of Socialism cannot write in our\u00a0newspapers\u2014but we don\u2019t deny it, and we don\u2019t go around proclaiming a hypothetical freedom\u00a0of the press where it actually doesn\u2019t exist, the way you people do. Furthermore, I admit that\u00a0our press is deficient in this respect. I don\u2019t believe that this lack of criticism is a healthy thing.\u00a0Rather, criticism is a very useful and positive instrument, and I think that all of us must learn to\u00a0make use of it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Santiago de Cuba, July 26, 1967. \u00a9 2016 Lee Lockwood\/TASCHEN.<\/p><\/div>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you think there are Cuban writers who would make use of that\u00a0instrument\u00a0if there existed an atmosphere in which their statements would be\u00a0taken as constructive criticism?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

Criticism, yes\u2014but not work in the service of the enemy or of the counterrevolution.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

But who is to decide at any given point which criticism is constructive and which\u00a0is counterrevolutionary?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

Well, we are in the midst of a struggle, a more or less open war, and when, for example, the\u00a0United States has been faced with such situations, what they have done is to repress without\u00a0consideration all those who opposed the interests of the country while it was at war. When you\u00a0were at war against the Nazis, you had such a policy.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

But you haven\u2019t answered the question. Who is to decide?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

Under such circumstances, the party decides, the political power, the revolutionary power.\u00a0Naturally, when we no longer live under these circumstances, the causes that require severe\u00a0measures will actually disappear.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

But in the meantime there is almost no criticism of any kind in your society,\u00a0either\u00a0in the press or in the literature, radio, and television, or in any of the other\u00a0organs of communication in Cuba.<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

Certainly there is a minimum of criticism. And there is something more\u2014we have to pay attention\u00a0to the training of the journalistic cadres, because millions of people read what they say and\u00a0write. If we are going to have a people of wide culture, then the men who have daily contact\u00a0with them must have a wide culture, too, to be really qualified for the social function which they\u00a0perform. We believe that journalism in its different forms has an extraordinary importance in\u00a0modern life.<\/p>\n

Not that I would tell you we delude ourselves that under the present circumstances journalism\u00a0can have any other function more important than that of contributing to the political and revolutionary\u00a0goals of our country. We have a goal, a program, an objective to fulfill, and that objective\u00a0essentially controls the activity of the journalists. I would say that it essentially controls the labor\u00a0of all the intellectual workers. I am not going to deny it.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

But isn\u2019t there a certain danger inherent in suppressing all forms of criticism\u2014?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

I agree! I do not say at all that the absence of criticism can be useful. On the contrary, it could\u00a0even be harmful.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Boys hold the latest Beatles album, The Beatles Vol. 3<\/em>, in Vedado, Havana, 1965. \u00a9 2016 Lee Lockwood\/TASCHEN.<\/p><\/div>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

What do you think has been responsible for the growth of this atmosphere?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

I believe various circumstances, but fundamentally the situation of emergency and strain under\u00a0which the country has been living, required to survive by the skin of its teeth. Almost all activities\u00a0have had to be subordinated to the need for survival.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

One thing which may have influenced this atmosphere of inhibition is your own\u00a0strong personal position against \u201ccounterrevolutionary\u201d attitudes. Isn\u2019t it possible,\u00a0once this climate has been established, that an intellectual may come to fear that\u00a0any critical idea may be interpreted by the government as counterrevolutionary?\u00a0That is, perhaps the strong position you have always taken has shut off a line\u00a0of communication between you and people of intelligence who are in a position to\u00a0see that something is wrong or who may have a better idea. By stifling critical\u00a0comment,\u00a0don\u2019t you make it unlikely that you will hear any ideas but your own?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

I confess that those are themes which we have to pay attention to in the near future. Because\u00a0other things have been occupying our attention, we have not been able to concern ourselves\u00a0with such obvious deficiencies as these.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

This lack of a critical perspective seems to apply in education as well. In my\u00a0visits\u00a0to schools in various parts of the country I found generally that the children\u00a0are being taught to accept concepts at face value rather than to question them. Don\u2019t you feel that this is potentially dangerous to the intellectual future of\u00a0your country?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

I think that the education of students depends very much upon the level of training and capability\u00a0of the teacher. That is, it is not a question of policy. The child must be taught to think\u2014to develop\u00a0his intelligence must be the essential objective of teaching.\u00a0Anyway, I am going to concern myself with the observations you have made. One of our fundamental\u00a0concerns has been the training of a corps of teachers on the highest pedagogical level.\u00a0It must never be forgotten that the conditions under which we have lived are not normal ones\u2014they are conditions of violent class struggle, clashes of ideas, of judgments, of feelings. All this\u00a0can contribute to the creation of a certain environment, a certain atmosphere of inhibition …<\/p>\n

However, this was not what we were most concerned about in these first days. What concerned\u00a0us much more was to open a school in a place where there was no teacher to teach the ABC\u2019s,\u00a0to teach reading and writing. In that first stage we were concerned with the elemental things in\u00a0education, and many things had to be improvised because we lacked skilled personnel.\u00a0I think it is logical that we should make sure that the children now in elementary school and who\u00a0are going to be the future intellectuals, the future citizens of our country, should not be educated\u00a0in\u00a0a dogmatic way, but should develop their capacity to think and to judge for themselves.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also noticed in the classrooms a tendency to approach facts dogmatically. For\u00a0example, we were talking before about how the Cuban press purposely does not\u00a0paint a well-rounded picture of the United States. Well, the interpretations and the\u00a0\u201cfacts\u201d about the United States that\u00a0are presented to the students in their classes\u00a0are precisely those printed in the newspapers, repeated without clarification. What\u00a0is going to happen when all of these young boys and girls who have been receiving\u00a0this one-sided picture all through school, perhaps ever since the first grade,\u00a0become adults?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

Without doubt they will have a very bad opinion of the United States and about everything it\u00a0represents,\u00a0in the same way that in the United States children are educated with a very bad\u00a0opinion\u00a0of Communism. It is lamentable, but it is a reality.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

Someday the United States and Cuba are going to have friendly relations again. When that happens, won\u2019t you have to deal with the legacy of this bad feeling with\u00a0which you are indoctrinating your youth?<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

That is not an easy question to reply to. Besides, nobody has ever before posed this question.\u00a0Actually this is the first time that I have heard it posed by a North American. Nor have we posed it\u00a0to ourselves. It can be said that we have never been consciously concerned about that problem.\u00a0Perhaps that is due partly to our great pessimism about whether the American people really\u00a0have much opportunity to express their own opinions, or to change a situation.<\/p>\n

It is possible that\u00a0even we ourselves have not fully understood how deeply the feeling of solidarity with the Negroes\u00a0has penetrated the hearts of the North American people. That is, we have no faith at all in the\u00a0government of the United States, and that could also have led us toward a certain degree of underestimation\u00a0of the people of the United States. But this is not the result of a deliberate policy.\u00a0Maybe when you publish your book many of those who work in our press will also meditate\u00a0on those questions. I, for my part, in conversations with them, can express those concerns\u00a0and ask them to meditate a little on these themes. That for the sake of something you say, which I think is true, that someday\u2014which I do not at all believe will be immediate, but rather\u00a0a great deal of time will pass\u2014it will have to happen that better relations exist between our\u00a0two peoples.<\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

It seems to me that we should try to lessen that time as much as possible, rather\u00a0than to prolong it for unnecessary reasons.<\/p>\n

CASTRO<\/p>\n

I think that is reasonable. Let\u2019s go to lunch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late in 1959, the photojournalist Lee Lockwood flew\u00a0to Cuba to witness the end of Batista\u2019s regime. After a long search, he found Fidel Castro, who had only just seized power. The two had an immediate rapport, and in successive trips over the next decade, Lockwood found that Castro granted him unprecedented access to the island; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1016,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[17,14345,23192,2968,3156,566,1694,22231,23191,23193,23190,14184,7403,100,16860,8205,10808],"class_list":["post-100243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-books","tag-capitalism","tag-castros-cuba","tag-censorship","tag-communism","tag-cuba","tag-economics","tag-foreign-policy","tag-foreign-relations","tag-free-press","tag-lee-lockwood","tag-pedagogy","tag-philosophy","tag-photography","tag-photojournalism","tag-socialism","tag-taschen"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFidel Speaks: Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this excerpt from a rare 1965 interview, Fidel Castro elaborates on his philosophy of the arts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba by Lee Lockwood\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"July 11, 2016 \u2013 Late in 1959, the photojournalist Lee Lockwood flew\u00a0to Cuba to witness the end of Batista\u2019s regime. After a long search, he found Fidel Castro, who had\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-11T18:33:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-11T23:02:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fo_lockwood_catsros_cuba_05756_pr_08_1602221240_id_1035527.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"737\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lee Lockwood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lee Lockwood\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"16 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lee Lockwood\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0526c6d2a612be6db2fe3197d14b5c68\"},\"headline\":\"Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-11T18:33:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-11T23:02:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/\"},\"wordCount\":3162,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fo_lockwood_catsros_cuba_05756_pr_08_1602221240_id_1035527.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"books\",\"capitalism\",\"Castro's Cuba\",\"censorship\",\"Communism\",\"Cuba\",\"economics\",\"foreign policy\",\"foreign relations\",\"free press\",\"Lee Lockwood\",\"pedagogy\",\"philosophy\",\"photography\",\"photojournalism\",\"socialism\",\"Taschen\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts & Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/\",\"name\":\"Fidel Speaks: Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fo_lockwood_catsros_cuba_05756_pr_08_1602221240_id_1035527.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-11T18:33:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-11T23:02:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"In this excerpt from a rare 1965 interview, Fidel Castro elaborates on his philosophy of the arts.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fo_lockwood_catsros_cuba_05756_pr_08_1602221240_id_1035527.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fo_lockwood_catsros_cuba_05756_pr_08_1602221240_id_1035527.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0526c6d2a612be6db2fe3197d14b5c68\",\"name\":\"Lee Lockwood\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/69c1eecb6ab3c0a30e320679b383b0d11ef3fbfaffd17acb9d2fb9cce4e30464?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/69c1eecb6ab3c0a30e320679b383b0d11ef3fbfaffd17acb9d2fb9cce4e30464?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lee Lockwood\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/llockwood\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fidel Speaks: Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba","description":"In this excerpt from a rare 1965 interview, Fidel Castro elaborates on his philosophy of the arts.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba by Lee Lockwood","og_description":"July 11, 2016 \u2013 Late in 1959, the photojournalist Lee Lockwood flew\u00a0to Cuba to witness the end of Batista\u2019s regime. After a long search, he found Fidel Castro, who had","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2016-07-11T18:33:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-07-11T23:02:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":737,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fo_lockwood_catsros_cuba_05756_pr_08_1602221240_id_1035527.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lee Lockwood","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lee Lockwood","Est. reading time":"16 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/"},"author":{"name":"Lee Lockwood","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0526c6d2a612be6db2fe3197d14b5c68"},"headline":"Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba","datePublished":"2016-07-11T18:33:53+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-11T23:02:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/"},"wordCount":3162,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fo_lockwood_catsros_cuba_05756_pr_08_1602221240_id_1035527.jpg","keywords":["books","capitalism","Castro's Cuba","censorship","Communism","Cuba","economics","foreign policy","foreign relations","free press","Lee Lockwood","pedagogy","philosophy","photography","photojournalism","socialism","Taschen"],"articleSection":["Arts & Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/","name":"Fidel Speaks: Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fo_lockwood_catsros_cuba_05756_pr_08_1602221240_id_1035527.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-11T18:33:53+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-11T23:02:53+00:00","description":"In this excerpt from a rare 1965 interview, Fidel Castro elaborates on his philosophy of the arts.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fo_lockwood_catsros_cuba_05756_pr_08_1602221240_id_1035527.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/fo_lockwood_catsros_cuba_05756_pr_08_1602221240_id_1035527.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/11\/literature-in-castros-cuba\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Literature in Castro\u2019s Cuba"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0526c6d2a612be6db2fe3197d14b5c68","name":"Lee Lockwood","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/69c1eecb6ab3c0a30e320679b383b0d11ef3fbfaffd17acb9d2fb9cce4e30464?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/69c1eecb6ab3c0a30e320679b383b0d11ef3fbfaffd17acb9d2fb9cce4e30464?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lee Lockwood"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/llockwood\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1016"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100243"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100266,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100243\/revisions\/100266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}