The Good, the Bad, and the Blog: Reconsidered Readings of Cuban Blogging

Abstract

Much of scholarly discourse and popular understandings of Cuban blogging practices revolve around the iconoclastic image of Yoani Sánchez, author of the blog Generación Y, as a politicized citizen journalist. Deconstructing this view, this chapter by Miranda calls for more nuanced literary readings of the Cuban blogosphere. Through close reading of blog posts by Sánchez, by novelist and poet Wendy Guerra, author of the blog Habáname, and screenwriter, director, and by writer Eduardo del Llano, author of the blog El sitio oficial de Eduardo del Llano, Miranda deploys a critical literary lens to relocate Cuban blogging practices at the intersection of literary art and digital social media. This infrequently considered perspective suggests how the emerging blog may increasingly build on and extend literary genealogies as a dynamic alternative form of life-based literary production.