Emilio Jorge Rodríguez

Emilio Jorge Rodríguez (born 1947) is a Cuban essayist and literary critic.

Early life

Not much is known about his childhood or the time leading up to his time spent at university, except that he was born in 1947 on the Caribbean island of Cuba. Rodríguez earned a degree in Spanish and Latin American Literature at the University of Havana. At the time of graduation, Rodríguez also earned a degree/grade as a Research at the Cuban Academy of Sciences.

Professional life

Emilio Jorge Rodíguez is renowned for being an essayist, literary critic, literary researcher, literary interpreter, and a literary complier. Rodríguez specializes in the study of Caribbean literature and Creolization in Caribbean oral and written discourse.

Rodríguez conducted research at Casa de las Américas Literary Research Center and at the Center of Caribbean Studies during the years of 1972-2000. He was also the director of the Center of Caribbean Studies during the years of 1994-1998. Rodríguez also has served on the board for Scientific Degrees at the Cuban Literature and Linguistic Institute. In addition, he was a part of the awards jury member for Casa de las Américas, the National Culture Award, and the International Orality Contest. Rodríguez is the founder/editor of Anales del Caribe for the years of 1981-2000. He is also member on the editorial board of Revista Mexicana del Caribe, Academic Committee of the Biblioteca del Caribe Series, and the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba.

Rodríguez has also contributed to the Encyclopedia of Caribbean Literature of 2006. He has also written and published a multitude of anthologies of Caribbean writers.

Anales del Caribe (1979-) is a magazine/production created by Emilio Jorge Rodríguez. Rodíguez collaborated with the Casa de las Américas Center for Caribbean Studies for the production. The purpose of the magazine is to conduct research of the art and literature of the Caribbean and its corresponding diasporas.^[1]

Awards

• Razón de Ser in 1986
• Este Caribe Nuestor in 2014 at Havana University
• Casa de las Américas Prize for 2017 in the category "Studies on the Black Presence in Contemporary America and the Caribbean" for his book Una Suave, tierna línea de Montañas Azules (which explores the relations between Haitians and Cubans)^[2]
• CUNY Caribbean Fellowship
• Fundación Nicolás Guillén Fellowship
• Latin American and Caribbean Third Millennium Essay Award
• Selected for the Visiting Scholars' Program of Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University^[3]

Publications

Rodríguez has a total of 21 works in 49 publications in various languages, including Spanish (38 publications), French (2 publications), and English (6 publications).

Rodíguez's works:

• Literatura caribeñas; bojeo y cuanderno de bitácora in 1989
• Religiones afroamericanas in 1996
• Acriollamiento y discurso escrit/oral caribeño 2001
• Trans-Caribbean Literary Identity / Haiti y la transcaribenidad Literaria in 2011
• El Caribe Literario, Trazados de convivencia in 2011
• Haïti et l'identité littéraire trans-caribéenne in 2013
• Una Suave, tierna línea de montañas azules (Year of publication is not 100% clear. Rodríguez won an award for this novel for the year of 2017)

Rodríguez's Contributions:

• Panorama hisórico - literario de nuestra América in 1982
• América Latina: Palavara, Literatura, e Cultura in 1995
• Diccionario Enciclopédico de las Letras de América Latina in 1996
• Defining New Idioms as Alternative Forms of Expression in 1996
• A History of Literature in the Caribbean 1997
• Spain's 1898 Crisis in 2000
• A Pepper Pot of Cultures; Aspects of Creolization in the Caribbean in 2003
• La oralidad: ¿ciencia o sabiduría popular? in 2004
• Encyclopedia of Caribbean Literature in 2006
• Pelican Heart: An Anthology of Poems by Lasana M. Sekou in 2010

Anthologies edited by Rodríguez:

• Efrain Huerta
• Pedro Juan Soto
• Cuentos para ahuyentar el turism: 16 autores puertorriqueños

Rodríguez's Works have appeared in several magazines, newspapers, and journals including:

• Bim
• Caribbean Quarterly
• Revue Internationale de Littérature Comparée
• Del Caribe
• Gacetaole Cuba
• Letras Cubanas

Literary Analysis

Emilio Jorge Rodríguez is renowned for his work in the area of Caribbean literature and the creolization in Caribbean oral and written discourse. While most of his work consists of editorial work, literary research, and literary compilation of other Caribbean authors, Rodríguez has written around 6 six publications exploring the concepts mentioned. "Rodríguez is not so much a literary critic as a literary historian," wrote J. Michael Dash of NYU in a book review of Rodríguez's Haiti and Trans-Caribbean Identity.

Rodríguez's novels explore the relations between Caribbean islands but specifically home in on Haitian relations. In Haiti and Trans-Caribbean Identity, Rodríguez explores the relations between Haiti and Cuba through a series of essays based on famous Haitian authors including: Fernand Hibbert, Jacques Stephen Alexis, Alejo Carpentier, and Nicolás Guillén. "The only writers who meet Rodríguez's approval are those in whom the 'revolutionary and the artist' merge," noted Dash. Rodríguez, when discussing this novel, believes that there needs to be a greater importance and recognition of the relations and interactions between Haiti and its neighboring countries post-Haitian revolution (1791-1804). Through his research of letters and essays exchanged between Haitian writers and people within Cuba, while also having met some of the authors, Rodríguez explores how a sort of "creolization" of the two countries is occurring through the noted culture sharing/blending between Haitians and Cubans. Creolization is the idea that the Caribbean islands and their various cultures are blending together in a way that is creating a super culture and mankind, a creole. Rodríguez's study on the creolization of different Caribbean islands and cultures is aided by his immense knowledge and understanding of the different languages and language zones of the region. Several of his books and the works that he critics/edits are multi-lingual. The languages in which Rodríguez specializes are: Spanish, English, French, and Kweyol (Creole - a French-patios).

Although Rodríguez has won several esteemed awards for his work in this area of study, he has also been criticized for focusing heavily on the Haitian relations with its Hispanic counterparts. "The geographical reach of the essays can hardly be called 'trans-Caribbean' when the real focus appears to be the literary contacts between Haiti and the Hispanic Caribbean," notes Dash. In addition to the criticism of his area-specific analysis, Dash notes a note of bias in Rodríguez's work. "At times more commissar than critic, his ultimate approval or disapproval depends on whether the novelist does or does not 'understand class struggle' (pg. 146)."

References

Casa de las Américas. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2017. <http://www.casa.co.cu/revistaanales.php>.

Dash, J. Michael. Book Reviews. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.

"Emilio Jorge Rodríguez and Reynaldo García Blanco Win 2017 Casa de las Américas Awards." Repeating Islands. N.p., 27 Jan. 2017. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. <https://repeatingislands.com/2017/01/27/emilio-jorge-rodriguez-and-reynaldo-garcia- blanco-win-2017-casa-de-las-americas-awards/>.

"Latest News." Emilio Jorge Rodrígue, Caribbean Literature Expert Wins Prestigious Casa de las Américas Prize. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. <http://www.mnialive.com/articles/emilio-jorge-rodrigue-caribbean-literature-expert- wins-prestigious-casa-de-las-americas-prize>.

"Latest News." Emilio Jorge Rodríguez receives Caribbean lifetime award in Cuba. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. <http://www.mnialive.com/articles/emilio-jorge-rodriguez-receives- caribbean-lifetime-award-in-cuba>.

Rodríguez Emilio Jorge | Archives | Congrès international des écrivains de la Caraïbe. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. <http://ecrivainsdelacaraibe.com/en/archives/author- info/rodriguez-emilio-jorge.html>.

Rodríguez, Emilio Jorge. "“Two lines of development” … between Haiti and its neighbors By Emilio Jorge Rodríguez | The Bajan Reporter." Web's Eye View of Barbados in the Caribbean. N.p., 09 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. <https://www.bajanreporter.com/2014/01/two- lines-of-development-between-haiti- and-its-neighbors-by-emilio-jorge-rodriguez/>.

"Rodríguez, Emilio Jorge 1947-." [WorldCat Identities]. N.p., 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. <http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n92-16866/>.

"Welcome to House of Nehesi Publishers." House of Nehesi Publishers. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. <http://www.houseofnehesipublish.com/authors/emiliorodriguez.html>.