Reading Orwell in Havana

Summary

While carrying out his own research in public libraries in Cuba, the author was pleasantly suprised to find how readily available is the work of the politically controversial British writer George Orwell, as well as allegedly banned Cuban authors such as Reinaldo Arenas. In this context, the paper evaluates Cuban libraries, as well as bookshops selling books at affordable prices, and takes a closer look at the alleged independence of the self-styled "independent libraries" in Cuba. The author concludes that there are no banned books or "independent librarians" in Cuba. Instead there is an extensive network of state-run public libraries and bookshops - which are the envy of many developing and developed nations.

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"Mr Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs Jones was already snoring." (Orwell, 1945).

As I sat in the National Library of Cuba reading this opening paragraph of Animal Farm by George Orwell, I had cause to consider its relevance to the reality of contemporary Cuba, and the availability of Orwell's works in Cuban libraries. I was prompted to write this paper by some comments made by Robert Kent and his so-called 'Friends of Cuban Libraries' (sic). Robert Kent alleges that no works by George Orwell are available in any library or bookshop in Cuba:

"What totalitarian regime would allow its citizens to read the works of Orwell? In actual fact, Orwell's classic books are regarded as 'subversive' by the Cuban regime. One of the 'subversive' book tiles is Orwell's 'Animal Farm'. So much for the Cuban government's mendacious claim that Orwell's books are available to the public in Havana's National Library, or anywhere else in Cuba for that matter." (Kent, 2005).

What my research shows is that the works of George Orwell are available in Cuban libraries. I also consider the presence of some Cuban authors who are allegedly banned from Cuban libraries - such as Reinaldo Arenas - and show that their works are available on the shelves of Cuban libraries. By way of context I make some general observations about the nature of Cuban libraries and the network of bookshops selling books at affordable prices. Finally, I take a closer look at Cuba's so-called 'independent libraries' and explore the true nature of their alleged independence.

George Orwell

Orwell's unique political allegory, Animal Farm, was published in 1945 and, together with Nineteen Eighty Four (1949), brought him world-wide fame. These two political novels in particular, with their subject matter of totalitarian régimes, are at the heart of the debate about Orwell's presence in Cuban libraries. On one side of the debate we have Robert Kent, 'The Friends of Cuban Libraries' and their supporters. On the other side of the debate we have Eliades Acosta, former Director of the Cuban National Library, ASCUBI (The Cuban Library Association) and their supporters.

The purpose of my visit to Cuba in October 2005 was to examine both sides of this debate and to look for evidence that the works of George Orwell can be found on the shelves of Cuban libraries. My first port of call was the National Library of Cuba, Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba 'José Marti'. Built in 1957 the library has pride of place in the Plaza de La Revolución, where all major national ceremonies are held, including May Day (1 May) and Moncada Day (26 July). Havana's main library occupies 16 floors and contains over 4 million books. Books in the circulating collection can be borrowed. Any one can use the library as long as they produce a satisfactory form of identification, such as an ID Card, which is issued to all Cuban citizens. It is much easier for an ordinary Cuban citizen (rather than a researcher, academic or journalist) to access the Cuban National Library, than it is for an ordinary British citizen to access the British Library (where bone fide credentials are required).

Having deposited my bag at the cloakroom and given my passport as proof of identity, I was able to move around the library and visit its various sections. I made straight for the literature section and consulted the card catalogue, which any library user can utilise. I quickly located the catalogue cards relating to George Orwell and found that fifteen of his works were available in The National Library: Animal Farm, Shooting an Elephant, Critical Essays (two copies), Nineteen Eighty Four (three copies), A Clergyman's Daughter, A Collection of Essays, Coming Up for Air (two copies), Homage to Catalonia, Keep the Aspidrastra Flying, The Road to Wigan Pier and La Marca.

The fact that I could so easily find fifteen works by George Orwell in the National Library within ten minutes of entering the building immediately contradicted the allegation by Robert Kent.

However, finding Orwell's books in a card catalogue is one thing - seeing the actual book is another. The Cuban National Library, like the British Library, has a closed access policy. If you want to look at a book you have to call it up by filling in a request card. Like any other Cuban library user, I filled in some request cards and gave them to the staff at the enquiry desk. From the fifteen available titles I chose four at random - Animal Farm, Shooting an Elephant, Critical Essays, and Nineteen Eighty Four. All four books arrived about twenty minutes later. They were all in fair condition but showed signs of considerable usage. Animal Farm, in particular, was in a somewhat battered state and the front cover was loose. The books had date stamps indicating that they had been borrowed from the library.

And so I settled down in the National Library of Cuba to read the opening paragraph of Animal Farm by George Orwell, a book that was allegedly banned in Cuba. So much for Robert Kent's mendacious claim that Orwell's books are denied to the public in Havana's National Library, or anywhere else in Cuba for that matter. I was also able to disprove another allegation made by Robert Kent that:

"Cuban citizens are routinely denied access to books which criticise the regime. Access to forbidden books, kept locked away in special closed areas of the official libraries, is restricted to a few 'trustworthy' readers such as reporters for the government run press." (Kent, op.cit).

I had arrived at the library unannounced and had joined the library in the same way as any other Cuban library user. Orwell's books are not "restricted to a few 'trustworthy' readers such as reporters for the government run press". The books I requested were in a public access card catalogue and I was able to call them up using the same request system as any other Cuban library user.

There are 19 references to George Orwell on the National Library website, which can be found at www.bnjm.cu. The Biblioteca Nacional 'José Martí' is not the only library in Havana which has books by George Orwell. I also found his works at the Biblioteca 'Fernandez Ortiz' which was founded in 1793. This library, which forms part of the Instituto de Literatura y Linguistica (Institute of Literature and Linguistics), is probably the best source of novels and non-Spanish texts in Havana. As with the National Library, I arrived unannounced and was able to use the library on production of a suitable form of ID, in my case a passport. Other library patrons were using their Cuban ID cards. I deposited my bag and headed for the card catalogue. This contained two books by George Orwell: Down and Out in London and Paris and Nineteen Eighty Four. As at the National Library, the Biblioteca 'Fernandez Ortiz' (in common with many UK academic libraries) has a closed access system, and I had to call up the two Orwell books by filling in request cards. They arrived very quickly and, as before, they showed signs of heavy usage.

And so I sat down at the Biblioteca 'Fernandez Ortiz' and read the opening paragraph of Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell, a book which Robert Kent and 'The Friends of Cuban Libraries' say does not exist in Cuba. Perhaps Robert Kent associates himself with Winston Smith, the main character in Nineteen Eighty Four, who has no heroic qualities, only a wistful longing for truth and decency. In reality, the press releases regularly issued by Robert Kent could have come straight from Orwell's 'Thought Police', who operate on the principle that if you say something over and over again it must become the truth. Robert Kent also uses a technique similar to Orwell's 'Newspeak' which progressively narrows the range of ideas and independent thought.

I was very quickly and easily able to establish that George Orwell's works are alive and well and living in Cuban libraries. Any Cuban citizen can access these libraries, Orwell's books appear in public access card catalogues, and they can be called up using the standard request system. It is just as easy for a citizen of Havana to access George Orwell via the state library system as it is for someone in Britain to obtain one of his books through the public library service. Having demonstrated that George Orwell is not banned in Cuba I will now turn my attention to some other authors who Robert Kent and his 'Friends of Cuban Libraries' claim are also "censured" in Cuba.

Arenas, Infante and Mañach

One of the most celebrated contemporary Cuban authors in recent years is Reinaldo Arenas, who was born in Holguín in 1943 into a poor, rural Cuban family. At the age of fifteen he joined Castro's guerrillas against Batista's right wing regime. After the triumph of the Revolution in 1959 he moved to Havana where he worked for INRA, the National Institute for Agrarian Reform. In 1963 he started working at the National Library, where he wrote his first novel Singing from the Well. In 1965 he received an award for this novel from the Cuban Writers and Artists Union (UNEAC). In 1966 he received another award from UNEAC for his second novel, The Ill Fated Peregrinations of Fray Servando (which was published in the US under the title Hallucinations). He was also the author of The Palace of the White Skunks, Farewell to the Sea, Old Rosa: A Novel in Two Stories, El Central: a Cuban Sugar Mill, Graveyard of the Angels and The Doorman as well as collections of short stories, essays, experimental theatre pieces, and poetry.

Arenas left Cuba during the Mariel exodus in 1980. But America could never replace his beloved Cuba, and his anti-Castro stance made him unsympathetic to many American intellectuals. The final irony was his battle with AIDS, which dominated the last years of his life until he committed suicide in New York on 7 December 1990, at the age of 47. His autobiography Antes que anochezca (Before Night Falls) was begun before Arenas left Cuba and was completed in the last stage of the disease.

There are 14 references to Arenas on the National Library website and I found three books by Reinaldo Arenas in the public access catalogue of the Biblioteca 'Fernandez Ortiz': Celestino antes del Alba, Orestes de Noche, Libro de las Exhortaciones Alamar. I called up all three books, using the standard request system, and received them within about ten minutes. That is how easy it is for any Cuban citizen to obtain the works of Reinaldo Arenas, an author who is allegedly banned in Cuba.

Another allegedly banned Cuban author is Guillermo Cabrera Infante, He grew up in Cuba under the dictator Batista and knew Che Guevara and Fidel Castro personally. Infante left Cuba in October 1965 and lived in exile in England for the rest of his life. He wrote novels, stories, critical essays, articles and screenplays, and lectured at universities from Cambridge to Chicago. He was the author of Infante's Inferno, Holy Smoke, View of Dawn in the Tropics, Writes of Passage and a collection of film criticism, A Twentieth Century Job. One of his best known works is Tres Tristes Tigres (Three Trapped Tigers), a sharply comic novel of pre-Revolutionary Havana in which the hedonistic city itself is a protagonist.

Infante also wrote Mea Cuba, a political autobiography and personalised account of the literary / political scene during the early years of the Revolution. This collection of essays and memoirs span the entire period of Infante's writing career, from 1968 (Perversions of History) to 1993 (The Bird of Paradise Lost).

There are 27 references to Infante on the National Library website. One of these references is an article by Rhonda L. Neugebauer in which she interviews Eliades Acosta, the former Director of the National Library. Acosta explained that there are no banned books in Cuba and that the National Library buys a diverse and inclusive range of stock:

"This diversity and inclusion is easily verifiable - by looking in the library catalogs and perusing the shelves, which we did in all the libraries we visited. We located books on human rights (including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), intellectual freedom, democracy and capitalism. And some librarians were shown circulation records for books written by dissenters, defectors, and Miami "exiles", including Reinaldo Arenas and Cabrera Infante, although some volumes are not allowed to circulate outside the library due to fear of being stolen or damaged. In a later interview with a U.S. newspaper reporter, Acosta reiterated the main problems for libraries in Cuba: "There are no banned books, only those we don't have the money to buy. The biggest problem we have is lack of resources. With such scarcity, hard choices have to be made as to which books to buy. Similar choices are made in every country. We don't buy racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic literature although important books such as Hitler's Mein Kampf are held in the national library." (Neugebauer, 2002)

There is a reference in Mea Cuba when someone points out to Infante that his books are "in the library of the Casa de las Americas". Infante responds that in order for people to access these books the person requesting them must "take responsibility with his name, address, occupation and reason for reading them". This is presented as something sinister when, as any user of any reference, academic or research library will tell you, it is common practice to request details of library users such as name, address, occupation and reason for wanting to access the collection. These questions were asked of me when I visited the research library of the Casa de las Americas, the Biblioteca 'Jose Antonio Echevaría'. There are two bookshops at the Casa de Las Americas - one selling general literature and poetry books and the Librería Rayuela, selling art books, international literature, videos of Cuban films and CDs. Casa de las Americas is also a publishing house, it has a research library and its collection of over 6,000 works of art are displayed in four galleries.

Jorge Mañach is also supposed to be a banned author in Cuba but I found seven of his works at the National Library: Martí el Apostal (two copies), José Martí Torro II, Pasado Vigente, El Espiritu de Marti, El Persamiento Politico y Social de Martí, and Significación del Centenarío Martiano. There are 24 references to Mañach on the National Library website, including the following:

"The National Library has 8920 magazine titles, yearbooks, newspapers, Cuban monographs in series, and a representative collection of foreign series. Among the most important materials are: 'Revista Avance' (Advance Magazine) containing works by Jorge Mañach, Juan Marinello, Jose Sacarias Tallet, Agustin Acosta, Regino Botti, Manuel Navarro Luna, Fernando Ortíz and other authors of outstanding advanced thought from the critical decade during the life of the publication (1927-1930.)"

I also found nine books by Mañach at the public library Biblioteca 'Ruben Martinez Villena'. Once again, I just arrived at this library, checked in my bag, and joined by using my passport as ID. I was able to consult a public access card catalogue and call up the books I wanted to see by using the standard request card system.

The Biblioteca 'Ruben Martinez Villena' is in Old Havana and is open from 8.15am - 7.45pm Monday to Friday and 8.15am to 4.15 pm on Saturday. This amounts to 65.5 hours of public access per week, which is far in excess of many UK public libraries. Long opening hours are one feature of the socially inclusive nature of Cuba's public libraries. This library has recently been renovated and now has multimedia facilities, making it easily Cuba's most modern library.

When discussing the issue of "banned" books with key figures of the Cuban Writers and Artists Union (UNEAC), it was indicated that for copyright reasons Infante, Mañach and Arenas did not want their works published in Cuba. UNEAC is housed in a beautiful converted mansion with leafy grounds. UNEAC has a research library and the bookstore is the city's best source for magazines and periodicals on Cuban literature, art and music. UNEAC also has the Café Huron Azul and the patio area is a meeting place for writers and artists, and a popular venue for bands and soloists.

Having established that there are no banned authors in Cuba and that it is easy for Cuban citizens to access the many libraries which exist in Cuba, I would now like to give some more general information about the development of libraries and bookshops in Cuba since 1959.

Libraries and bookshops

Cuba has an excellent state-run public library system and a large network of bookshops selling books at affordable prices. Even the smallest town has both a library (biblioteca) and a bookshop (librería). Before the Revolution in 1959 Cuba had very few libraries and those which did exist were in the cities and their use was restricted to the wealthy and powerful. There were also very few bookshops and the price of books was well beyond the reach of the average Cuban. As Silvia Martinez Puentes has said, "the Cuban Book appears with the Revolution":

"Establishing a Cuban publishing house system was a challenge for the Revolution. Before, the publishing of books in Cuba was very limited. A few months after the triumph of the Revolution, in March 1959, Fidel Castro inaugurated the first press with the first book edited by the Revolution: ' El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha' (Don Quixote), by Miguel (de Cervantes y Saavedra with an edition of 100,000 copies that was sold for 25 cents." (Silvia Martinez Puentes, 2004)

In March 1959 the Imprenta Nacional de Cuba (Cuban National Press) was created followed by the Editorial Nacional de Cuba (Cuban National Publishing House) directed by Alejo Carpentier. Five years later this became the Instituto Cubano del Libro (Cuban Book Institute - ICL). Cuban books and publishing houses such as Arte y Literatura, Ciencias Sociales, Letras Cubanas, Científico-Tecnica, Jose Martí, Gente Nueva and Oriente have played an important role in education, the formation of a universal culture and the defence of national identity.

Since 1959 over one billion books have been printed in Cuba, excluding school textbooks. Over the last ten years (during the Special Period which followed the collapse of the Soviet Union) the printing of books was affected due to the lack of resources. In 2001 over nineteen million books were printed, an increase of nine million in relation to 2000, but nowhere near the fifty million copies per annum which were produced before 1990. This problem should be overcome by a new modern printing works named after Alejo Carpentier.

As part of the Cuban government's aim to increase the people's access to books, the Biblioteca Familiar (Family Library) scheme was established. The Family Library is a collection of twenty-five titles by well-known national and international writers that is sold to the population at a very affordable price. Cubans can also access books at the Havana International Book Fair, which takes place each February. The Book Fair travels to over thirty locations in Cuba, is visited by over three million people and sells more than five million books.

Parallel to these developments in publishing, has been the creation of public libraries, newspaper libraries, galleries and museums. In 1963 Cuba had just twenty-seven public libraries serving a population of eight million people. By 1980 the number of public libraries had increased to 196, and today Cuba has 364 libraries for a population of eleven million people. The use of Cuban public libraries has increased from 5.4 million people in 1996 to over eight million in 2003. This means that Cuban libraries are used by 72% of the population, compared with just 60% in the UK.

I visited the public library Biblioteca 'Enrique José Varona' in Marianao, a working class municipality in the suburbs of Havana. Having checked in my bag I joined by simply providing my passport as a form of ID. Cuban public libraries operate an open access system, which means that library users are free to browse among the books on the open shelves. The ground floor included a good selection of adult fiction, including sections on literature from other parts of Latin America and Europe. There were also sections for children and young people, and an auditorium where extension activities such as book readings, story times and other events were held. Upstairs there was the adult nonfiction (with a heavy emphasis on science and technology) and the reference collection. The library was very well staffed, which is another feature of Cuban public libraries.

Also of interest in Mariano is the immense Ciudad Escolar Libertad educational complex, established on the site of the old Columbia Military Camp, which Fulgencia Batista flew out of in a tremendous hurry in the early hours of 1 January 1959. Located among the schools on the site is the Museo Nacional de Alfabetización, created in homage to participants in the massive 1961 literacy campaign. Exhibits include photos, documents, film footage, personal belongings and letters, which form a testimony of the most successful literacy campaign in history. Over 100,000 people of all ages, one only seven years old, joined brigades formed to eliminate illiteracy in the period between January and December 1961. These days, Cuba's literacy rate is estimated at 96%, the highest in Latin America.

Cuba's high literacy rate is partly sustained by the large network of bookshops selling books at affordable prices. Bookshops exist in every city and town in Cuba, but Havana, being the capital city, is particularly well supplied. The Instituto Cubano del Libro (Cuban Book Institute) has two bookshops. One stocks a wide range of nonfiction and modern fiction, while the other (La Bella Havana) covers the tourist market. The Librería la Internacional offers a fairly wide range of fiction and nonfiction books, mainly in Spanish.

Cuban and international literature fills the shelves at the Librería 'Ruben Martinez Villena'. Well-known authors such as Isabel Allende and Alejo Carpentier are included among the fiction. There are also some cultural journals. La Moderna Poesía is a spacious book shop which specialises in Cuban editions of fiction and nonfiction, posters, pens, paints, music, videos and items for children. There are some non Spanish books on politics, Cuban short stories and erotica. The Librería Atereo Cervantes sells children's books, international literature and Cuban poetry, as well as postcards and posters.

Other bookshops in Havana include: Centro Cultural Literario Habana, Abel Santamaría, Bella Habana, Centenarío del Apostol, Fayad Jamis, Fernando Ortíz, Grijalbo Mondadorí, Luís Rogelio Nogueras and Jicotencal. Havana also has a book market held in the Plaza de Armas. This has numerous political tracts, books on Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution, original Gabriel García Márquez novels, plus atlases, encyclopedias and the odd book in English. You can also find some wonderful nineteenth century illustrated books and some great bindings.

So, if Cuba has such a good state library system, why does it also have 'independent libraries' as well? The answer to this question will be considered next.

'Independent' Libraries

In the same way that Cuba has 'independent journalists' and 'independent trade unions' it also has 'independent libraries'. They are all the offspring of the same mother - the US Torricelli Act which both tightened the blockade and fomented support for 'dissident groups' in Cuba, including the 'independent libraries'. In reality these 'independent libraries' are neither 'independent' nor 'libraries'. They are wholly dependent for their funding, support and direction on the US Interests Section (USIS) in Havana. The 'directors' of these libraries are not 'directors' but full-time paid 'dissidents'. Foreign minister Felipe Pérez Roque explains how 'dissident groups', including 'independent libraries', are formed in Cuba:

"The so-called 'political parties' in Cuba are established through decisions made abroad, decisions made by the government of the United States. They do not come about through an autonomous process, in response to the needs of the Cuban people. And thus we see parties and associations and abbreviations sprouting like mushrooms, then gradually disappearing. Time and again we encounter the words: 'They're all in Miami now', 'They've gone to Miami', 'They're in the United States now'. Sometimes the entire leadership or every last member of the group. Of course, that was often their real goal; a visa to emigrate to the United States." (Quoted in Elizalde and Baez, 2003)

The other key words are money, greed, ambition and lack of ethics. Felipe Pérez Roque is clear where the money comes from:

"First it is made clear that decisions about the groups are made by outside forces. It is the US Interests Section that decides when a member of one group should switch to another, when a group with three members should join with a group with four members to form a federation, when these two groups should link up with a couple from another band and create an alliance. It's all invented, made up, fake. It would almost make you laugh, if it weren't for the fact that a nation's right to its very existence is at stake, if it weren't for the fact this whole phoney apparatus assembled from abroad is used to attack the Revolution and justify the blockade against the Cuban people." (op.cit.)

The 'independent libraries' are agents in a much deeper struggle than that between 'dissidents' and the Cuban government. What is exposed is the real struggle of a people, a nation, defending its right to self determination, in the face of an imperial policy, a centuries old attempt to enslave it and subjugate it to the designs of a superpower. What is at stake is whether or not Cuba can be an independent country, and whether or not it can win the war being waged against it to take away its independence. The definition of an organisation subject to foreign control is:

"… if it solicits or accepts financial contributions, loans, or support of any kind, directly or indirectly, from, or is affiliated directly or indirectly with, a foreign government or a political subdivision thereof, or an agent, agency or instrumentality of a foreign government." (op.cit.)

This definition does not come from Cuban law but from the Penal Code of the United States. The Penal Code of 2001 also states that:

"Whoever knowingly or willingly advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States; or whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States is guilty of a crime." (op.cit.)

This US Law is more restrictive than Cuban law and the 'independent libraries' have broken this law. Supported, funded and directed by the US Interests Section in Havana, the 'independent libraries' have printed, published, edited, issued, circulated, sold and distributed literature which advocates, advises and teaches the duty, necessity, desirability and propriety of overthrowing or destroying the Cuban government. As Felipe Pérez Roque has said:

"It is sickening to read the testimonies of those who attempt to create 'independent libraries' in the only country in the world where the people have the right to buy books at an accessible price, when everyone knows that books are a luxury of the rich in the rest of the world." (op.cit.)

When some of these 'independent librarians' were arrested in 2003 for accepting funding and support from the US government, there were worldwide protests. The aim of this article is to show that there are no banned books or 'independent librarians' in Cuba. Instead there is an extensive network of state run public libraries and bookshops which are the envy of many developing and developed nations. Culture, education and literacy are among the many fruits of the Cuban Revolution and libraries continue to play their vital role in nurturing these fruits, now and in the future.

John Pateman is Director of public library services in Lincolnshire and a Fellow of the UK Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. He has written widely on library access and social inclusion, in relation to both the UK and internationally.

References

Kent, Robert (2005) Open Letter to the International Library Community, Friends of Cuban Libraries, 5 August 2005.

Martinez Puentes, Silvia (2004) Cuba beyond our dreams, La Habana, Editorial José Martí.

Neugebauer, Rhonda L. (2002) 'Payment for Services Rendered: US-funded Dissent and the Independent Libraries Project in Cuba', Presentation to the Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies Nov. 8-9, 2002, East Los Angeles College, Panel "Cuba Today".

Orwell, George (1945) Animal Farm, London: Secker and Warburg.

Elizalde, Rosa Miriam and Baez, Luis (2003) Los Dissidentes, La Habana: Editora Política.

Copyright
Copyright for this work is held jointly between John Pateman and the International Journal of Cuban Studies under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative 3.0 Licence

IJCS Volume 1 Issue 2 December 2008