Graciela Maglia Vercesi
gmaglia@javeriana.edu.co
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia

Abstract:

Nicolás Guillén took an autonomous position in the literary field of Hispanic Caribbean in the 30’s, and built an early national hybrid identity as a cultural and aesthetic response to a historic crossroads marked by ethnic whitening, political alienation and economic dependence. Guillén went to the source of orality, where the strength of popular voice lies and recorded the semi-creole language of Cuban mulatto. The language of his early poetic machina expresses a national identity marked by the popular and a full Caribbean habitus.

Keywords: hispanic caribbean, poetry, literary field, popular culture, cuban son, habitus, prosody, linguistic variation, autonomous side-taking, transculturation.