by Jacquelyn Griffin
News Reporter
Sitting near a balcony overlooking the University of Houston campus, Alfredo Fernandez recently took stock of the trade-offs in his career. His sunglasses stayed on even as a wet afternoon turned grayer.
"I can try to put it in terms of a mathematical formula," he said. "With more information, there is less imagination. In Cuba, I've had to fabricate or imagine a lot, but with a minimum of information. (In contrast) the latest book I wrote was a nonfiction novel."
Fernandez makes an unusual fit at the university, where he has been working on his doctoral degree in Latin-American literature for nearly a year. But the 51-year-old writer from Camaguey, Cuba, who has won several awards in the country, is no stranger to paradox.
"My work has been received well (in Cuba), if you measure it by awards," said Fernandez, whose first published novel won the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists Award in 1977. "But the publication of some books was delayed.
"You don't know what can provoke suspicion, or at what moment someone may not like what you've written. Censorship works mysteriously, but these risks are part of this profession (in Cuba)."
Spanish Professor Pedro Gutierrez, who recently helped Fernandez submit his nonfiction novel to publishers in Spain, said it was "unusual and a source of pride" for UH's Department of Modern and Classical Languages to have a student with working knowledge of the creative-writing process.
"(Fernandez) brings with him a knowledge of Caribbean culture and contributes a polemical train of thought to the discussion of the situation in Cuba," Gutierrez said.
Fernandez, who studied history at the University of Havana and taught at the college level in Cuba and Mexico, hesitated to call himself an exile, although he said he intends to stay in the United States.
"In theory, I can return (to Cuba)," he said. "In practice, it would be difficult. I didn't leave for political reasons, but because I was offered a contract to work in a Mexican university. During these last three and a half years (since leaving the country), the political situation in Cuba has become cloudy. The future is very uncertain."
Fernandez's research on Cuban emigrants, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, resulted in the novel he is trying to publish and added to his wariness about returning. Fernandez left his post at the Autonomous University of Mexico and his work toward a master's degree there to accept the Rockefeller grant.
Cuba's restrictive emigration policy and the strained relations between Cuba and the United States make studies like his unpopular with the Castro government.
Even while he was in Cuba, Fernandez's work was controversial. His crime novel Amor de mis amores, which pits a black-market dealer and a "jinetera" (prostitute) against the Cuban police, was not released by Cuban publishers. Fernandez took it with him to Mexico, where it was published in 1995.
"This novel has a bit of a secret history," he said. "I finished it between 1985 and 1986 and sent it to the Cuban publishers then. The subject was taboo - the Cuban government has always denied the existence of prostitution, especially among young people. The editors didn't say they wouldn't print it, but they deferred its publication, in a manner of speaking."
Although he writes in different genres, winning an award in Cuba in 1993 for a historical novel, Fernandez said his favorite genre is crime fiction.
"Crime fiction enjoys wide consumption around the world," Fernandez said. "It's a genre that has already been well-tested. I don't think that it's a minor genre. Rather, it depends on the theme and how you deal with it."
Despite being a relative unknown in the United States and having to write for publication mostly abroad, Fernandez said he values the greater access to information he has gained.
"Academic liberty (in the United States) makes a big difference," he said. "If I had tried to work in Cuba on the theme of the 'balseros,' I certainly would not have been able to obtain information. (The book) would not have had the brilliance that I think it has from the way that I worked on it (in the United States)."
Monica Gilmer, a graduate student in Spanish at UH, said she has been surprised by the knowledge of literature Fernandez showed in conversation with fellow students.
"When he first came, hardly anyone knew he was a published author," said Gilmer, who shares office space with Fernandez. "He treated everyone on an equal basis and has always been very down-to-earth."
Gutierrez, also a published author, will use a sample of Fernandez's work in his Spanish creative writing class this semester.
"It will be interesting for students who are getting started (in creative writing) to read the work of a student who is more experienced," he said.
Still cautious about labeling himself, Fernandez said he does not feel completely absent from Cuba and still worries about his country's problems and its future.
"Exile is like a pain one feels," he said. "In that sense, my body is already starting to hurt."