On the eve of Día de los Enamorados the CCCNY celebrates Valentine’s Day with an illustrated presentation by literary scholar Ana María Hernández, inspired by Mario Coyula‘s period novel, Catalina. The book is a song of love by the author to the beautiful and elegant Catalina de Lasa (1875-1930), a woman who came to personify Havana’s Belle Époque, the period between Cuba’s last War of Independence and the third decade of the Republic.
Catalina de Lasa was the protagonist of a forbidden love story that scandalized Havana’s high society at a time when divorce was illegal. She became an obsession for Juan Pedro Baró, who built her a legendary mansion in El Vedado and subsequently a spectacular mausoleum at Colón Cemetery. Coyula structures his novel around her, weaving a plot that spans several time periods and cities, overcoming time and space to bring to life an ill-fated and impossible love.
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A with the Dr. Hernández, moderated by Iraida Iturralde, our Cultural Director.
This special literary event is part of our CreateNYC Language Access Series on Cuban History, Art, and Literature. It will be held in Spanish.
DUE TO THE COVID PANDEMIC, THIS PROGRAM WILL BE STREAMED THROUGH OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
Please click on this link on the scheduled date and time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfbB3qEJEes
Mario Coyula Cowley (1935-2014) was a Cuban architect and architectural historian. He was an authority on the history and preservation of the City of Havana. Dr. Coyula served as a Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor from 2002-2003 at Harvard University in Urban Planning and Design. He was a full professor at the Faculty of Architecture of Havana from 1964, profesor de Mérito (2001), National Award of Architecture (2001), National Habitat Award (2004), and Académico de Mérito (2011). He was director of the school of Architecture, of the City Department of Architecture and Urbanism, and of the Group for the Integrated Development of the Capital. He was also a member of several commissions, scientific councils and advisory councils. He is a co-author of the book Havana: Two Faces of the Antillean Metropolis (London and Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2002) with Roberto Segre and Joseph L. Scarpaci, Jr. His son is the filmmaker Miguel Coyula.
Ana María Hernández del Castillo has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from New York University, and specializes in literature from the Caribbean and Río de la
Plata regions. She heads the Program of Latin American Studies at La Guardia College, CUNY, where she was also chair for many years of the Humanities Department. Since 2005 she has played a key role at CUNY’s Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, where she organizes talks on Cuban culture. Her scholarly work has received wide recognition, including a special grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her numerous essays highlight the works of Julio Cortázar, Horacio Quiroga, Julio Herrera y Reissig, Felisberto Hernández and Nicolás Guillén. Excerpts of her literary correspondence with Julio Cortázar (1972-1978) were included in the recent publication of the author’s letters (Cartas. Buenos Aires: Alfaguara, 2012). Her most recent books include an annotated edition of Fantoches 1926: Folletín Moderno por Once Escritores Cubanos (Stockcero, 2011); Las Hortensias y Otros Cuentos (Stockcero, 2011); and the annotated edition of Cirilo Villaverde’s Cecilia Valdés o La Loma del Ángel (Stockcero, 2013).
And is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature.
With the promotional cooperation of
and
