Women have published a rich and varied selection of work in Cuba throughout the twentieth century. Their writings give us a crucial insight into the recent history of that country. In this book, Catherine Davies develops a sophisticated and theoretically informed feminist reading of works by authors such as Dulce María Loynaz and the poet Fina García Marruz who developed their styles in the pre-revolutionary period and black and mulatto poets such as Nancy Morejón, Georgina Herrera and Excilia Saldaña from the post-1959 socialist era.

The author reads these key texts in ways that show how women's writing can open up areas that resist alignment into the 'grand narratives' - of liberalism, Marxism - that have usually dominated interpretations of Cuban culture. A major theoretical intervention into debates around representation, the book will be necessary reading for students and academics in post-colonial theory and women's studies, as well as in Spanish, Latin-American and comparative literature.