Cuban Author Frequently Wrote About Stuttering

Cuban author frequently wrote about stuttering

In June 1998, the English-speaking world was introduced for the first?ÿtime to Cuban writer Calvert Casey, who had died in 1969 at the age?ÿof 45. Well known in the world of Latin American literature, 1998?ÿmarked the first time that his complete works were translated into?ÿEnglish and published in one volume entitled Calvert Casey: The?ÿCollected Stories. Upon its publication, the following was written in?ÿPublishers Weekly: ƒ??This volume is a fine overdue introduction to one?ÿof Communist Cubaƒ??s most sophisticated writers.ƒ??

Calvert Casey was born in Baltimore in 1924 to an Irish-American?ÿfather and a Cuban mother, moving to Cuba as a small child.

His childhood was described by a friend as being ƒ??isolated from?ÿother children because of his violent stutter.ƒ??

Other accounts attest that the severity of his stuttering continued?ÿinto adulthood. Friends and critics alike credit his stuttering for?ÿhis developing characters in his writing that are uprooted,?ÿdisenchanted and alienated.

In the New York Times book review, James Polk wrote, ƒ??Casey writes?ÿfrom the shadows with certainty and fluent assurance of one who knows?ÿthem well.ƒ??

His most famous short story is The Homecoming, which is about a?ÿperson who severely stuttered who enthusiastically returns to his?ÿbeloved Cuba during the onset of the Castro regime only to find?ÿhimself a target of attacks by government agents. Another quirky?ÿstory is The Execution in which a man is sentenced to death for a?ÿcrime he did not commit and never refutes the charges.

Casey was in exile during the last part of the Batista regime, where?ÿhe lived in New York and wrote magazine articles. Returning to Cuba?ÿwhen Fidel Castro took power, he was prominent among the?ÿintelligentsia surrounding Castro and wrote for several government?ÿpublications.

However, he became totally disenchanted with the political situation?ÿin Cuba and went into exile in Rome, where he wrote his famous?ÿnovella ƒ??Notes of a Simulatorƒ??.

In 1969, struggling with personal issues as well as his severe?ÿstuttering, Casey took his own life; on his desk he left open a Henry?ÿJames book with an underlined passage which read: ƒ??He was a man too?ÿfragile to live in this world.ƒ??

While Calvert Casey only wrote one novella and sixteen short stories?ÿin his career, he is well known in Latin American literary circles;?ÿironically, he remains ignored by the Cuban literary establishment.

He frequently mentioned stuttering in his writing as he struggled?ÿwith it every day of his life.

With the publication of his works in English it is hopeful his?ÿwriting will receive the same recognition in the English-speaking?ÿworld that it has received in Latin America.