Entrevista a Roberto Fernández Retamar: la poesía, la Piadosa, me dio una razón para vivir (De la Escena Contemporánea. Entrevista)

El poeta y ensayista cubano confiesa que la poesía le dio una razón para vivir, y que sigue siendo su gran amor. Aunque difícil de definir, plantea que al ser humano le resulta imposible resistir sin ella: en toda crisis (la enfermedad, la muerte o la guerra), se recurre a la poesía. Las influencias literarias le llegaron de escritores alemanes, franceses y latinoamericanos (sobre todo, de Jorge Luis Borges, José Lezama Lima, Octavio Paz y Alfonso Reyes). El autor cubano destaca los méritos de varios poetas ecuatorianos y latinoamericanos. De Lezama Lima, quien “vivía para la poesía y el espíritu, con apenas unos pesitos”, resalta su sentido coral de la cultura (como construcción colectiva) y de la literatura. Respecto de la Revolución, aun reconociendo que hubo errores, está convencido de que es lo mejor que pudo pasarle a Cuba, no solo porque es la que buscó con insistencia, de Martí a Lezama, sino porque es la que triunfó y sigue adelante, pese al bloqueo económico de medio siglo por parte de la mayor potencia mundial, y de todas las dificultades.

The Cuban poet and essayist states that poetry gave him a reason to live and that it continues to be his greatest love. Though difficult to define, he suggests that it is impossible for human beings to survive without it: in any crisis (sickness, death or war), people resort to poetry. His literary influences came from German, French and Latin American writers (above all, Jorge Luis Borges, José Lezama Lima, Octavio Paz and Alfonso Reyes). The Cuban author highlights the merits of different Latin American and Ecuadorian poets. Of Lezama Lima, who “lived for poetry and spirit with only a few pesos”, highlighting his sense of culture as chorus (as a collective construction) and of literature. Regarding the Revolution, though recognizing its errors, he is convinced it was the best thing that could have happened to Cuba, not only since it was consistently sought after by luminaries from Martí to Lezama, but also because it triumphed and pushed forward, despite a half-century of blockade by the world’s most powerful nation, as well as all the other difficulties.