The Nation does not usually hold my attention. But, for all you Castro watchers–in the latest edition of The Nation playwright Arthur Miller offers an absolutely fascinating descriiption of Cuba and of his encounter with Castro during his recent visit–a visit arranged, I think, by Nobel Prize Winning Author Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez. Visit With Castro
One vignette–At at a luncheon Miller sees Castro, for a moment, alone eating nothing but rolled lettuce leaves and Miller is struck by how lonely and isolated Castro really is. In Miller’s play A View From the Bridge, the community has turned against Eddie, and Alfieri warns him: “You won’t have a friend in the world, Eddie! Even those who understand you will turn against you,” And so it is with Castro.
And here Miller likens Castro to Cervantes’ Knight of the Sad Countenance (are we too see Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez as his Sancho Panza? If nothing else the physical contrast is there–Castro tall, weathered, mad, beaten–and M?rquez, a short, rotund man–but is he droll?).
Quixote’s madness was fueled, in part, by rich patrons who played to his delusions for their entertainment. If I read Miller right, he sees the US as the last rich patron fueling Castro’s madness by insisting on continuing the embargo. Ending the embargo would be like Quixote being beaten by the Knight of the White Moon. Castro would, like Quixote, recognize his madness. It is the act of recognition that dooms Quixote. Castro? One can only hope.
Whatever one thinks of Miller’s Cuban experience, I think we can agree with him that [“i[t will need the pathos of a new Cervantes to measure up to [Cuba’s] profoundly sad tale of needless suffering.”
