Aesthetics and the Revolutionary City

James Clifford Kent is Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.

Aesthetics and the Revolutionary City engages in alternative ways of reading foreign visual representations of Havana through analysis of advertising images, documentary films, and photographic texts. It explores key narratives relating to the projection of different Havana imaginaries and focuses on a range of themes including: pre-revolutionary Cuba; the dream of revolution; and the metaphor of the city "frozen-in-time." The book also synthesizes contemporary debates regarding the notion of Havana as a real and imagined city space and fleshes out its theoretical insights with a series of stand-alone, important case studies linked to the representation of the Cuban capital in the Western imaginary. The interpretations in the book bring into focus a range of critical historical moments in Cuban history (including the Cuban Revolution and the "Special Period") and consider the ways in which they have been projected in advertising, documentary film and photography outside the island. 

Provides original case studies in the form of textual analyses that develop key theoretical debates surrounding the city and the imaginary

1. Introduction: Real and Imagined Havana.- 2. Mapping the City: Walker Evans in Havana.- 3. Burt Glinn, Magnum Photos and the Cuban Revolution.- 4. David Bailey's Havana and the "Post-Special Period" Photobook.- 5. Advertising the City: "Nothing Compares to Havana".- 6. Buena Vista Social Club's Afterimage.- 7. The Music Film and the City: Our Manics in Havana.