Top 10 Cuban Novels

From The Guardian, Leonardo Padura compiles a list of his Top 10 Cuban Novels. Padura is a writer and essayist who lives in Cuba. On making such a list, which is included [without his elaborations] after the cut;

Cuba is a country of poets. It would almost be too easy to select 10 poets or books of poetry that play a key role in the short history of Cuban literature. But there are excellent – and diverse – Cuban novelists, too few of whom are available in English translation. The 10 I’ve picked here will hopefully give some idea of both the country’s literary tradition, and its imaginative life.

Here is his list.. the site includes elaborations, justifications, enthusiasms, and historical information. I haven’t read anything by a Cuban author so I don’t know if its a particularly ‘good’ list or not–but judging by his discussion of each piece it looks like its comprised of works worth reading list placement. I especially like his inclusion of particular translations, and the open time span of the works included….

1. Explosion in a Cathedral (El siglo de las luces) by Alejo Carpentier (1962, trans. John Sturrock)
2. Cecilia Valdés Or El Angel Hill (Cecilia Valdés) by Cirilo Villaverde (1882, trans. Helen Lane)
3. Three Trapped Tigers (Tres tristes tigres) by Guillermo Cabrera Infante (1967, trans. Suzanne Jill Levine & Donald Gardner)
4. Paradiso by José Lezama Lima (1974, trans. Gregory Rabassa)
5. The Lost Steps (Los pasos perdidos) by Alejo Carpentier (1953, trans. Harriet de Onís)
6. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1952)
7. Temporada de ángeles (1983), Lisandro Otero; A Season For Angels, not translated.
8. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989), Óscar Hijuelos
9. Antes que anochezca (1990), Reinaldo Arenas; Before Night Falls, trans. Dolores M. Koch (1993)
10. El negrero (1933), Lino Novás Calvo; The Slave-trader, not translated