EL AUTOR CUBANO QUE ESCRIBIO CON FRECUENCIA SOBRE SU TARTAMUDEZ

En junio de 1988, el escritor cubano Calvert Casey (muerto en 1969 a los 45 anos), fue dado a conocer en el mundo angloparlante.

Muy conocido en el mundo literario de la America Latina, sus obras completas fueron traducidas al ingles y publicadas en 1998 en un volumen titulado “Calvert Casey: The Collected Stories” (Calvert Casey: Colección de cuentos). El “Publishers Weekly" comento el hecho: “Este volumen es una buena, pero tardía, introducción a uno de los escritores mas sofisticados de la Cuba comunista.

Calvert Casey nació en Baltimore (EE. UU.) en 1924, de padre americano-irlandes y madre cubana. Se fueron a Cuba cuando era niño.

Un amigo describio su niñez diciendo que vivia “aislado de los otros niños debido a su seria tartamudez”.

Según otros, la tartamudez continuo hasta ser adulto. Amigos, igual que críticos, atribuyen a su tartamudez la creación de personajes desarraigados, desencantados y alienados.

En una resena publicada en el New York Times, el critico James Polk dice: “Casey escribe desde las sombras con la certeza y fluida seguridad del que las conoce bien”.

En su cuento mas famoso “The Homecoming” (La vuelta a casa), presenta a una persona con pronunciada tartamudez que regresa entusiasmada a su querida Cuba al principio del gobierno de Castro, pero que pronto descubre que es el blanco de ataques de agentes del estado.. Otro cuento, mas bien estrafalario, es “The Execution” (La ejecución), en el que sentencian a muerte a un hombre por un delito que no cometió, pero que nunca cuestiona los cargos.

Casey estuvo exiliado en Nueva York el periodo final del gobierno de Batista, y allí escribió artículos para la prensa.

Volvio a Cuba al asumir Castro el poder, y fue miembro destacado de los intelectuales, contribuyendo a diversas publicaciones del gobierno.

Mas tarde se sintio totalmente defraudado con la situacion politica en Cuba y se fue a Roma, donde escribio su famosa novela corta “Notes of a Simulator" (Notas de un simulador).

Debatiendose y luchando con diversos problemas personales y con la tartamudez ,Casey se quito la vida en 1969. Dejo abierto sobre el escritorio un libro de Henry James, con el siguiente texto subrayado:”He was a man too fragile to live in this world” (Era un hombre demasiado frágil para vivir en este mundo).

Calvert Casey no escribio mas que una novela y 16 cuentos, pero es muy conocido en el mundo literario de la America Latina; sin embargo, sigue desconocido en el mundo literario cubano.

En sus escritos menciona la tartamudez con frecuencia, reflejando su lucha diaria con ella.

Esperamos que la traducción de sus obras al ingles haga que llegue a ser tan bien conocido en el mundo de habla inglesa como lo es en la America Latina

Hide on More News:

Hide

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Kenyon Martin

Kenyon Martin, the basketball sensation who was named to the NBA’s All Star Team in 2004, joins other famous people who stutter in a new brochure. The brochure - which unfolds into a small poster - is available free of charge from The Stuttering Foundation.

The poster is intended to give children and adults who stutter inspiration as they grapple with their speech disorder.

Carly Simon

Carly Simon began stuttering severely when she was eight years old.

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

King George

In November 2010, worldwide movie audiences were presented with a most interesting and unusual movie release with The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Helena Bonham Carter as his wife Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, history may have forgotten the courageous and inspiring story of Prince Albert who stuttered badly and never dreamed that he would ever be king when his older brother, King Edward VIII, abruptly abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.

Frank Wolf

This Virginian congressman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation drew national attention to childhood stuttering in 2006 when he submitted an article about Tiger Woods from the SFA newsletter to the Congressional Record. The congressman is featured in the Stuttering Foundation's Famous People Who Stutter brochure.