Humanities & Social Sciences
Calibán y otros ensayos
by Roberto Fernández Retamar
“Our symbol is not Ariel, as Rodó thought, but Caliban. This is something seen with particular clarity by us, the half-breeds who inhabit the same islands where Caliban lived: Prospero invaded the islands, killed our ancestors, enslaved Caliban and taught him his language to be able to understand him: what else can Caliban do but use that same language —today he has no other— to curse him, to wish the “red plague” fell on him? I do not know another more accurate metaphor of our cultural situation, of our reality”.
