“Tan oscuro como muy oscuro”: ¿dónde se ubica Ena Lucía Portela? = "As dark as very dark”: Where does Ena Lucía Portela stand?

The aim of the article is to study “As dark as very dark”, a short, less known text by Cuban author Ena Lucía Portela (1972). After commenting on its place in the context of the volume edited by Iván de la Nuez: Cuba y el día después: doce ensayistas nacidos con la revolución imaginan el futuro (2002), we argue that the question concerning Cuba’s future serves as a pretext for Portela to try to defi ne her place as a Cuban writer and as intellectual. She distances from the literary currents that determined the Cuban literary fi eld, and destabilizes her own position. The protagonist’s characterization as a nowhere girl, the intertextuality and the emphasis on scepticism illustrate her elusive position that doesn’t fi t in any category.