Por un Martí menor. Ensayo y crítica en Antonio José Ponte

Abstract

This article´s objective is to analyze the polemic strategies of Antonio José Ponte´s essay “El abrigo de aire” about the image of Cuban National hero José Martí. The aim is to show how, by means of a meticulous rethorical pursuit, Ponte´s essay breaks up the sanctifying discourse surrounding the hero. The author condemns the political use of Martí´s image as well as the use of his name as an instrument of ideological authorization. The analysis gives special emphasis to certain discursive strategies that reproduce the “falling” process of the monumentalized myth (martiano-revolutionary) at a metaphorical level by attacking the semantic field of “airy” as being representative of a hidden and totalizing metaphysics.