ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the historical relationship between literature and the graphic arts, and how it is expressed in the poster art of the Cuban Revolution. Cuban posters are masters at the art of synthesis, demanding of the viewer an active, mental process capable of constructing the whole from the existing parts. Cuban poster art provides a lesson, practical training in the art of critical thinking, "placing us face to face, through the magnification of a single detail, with the totality." The first years of the Revolution, with the rise of poster art and the literacy campaign, changed the nature of print culture in society, creating a climate which fostered the reading of books as a universal vocation. After three decades, the Cuban publishing industry is now ready to draw up, together with the departments of language and literature, a course of study for university students interested in applying their academic studies towards a career in publishing.
