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Russell Banks
© Nancy Crampton
RUSSELL BANKS

The Art of Fiction No. 152
Interviewed by Robert Faggen
Issue 147, Summer 1998
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From the Interview
INTERVIEWER
You wanted to join Castro’s revolution?

BANKS
Why not? He was a heroic figure. He was a Robin Hood figure for a lot of Americans at that time—you didn’t have to be radical to imagine him that way. It was pretty easy to picture myself at his side. He was, in some ways, the good father. I only got as far as Miami. By that time Castro was marching into Havana and didn’t need me anymore. Also, I realized I didn’t know quite how to get from Key West to Cuba, and I couldn’t speak Spanish.
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