The 20th century Cuban artist Micah Carpentier is loved but rarely admired. Gregarious and playful, his company was sought by his colleagues, his students, foreign visitors, journalists, and even political elites. His work, however, found little favor among the critics. Though he enjoyed a favorable international reputation, it was mostly due to the novelty of his curriculum vitae.
One of his most ridiculous projects, one he took on when he was already in his eighth decade, was to master enough biblical Hebrew to read and appreciate the Old Testament anomaly "The Canticle of Canticles." Drawn to its erotic imagery, Carpentier obsessed over the intricacies of the poem's prosodic innovations. Mocked at the time for what critics saw as mawkish sentimentality, today the work is derided for it's outdated celebration of heterosexual, male virility.
