My dissertation analyzes text and film narratives generated by the return of exiles to Cuba. My research underscores the centrality of the confessional mode in these narratives, exposing the rhetorical tendency toward confession inherent to both the exilic condition, as well as the Cuban Revolution’s expression of its model citizen, or “Socialist New Man.” I argue that the confessional genre is used to articulate an authentic national identification, and in doing so, redeem one’s belonging to her national community. This project reveals how the return to the homeland refashions the Cuban exile as a national subject, providing a new literary and intellectual history tracing Cuba’s relationship with its community abroad.