Description

Before Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), there was Sab (1841) by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda and also Cecilia Valdés (1839-1880) by Cirilo Villaverde as well as Francisco (1838) by Anselmo Suárez that inspired El Negro Francisco (1875) by Antonio Zambrana. All of them by 19th Century Cuban writers. These novels dramatize the destructive consequences of slavery. The authors underscore the toxic power of enslaving of human beings, not only for black slaves but also white “criollo” slave owners perverted by their involvement in the evil institution. Avellaneda’s novel extends the corruption created by the oppression of slaves to the position of women in society. Villaverde’s Cecilia Valdés is considered the best Cuban novel of the century and the best description of the human cost of slavery and racism for the whole society. These authors wrote against the pressures of the Spanish Crown and against the backdrop of U.S. Southerners advocating for the annexation of Cuba as another slave state. The Spanish Colonial government censured and prohibited the publication and distribution of these novels in Cuba because of their possible impact on ideas of human rights and independence. They were all published outside of Cuba, sometimes decades after they were written. In this seminar we will discuss the significance and power of these novels and their relevance to current discussions of slavery and its social consequences. We will briefly discuss each one of the novels, place the authors in their historical and social context, and look at these novels relevance for today’s U.S. society.