Anselmo Suárez y Romero (1818 – 1878) was a renowned Cuban writer and novelist, better known for the first novel in Spanish about slavery in the Americas: ''Francisco'', based largely on ''"Autobiografía de un esclavo"'' by

Juan Francisco Manzano Juan Francisco Manzano (1797–1854) was born a house slave in the Matanzas Province of Cuba during the colonial period. Manzano's father died before he was 15 and his only remaining family was his mother and two brothers. Manzano worked as a pag ...

(1835), the first autobiography written in Spanish by a slave.

Life

Suárez y Romero was educated in his native city, where he devoted himself to teaching and contributing to public education. * His literary career began with ''Una noche de retreta'', ''Un viejo impertinente'', ''Un recuerdo'', followed by the publication of ''Biografía de Carlota Valdés'' (1838) ( en, Biography of Carlota Valdés). * Between 1838 and 1839, he writes the novel ''Francisco'' which would be published forty years later. * In 1859, followed by a series of masterly sketches and descriptions of Cuban scenery and customs, ''Colección de Artículos''( en, Collection of articles) is published. * In that same year he was admitted into the Law Bar Association. * In 1862, some of his works, mostly essays about public education and school reform were published in Havana. * In 1870, ''Cartas críticas sobre asuntos jurídicos'' was published. * In 1880, the novel ''Francisco'', which depicted Cuban slavery, is published in Spanish.

Literary career

Anselmo Suárez y Romero's masterpiece: ''Francisco'', also known as ''El ingenio o las delicias del campo'' (''The sugar mill or the delights of the country''), written between 1838 and 1839, is considered the first anti-slavery novel in the Americas. The other work which encompassed slavery, was the short story ''Petrona y Rosalía'' written in 1838 by Félix Tanco y Bosmeniel (1797–1871), unpublished until 1925, which also touched upon slaves' lives in the 19th century. Based largely on accounts from ''"Autobiografía de un esclavo"'', the autobiography written by Juan Francisco Manzano years before, and which was published later in England,Cluster, Dick; Hernández, Rafael (2008). ''The History of Havana''. MacMillan the novel Francisco set out the way for other literary works to follow: ''Cecilia Valdés'' by

Cirilo Villaverde Cirilo Villaverde de la Paz (1812 - 1894) was a Cuban poet, novelist, journalist and freedom fighter. He is best known for ''Cecilia Valdés'', a novel about classes and races in colonial Cuba. Biography He was born to a doctor on a sugar planta ...

began in 1839, Sab by

Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga (March 23, 1814 – February 1, 1873) was a 19th-century Cuban-born Spanish writer. Born in Puerto Príncipe, now Camagüey, she lived in Cuba until she was 22. Her family moved to Spain in 1836, where s ...

in 1841, ''El Ranchador'' by Pedro José Morillas in 1856, Antonio Zambrana's ''El negro Francisco'' in 1873, and

Alejo Carpentier Alejo Carpentier y Valmont (, ; December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French an ...

's ''¡Ecué-Yambá!'' in 1933.Bammer, Angelika. (1994). ''Displacements: cultural identities in question, volume 15 of Theories of contemporary culture''. Indiana University Press. Written years before ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U. ...

'', ''Francisco'' could not be published immediately due to colonial censorship. The manuscript was delivered to British official and abolitionist

Richard Robert Madden Richard Robert Madden (22 August 1798 – 5 February 1886) was an Irish doctor, writer, abolitionist and historian of the United Irishmen. Madden took an active role in trying to impose anti-slavery rules in Jamaica on behalf of the British gov ...

in 1840, along with a revised copy of the work ''Autobiografía de un esclavo'' ( en, Autobiography of a slave) by

, which had been proofread by Suárez y Romero himself. About the importance of ''Francisco'' as a literary masterpiece, British abolitionist Madden was quoted as saying that:

Tho there is literary merit of but small amount in this piece, there is life and truth in every line of it. .. In this little piece of the Ingenio there is a minuteness of description and closeness of observation and a rightness of feeling that I have not often seen surpassed.Lorna V. Williams. ''The representation of slavery in Cuban fiction''. (1994).

Madden himself thought that the narrative employed by Suárez y Romero in ''Francisco'' had a palpable realm of invisible realism in it. No other book, in his opinion, was as descriptive, or as graphically drafted, as in ''Francisco'' 's prose, in which slavery was depicted with the same intellectual rigor as in real life in Cuba. Madden found certain parts of the book originally narrated, in a prose style by which Suárez y Romero was known for, especially when the central figure in the book, still shackled after being injured by lashes, had to endure the humid heat in a mistreated and painful state, while harvesting sugar cane. Most of the early readers of ''Francisco'' agreed with Madden in that the book had a realistic and accurate representation not before seen. Others, like the critic Enrique Piñeyro, thought that the book was unoriginal. His opinion would appear in the periodical ''El Ateneo'' in Havana, and later in ''Revista Cubana''.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suarez y Romero, Anselmo Cuban male novelists Cuban abolitionists 19th-century Cuban novelists 19th-century male writers 1818 births 1878 deaths