Viaje a La Habana by Mercedes Montalvo

Viaje a La Habana by Mercedes Montalvo

Viaje a la Habana (Madrid: 1844) written by the Countess of Merlin, ne Mar a de las Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo, is one of the most seductive texts of Spanish American Romanticism, forerunner of the Caribbean journey to the source, as it narrates the re-encounter with colonial society from which the author had parted soon after adolescence. Focused on colonial Havana, Viaje a la Habana traces the topography of the colonial city, considered the jewel of the overseas Spanish colonies, as the narrator wanders along childhood scenarios remembering relatives and long-lost family members. Merlin's African wet nurse, her uncle Montalvo, mulata divas, Creole women, even commercial agents, are evoked with poetic emotion, while the presence of other groups that compose early Cuban nationality can be felt in the background: portraits of the sugar aristocracy are sketched along with poetic renditions of guajiros in the countryside. Part of a longer work dedicated to La Havane, published the same year in Paris, Viaje a la Habana is an editorial enigma as there is no mention of a translator, nor do we know for sure why the Countess chose to cut down the longer French edition. With a foreword and biographical notes by Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, Viaje a la Habana is the Countess of Merlin's most important work, continuing the autobiographical production begun with by Mes douze premi res ann es (1831), translated by Agust n de Palma as Mis doce primeros a os (1838). The second memoir, Souvenirs et M moires, (1836) follows young Mercedes reunited once more with her family in Madrid; her marriage with general Antoine-Christophe Merlin (1771-1839) during the French occupation of Spain; and the couple's dramatic escape through the Pyrenees after Bonaparte's defeat. During her married life (1812-1839), Mercedes Merlin establishes a highly successful literary salon in Paris, a role that sparks her transformation into a writer. Despite passing the majority of her adult life in France, Merlin never looses her strong ties to the island and her concern about its progress and welfare, a recurring topic both in La Havane and Viaje a la Habana. Stemming from the author's hybrid imagination as Cuban and French, Viaje a la Habana expands our understanding of Spanish American Romanticism, as it reveals the prolonged colonial condition of the island of Cuba at the moment of awakening to a national conscience. As travel writing, this autobiographical text reverts the conventions of the eighteenth-century grand tour as it replaces the exoticism of Italian landscape and ruins with the faraway geography of the Caribbean island. In this edition, Professor Adriana M ndez Rodenas underlines the foundational character of the text, adding critical notes and bibliography that helps the modern reader understand and enjoy Mercedes Merlin's delightful prose.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781934768174
ISBN 10	1934768170
Title	Viaje a La Habana
Author	Mercedes Montalvo
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	StockCERO
Year published	2008-12-01
Number of pages	144
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.