Biografia De Un Cimarron (Hispanic texts): By Miguel Barnet and Esteban Montejo - Softcover

Miguel Barnet; Esteban Montejo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0719080916 ISBN 13: 9780719080913

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2010

Synopsis

*Biografia de un Cimarron* (*Biography of a runaway slave*) is arguably the best-known book to have been written and published in revolutionary Cuba, being the testimonial narrative of Esteban Montejo, a former slave, runaway, and soldier in the Cuban wars of independence. The text is the collaboration between ethnographer Miguel Barnet and Montejo, the result of three years of tape-recorded interviews, transcribed, edited and annotated by Barnet. Montejo provides a first-hand account of slavery in nineteenth-century Cuba - the language, religion, music, and customs - and describes life in the sugar plantations and mills and as a runaway slave. Montejo's text also covers key historical moments, from slavery to Abolition, the Ten Years War, the Spanish American War, and US intervention in the new republic. Reflecting the growing interest in Latin American Studies and Cuban Studies at A-Level and university, and also the intense recent interest in the Slave Trade following the bicentenary of Abolition, this annotated edition includes the complete text in Spanish (with the author's final revisions, notes and glossary), additional notes in English, a time-line of Cuban history, and a selection of temas de debate y discusion. The extensive introductory chapters focus on three main areas: an overview of Cuban history featuring slavery, wars of independence and the new republic, as relevant to Montejo's life; an overview of the genre of the testimonial narrative as it emerged as an important literary style in revolutionary Cuba; and an analysis of the relationship between the Cuban Revolution and the text and publication of *Biografia de un Cimarron*. The introduction is followed by an extensive bibliography, addressing the numerous publications concerning *Cimarron*.

About this title

About the Author:

William Rowlandson is Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the University of Kent

About this edition

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0719080916
• ISBN 13: 9780719080913
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208
• Editor: William Rowlandson