Pamela Barnett
Pamela Barnett Home	Word and Mind	Pamba Communications	My Profile	About Me	Contact Me

Introduction to José Martí's El presidio político en Cuba By Pamela Barnett From The Politics of Letters: José Martí’s Revolutionary Discourse Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toronto, 2006 References to Martí’s work are from Obras completas. 27 vols. La Habana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1975. Scroll down for a bibliography of works cited. You can read more about Martí in The Politics of Letters: José Martí’s Revolutionary Discourse. Doctoral Thesis, University of Toronto, 2006. From the time of his arrest for “disloyalty” (“infidencia”) on October 9, 1869, to his first deportation to Spain on January 18, 1871, José Martí was an adolescent prisoner of Spain in colonial Cuba. During this time he endured several months of hard labour at the San Lázaro Quarry before serious injuries to his eyes and legs forced authorities to transfer him to the prison’s tobacco factory. The six-year sentence he received on March 4, 1870, was commuted on September 5, 1870, to confinement on Isla de Pinos, and he was eventually deported to Spain on January 15, 1871. One of his first publications there, a political pamphlet titled El presidio político en Cuba (1: 43-74), appeared in 1871, shortly after his arrival in Spain. Martí published this pamphlet on the presses of Ramón Ramírez, San Marcos 32. The exact date of publication is uncertain. For example, one source (Atlas histórico biográfico José Martí 34) suggests it might be as early as March; another (Toledo Sande, Cesto de llamas 34) suggests July or August. It is a prison memoir, an impassioned condemnation of Spain’s inhumane treatment of political prisoners in its colony, and a direct appeal to Spaniards and the colonialist government to change these conditions. It remains one of the most important of Martí’s works, comprising twelve parts or cantos of poeticized prose. Parts I to IV are the introduction and historical background which frame and contextualize his portrayal of political imprisonment in Cuba; part V is a direct emotional appeal for empathy from his readers; parts VI and VII describe Castillo and Lino, the two principal portraits within his portrayal of imprisonment; parts VIII to XI portray four sketches of fellow prisoners; and part XII depicts a phantasmagoric conclusion. Even today some readers might regard El presidio político en Cuba as political testimony, embellished with the art of rhetoric, but more interesting or important for its historical place in the politics of colonial Cuba, while others might continue to read it as “literature” clearly linked to the originating historical circumstances which, however, it ultimately transcends.  In fact, it is both literature and political activity, for Martí’s writing is characterized by the convergence of poetry and politics: there is an integral relationship between why he writes, what he writes and how he writes. El presidio político en Cuba is a poem in prose that emerges out of the historical situation it is attempting to change. To separate the political from the literary, or to emphasize one without sufficiently considering the other, would ultimately undermine the convergence of the imaginative and the historical that is one of the essential features of Martí’s emancipatory discourse. This seamless convergence of politics and poetics is demonstrated through a necessarily meticulous analysis of the rhetorical elements of parts I to V, where Martí introduces his principal arguments, establishes his modes of appeal, and situates his discourse within its precise historical context. A more telescopic study of parts VI to XII examines the two central portraits and four supporting sketches that comprise the portrayal of prison, as well as the gruesome images that conclude the work. Bibliography Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. London: Verso, 1983 Barnett, Pamela. The Politics of Letters: José Martí’s Revolutionary Discourse. Doctoral Thesis, University of Toronto: 2006. Foner, Philip S. Our America by José Martí. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1977. Martí, José. Obras completas. 27 vols. La Habana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1975. Portuondo, José Antonio. José Martí.  Crítico literario. Washington: Unión Panamericana, 1953. Ramos, Julio. Divergent Modernities. Culture and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Latin America. Trans. John D. Blanco. Durham: Duke U. P., 1996.) Toledo Sande, Cesto de llamas. Biografía de José Martí. (My Translation,  Basket of Flames: A Biography of José Martí.  La Habana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 2000). Vitier, Cintio. “Los discursos de Martí” Anuario Martiano 1, 1969: 293-318.

ipamba@gmail.com Twitter Facebook iPamba  Blog because life happens Ask Pamba Blog on education Pambacom Blog words at work Read Excerpts from Thesis Chapters Thesis Abstract Introduction Martí’s Revolutionary Oratory “Nuestra América” Conclusion academia.edu my Prezi my Scoop.It my Pinterest my linked in profile

Copyright 2006 Pamela Rubina Elizabeth Barnett