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The Autobiography of a Slave/Autobiografia De UN Esclavo (Latin American Literature and Culture Series)
In this first bilingual edition of the volume, Evelyn Picon Garfield provides a careful translation of Manzano's somber narration. Ivan Schulman introduces the text to place it in historical and cultural context. The Autobiography of a Slave makes available a major literary text and important social document, one that will contribute to the growing interest in Latin Americ
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Hardcover
,
135 pages
Published
January 1st 1996
by Wayne State University Press
(first published January 1st 1975)
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Community Reviews
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El único testimonio escrito por un esclavo cubano en su época, La autobiografía de un esclavo cuenta la dificultad, dolor y complejidad emocional de la vida en esclavitud en los 1800. La primera parte de la autobiografía fue publicada en Europa en 1840, pero no fue publicada por entero en Cuba hasta 1937, después de la muerte de Manzano. La segunda parte del manuscrito se perdió antes de ser publicada. Manzano escribió poesía y otros textos mientras era esclavo, mayormente a escondidas de sus am
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Nov 15, 2012
Dusty
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
graduate-school
,
read-in-2012
In the United States we are fortunate to have several slave narratives recorded for posterity. These do not compensate for the many more voices silenced by slavery and its afterlife, of course, but they do reveal our wealth relative to Cuba -- where there is, as far as we know, only Juan Francisco Manzano's
Autobiografía
. While the narrative is, as another reviewer mentions, somewhat truncated, it is nonetheless a gripping account of one man's lived pleasures and horrors, and it's also an eye-op
...more
I found the text while researching the history of slavery in Latin America. It's a moving story, but more importantly, a piece of history. I think it's key to understanding the effect that slavery actually had on slaves. This book alone, this testimony, told me more about my history, about Latin-American history, about slavery, than any text book ever could. This is the "Diary of Anne Frank" for slavery in the Caribbean. Except it was written before that, by a slave, so stupid white girls on goo ...more
I had to read this book for my History of the Caribbean class. It was ok except for the fact that Manzano, the author, keeps jumping back and forth in time, so things start to get a little confusing. Other than that, it was easy to read and really short. I finished it in a few days. It isn't incredibly boring either, but I wouldn't have picked it out myself.
This is our only remaining account of a slave's life in Cuba. Ergo it has big-time historical significance. However, it's not exactly a riveting read.
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