Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Labrador-Rodriguez, Sonia

Area of Concentration

Literature

Abstract

At the beginning of the XIX century Cuba experienced urban, ideological and cultural advancements due to the boom of sugar and coffee products. The discrepancies that the Bourbonic Reforms fostered between criollos and peninsulares furthered the leanings of the sacarocracia on establishing themselves around an identity and culture that were independent from that of the metropole. In this way, following Domingo del Monte’s lead, the creole elite embarked on a cultural movement that would reaffirm their ideologies and identity, by means of the establishment of a ‘Cuban literary tradition’. The economic advancements of this time also helped the germination of an incipient middle class composed of negros libertos and pardos libertos. Thus, this thesis will focus on the poetry of two mulatto poets, Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés (Plácido) and Juan Francisco Manzano, who appropriated the literary discourse of the higher classes to establish themselves as authors; as a result, their poetry crystalizes a Cuba that differs from the models spread by the sacarocracia.

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