NICOLAS GUILLEN’S POETRY AND MIGUEL BARNET’S BIOGRAFIA DE UN

NICOLAS GUILLENS POETRY AND MIGUEL BARNETS BIOGRAFIA DE UN

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Literature of the Latin America is one of the richest ones in the world. It contains

many writings, poems, novels, narrations and other pieces of writing which tend to deal with

various issues which were present in lives of people in different epochs. One of them was the

epoch of slavery and unequal treatment of people who come from Africa. The most

significant works which cover this topic belong to Miguel Barnet and Nicolas Guillens and

reveals numerous aspects of life of the slaves.

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are the time when forced migration through

the Middle Passage enforced the narrative and cultural dialogues between North America,

South America and Africa.

The same centuries are marked as the beginning of the African diaspora in the South

America, which resulted not only in bringing significant amount of people to the continent,

but also with enrichment of the culture which was significantly influenced by dance, music,

instruments, food, religions, languages, beliefs, and myths which were brought by the

immigrants.

It is impossible to deny the fact that Latin American literature and culture were

influences by presence of Africans. A range of texts which are dated by the seventeenth

century represent the role of the Black people and interpretation of their literature, culture and

various sources which were used for creation of poetry, such as Silvestre de Balboa, Sor

Juana Ines de la Crux, Ruben Dario and many others (Skidmore, Helg, Knight, 1996; The

Legacy of Negrismo/ Negritude: Inter-American Dialogues, 1999).

As for the genre of short story and drama, these were significantly promoted by Lydia

Cabrera, while such writers as Gertrudis Gomez de Avellanda and Cirilo Villaverde wrote

such significant novels as Sab and Cecilia Valdes accordingly.

A great interest towards African culture was demonstrated by publications of Leo

Frobenius; later it was combined with publications of Blaise Cedras and Pales Matos to


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represent the culture of the Black people more visible and lead to the peak of the movement

which was called Negrismo.

Despite the fact that description of the Black culture and picturing of the Black people

in the literature were very important for the international consciousness, the greatest

difficulty was in the fact that because of some social economic and other reasons which are

related to the process of colonization, many white writers manipulated the image of the

Africans and the phenomenon of Negrismo was not an exception.

It is noted by such critics as Richard Jackson that Black Latin Americans were

frequently represented in an exotic way and this representation was based on European

models rather than on true understanding of the immigrants.

However, since Nicolas Guillen published his first collection of poetry under the

name Motivos de Son in 1930, critiques state that the object of these literary representations

found a voice that motivated the transition to subject and object at once.

Those days Cuba still experienced problems with the issue of incorporation of the

population of the Blacks in the life of the state; numerous problems which resulted from the

Spanish-American War were also urgent to be addressed; as a consequence, Afro-Cubanism

movement occurred.

Later, as stated by the experts, In conjunction with the increasing production of Latin

Americans of African descent in other countries in the Americas, the Negrist writing gave

way to a revised focus in the Afrocriollo movement characterized by what Jackson has called

Negritude.

This movement in Latin American bore a strong resemblance to the Negritude

movement of the Francophone Caribbean as led by the intellectuals Aime Cesaire, Leon

Damas, and Leopold Senghor, who, in the 1930s, promoted black awareness and identity

through poetry.


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As the same time it was observed by Jackson that literature of Latin America was

influenced by two sides of the same movement negrismo and negritude. These two sides

had clear distinctions and they were even recognized to be paradoxical; however, they

propagated negative images of Africans while at the same time demonstrating that these

people have some value.

It was noted that the influence of negrismo caused a dilettante image because it had

some similarities to the negrophilia which occurred in Europe, while negritude incorporated

a conscious and deliberate preoccupation with the destruction of the myths and stereotypes.

Examining the way Nicolas Guillen describes the Blacks in his poems, it is important

to pay attention to the fact that the way he introduced these people in his poetry was greatly

influenced by Langston Hughes. They met in 1931 in Cuba, in the decade which followed the

beginning of negritude and Negrismo movements of the 1920s.

Those days Hughes had already established his reputation of a poet who dedicates his

narratives to spirits and lives of Africans who live in the United States of America, while

Guillen only started the process of development of his own literary approach and he tended to

reflect lives and concerns which occur in life of Black Cubans.

After the publication of Motivos de Son he became named the National Poet of Cuba

and he also started occupying the position of the UNEAC president. Similarly to Hughes,

Guillen tended to pay attention to the symbolic actions of affirmation of races, criticism of

the society, Pan-African and Pan-American vision of interaction of political and cultural

style; his poetry also reflected the awareness of significant influence of the government of the

Untied States of America and of the authorizes of the countries of Latin America on culture

and lives of African Americans (The Legacy of Negrismo/Negritude: Inter-American

Dialogues, 1999).


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Miguel Barnet is one more writer whose work Biografia de un Cimarron is a slave

narrative, which is a genre of Diaspora African literature. The genre is an important part not

only of African American and African Caribbean literatures, but it also belongs to the

heritage of the literature of Latin America.

The book is considered unique and the reason is that it represents one of those few

texts which describe experience of the slaves from Afro Caribbean perspective. Culturally

and linguistically the book covers many aspects of life of slaves who are represented by an

image of Esteban Montejo, who is an ex slave, coming from African and having 105 years.

The narrative, although written by a Cuban writer, is believed to be the beginning of

the testimonial fiction in the literature letters of Latin America. The text is oral, but it was

transmitted as a written one due to editorial input of Barnet.

It is necessary t pay attention to the fact that life experience and approaches which are

represented in the book sometimes deviate from those which are accepted as historical facts.

As William Foster commented on the book, Barnet specifically introduces it as part of an

ethnographic undertaking (and it was originally published in 1966 by the Instituto de

Etnologia y Folkrore in Havana).

This means that the book by Barnet responds to the sets of ideological needs in terms

of filling the lacuna, which had been created by complete absence of authentic African

perspective which was experience of the slaves and folklore completing. As commented by

Foster, who has been already mentioned above,

[There] can be little question that Biografia has an anterior social motive: the

documentation of both the authentic folk culture of Cuba that the revolution sought to recover

and the deplorable human conditions that justify the revolution and its subsequent programs.


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The Autobiography of a Runaway Slave also represents the choice of the protagonist

as some autobiographical issue, which reflects personal need of the writer to have his self

reintegrated into the contemporary establishment and doxa of Cuba in terms of literature.

The narrative also has some political motivation and it is very likely that Barnet used

the Montejo story as an opportunity to have public literary life resumed. Those aspects of

Montejos lives which are related to his revolutionary spirits and independence might

represent a way in which the writer tried to overcome censorship of the bureaucracy.

Picturing the slaves, and as a consequences all people who represented minorities and

because of this did not have an opportunity to be treated equally, Barnet takes two

perspectives voice and memory of the protagonist. Thus, the narrative is not only aimed at

representation of slave experiences and sufferings, but it also tends to reveal the worldview of

these people.

In order to reach this aim, Barnet makes the narrator an individual, and defines him

from historical, social, definite, and concrete perspectives. In the narrative the protagonist is

represented in various degrees, and his actions and words are always ideological. Thus, the

Autobiografia de un Cimarron represents a very specific perspective on the world which and

it has social significance.

In the process of development of the narrative, the readers become aware about

humanity of the protagonist, which is one more identity of his. Montejo uses minimal set of

resources to represent this feature (the resources were fragmented memory and orality). In

many other cases these would not provide any significant information, however, in the case

of Barnet they promote social relevance.

African culture is paid a lot of attention to in the narrative in terms of genetics and

symbols. Barnet demonstrates the issue of personhood to be a part of the whole culture, and

makes every person to be significant part of the family, village or clan.


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Barnet identifies a mentions some reasons which define the otherness condition. One

of them is the fact that Montejo is an orphan and this fact is clearly evoked by him; he also

draws some symbols of exile and marginalization to emphasize the fact that he belongs to the

others. The same patterns of circumlocutory African speech are used by him throughout the

whole narrative:

They also told me my parents had died in Sagua. Truth is that I would have liked to

meet them, but because I saved my skin, I was unable to. If I had come out of the woods they

[slave traders] would have caught me on the spotBlacks were sold like pigletsI never

met my parentsbut this is not sad

Barnet creates effect of pathos in the audience, demonstrating that speech for the

Africans is a communal phenomenon. The speech, in its turn, represents ethical and

ideological dimensions of lives of these people and makes them an integral part of the

society.

It is important to pay attention to the fact that the writer uses such activities as feeling,

thinking, and human referent as factors which represent the slaves. In other words, Barnet

tends to demonstrate the fact that slaves also have their world view and philosophy which can

be represented through metaphysics and ideology.

From the ideological point of view, the slavery abhorrence and oppression of the

slaves is expressed through his seeking for freedom. All the time he is on the run and he is

socially and morally stunned because he has no opportunity to develop any stable

relationship. As a consequence, the feeling of trust and loyalty do not represent any values for

him. However, he is still eager to become free and promote his individualism.

The worldview of Montejo, described by Barnet contains metaphysics, which is

animist, pantheistic, and fantastic; however, basically its form is African:


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The long and short of it is that I know everything depends on Nature. Nature is

everything. Even what you cant see because were subjects of a God The strongest gods

are the ones from Africa I dont know how they allowed slavery (Ogundayo, 2006).

Analyzing the words of African American writers, it is necessary to pay attention to

the fact that many of them were composed in oral form only. The reason is the fact that

slaveholders did not want their slaves to become educated, so many Black people just could

not read or write. However, they used their oral skills to narrate stories, myths, and legends in

order to share these to the new generations.

There can be no doubts that such circumstances influenced the development of the

literature of Latin America, as well as cultural differences of the authors. These came from

various regions of Africa, so they brought their own traditions, views, and culture.

As for Barnet and Guillen, despite the fact that both of them covered the issue of

otherness in the culture, each one came from a separate background, bringing ones own

traditions and sets of norms.

However, this did not prevent any of them from depicting polyphony in their works

the main theme was slavery and lives of the slaves, but both poetry of Guillen and the

narration by Barnet involve many more aspects of life, such as the process of socialization,

emotional aspect, behavior, values, etc.

It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that Barnets and Guillens works do not

demonstrate the process of transculturation, which is merging of the cultures. Instead they

demonstrate how people had to adapt themselves to the existing conditions and at the same

time tried to save the uniqueness of their culture and customs.

However, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that one way or another creative

activity of the writers, including Guillen and Barnet were influenced by various concepts.


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The issues which were affected the most were literary structure, language, and worldview

(Arnedo-Gomex, 2007).

Involving dialogism into their works, the writers aim to address the most important

problems of the slaves, at the same time paying attention to other aspects of live, contributing

to the polyphony of the pieces of art.

However, these are not the only issues which were present in the literature of Latin

America. Such phenomenon as heterogeneous literature and indigenism has also played a

significant role in the process of establishment of the culture, and of a range of social

conditions (Polar, 1988).

Thus, it is possible to conclude that the literature of the Latin America was influenced

by various movements, including those which were related to the issues of slavery and

immigration. Many pieces of art were created to describe experience of the slaves and each

one of the poems and stories differ because of the polyphony they contain, different social

backgrounds of the writers, their environment and cultural differences.

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References

Arnedo-Gomex, M. (2007). The Afrocubanista poetry of NG and ARs transculturation.

Afro-Hispanic Review, 26(2)

Ogundayo, B. Polyphony in Miguel Barnets Biografia de un Cimarron. (2006). Retrieved

from http://www.nobleworld.biz/images/Ogundayo.pdf

Polar, A. (1988). Indigenismo and Heterogeneous Literatures: Their Dual Socio-Cultural

Logic. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, 7(1)

Skidmore, T., Helg, A., Knight, A. (1996). The idea of race in Latin America, 1870-1940.

University of Texas Press, Austin.

The Legacy of Negrismo/ Negritude: Inter-American Dialogues. (1999).The Langston

Hughes Review, 16(2). Retrieved from

http://www.unc.edu/depts/europe/francophone/negritude/eng/feracho.pdf

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NICOLAS GUILLEN’S POETRY AND MIGUEL BARNET’S BIOGRAFIA DE UN