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Web End = Neophilologus (2016) 100:6379
DOI 10.1007/s11061-015-9439-3
Joan Torres-Pou1
Published online: 3 July 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
Abstract The chapters included in Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvos La Havane, in which the author talks about her experiences and opinions about the United States, have not received much attention from the critics. This study offers a detailed analysis of these chapters pointing at various socio-political aspects which were determinant in the formulation of the text and its message. Furthermore, this study traces and identies certain elements related to the genesis and production of La Havane that question accepted assertions and concepts from contemporary critics of Santa Cruzs work. In the light of revealing comments from nineteenth-century writers and Santa Cruz herself, this study identies a series of aspects which are fundamental for the understanding of the complexities and contradictions of Santa Cruzs interesting travel book.
Keywords Merlin Nineteenth century travel literature Women writers
France/United States
En 1840, la dama de la alta sociedad francesa, Mara de las Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo (17891852), condesa de Merlin, realiz un viaje a Cuba sobre el cual escribi un libro en francs, La Havane (1844), del que, como es sabido, con el ttulo de Viaje a La Habana, se imprimi ese mismo ao en Madrid una seleccin de captulos traducidos al espaol con un prlogo de Gertrudis Gmez de Avellaneda. Desde entonces, se han publicado diversas reediciones de esa versin espaola abreviada y se han escrito muchos artculos y estudios sobre el libro, pero a pesar de
& Joan Torres-Pou [email protected]
1 Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s11061-015-9439-3&domain=pdf
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Web End = Nuevas consideraciones sobre La Havane de la condesa de Merlin: El viaje a los Estados Unidos
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64 J. Torres-Pou
que al parecer la obra apareci peridicamente en El Diario de la Habana, hasta1981 no contamos con una edicin completa de La Havane en espaol.1
El caso se explica por varias razones, ante todo por la escasa importancia que, hasta pocas recientes, se ha dado al libro de viajes dentro del panorama literario hispnico. Tambin...