A View from the Mangrove

By Antonio Benítez-Rojo and Antonio Benítez Rojo

Book Overview

In this masterful collection of short stories, a celebrated Cuban writer continues his imaginative exploration of the genesis of the modern Caribbean world. Intent on recovering the interior history (la infra-historia) of this astonishingly diverse region, Antonio Ben tez-Rojo ranges widely across time and geography. He also experiments with a variety of narrative techniques and prose styles, each intended to capture some unique aspect of the Caribbean's heterogeneous, polyrhythmic cultural heritage. Thus "The Broken Flute" centers on a tragic anthropological reflection; "Windward Passage" on the confessions of a guilty priest stationed in Hispaniola; "Summer Island" on events surrounding the colonization of St. Kitts; and "A View from the Mangrove" on the troubled days of a soldier during Cuba's War of Independence. The result is historical fiction of the first order, a vivid tapestry of characters and contexts. Whether describing the world through the eyes of a seventeenth-century African slave or an English slave trader, a French buccaneer or a Spanish official, an Aztec god's avatar or a Haitian grand blanc, Ben tez-Rojo displays a rare gift for resurrecting the past in all its chaotic and compelling immediacy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558492615
• ISBN13: 9781558492615
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Wonderfull short stories

This is one of the most fascinating books that I have read. The author engages in an exploration of the short story as a genre, using a varied array of styles, techniques and structures. The theme is very Caribeean and together with the technique transports you into the Caribeean at different stages during its colonial formation process. The book explores the Spanish, the French and the English Isles and parts of their history. Fantastic reading.