IN BOOKSTORES: Selected Pages of José Martí

Selected pages of José Martí: the great challenge will be to select from this huge literary production, of high quality, with profound ethical and aesthetic implications. We must thank a deep-rooted Martí supporter, the unforgettable Roberto Fernández Retamar, for this compilation that contains texts revealing the profound sensitivity, the marked social commitment, the extraordinary versatility of the writer José Martí.

Some insist at this point in separating Martí the poet from Martí the politician. And these pages offer many examples of that essential unity of thought and action that characterized, that defined, the Martí itinerary. One cannot separate Martí the writer from Martí the politician because these two spheres are intrinsically together, assuming the determined dedication of the National Hero to the cause of freedom and justice.

Martí thought writing as an extension, and even many times the epicenter, of his political struggle. Literature was not only a means of artistic expression, but a tool for education and social mobilization. The usefulness of art, which does not imply raw instrumentalizations. Most of his creation makes explicit his commitment to the independence of Cuba, to the full emancipation of the Latin American nations. If the approach was not explicit, at least a system of values was notable - it’s notable -.

José Martí made his literary work a platform of ideals. His essays, newspaper articles and speeches that address artistic themes, were often vehicles for his political and social ideas, his philosophical vision. But it should be established that it was not mere propaganda. Martí's writing lavishes symbolism and metaphors. It’s evident in his poetry, for example, that it’s realized, that it’s concretized in the most exalted beauty and at the same time it’s often a song, a commitment to human dignity.

Martí was not only a politician; he was also a moral beacon, two conditions that do not always come together. There’s a clear ecumenical calling in his literary body. A universalist approach, a humanism expressed in the ability to glimpse a more just and supportive world... and that’s not mere contemplation, because it fights to make that utopia real.

In these Selected Pages, this elegant literary style is manifested, this prose rich in images, the musicality and the strength of his lyrical proposal. There are also signs of innovation, of experimentation in various genres. José Martí was a renovator, a precursor (some say the leading exponent) of literary modernism.

More than once it has been said: this country is a great privilege, its most prominent political figure, its National Hero, is also one of its strongest, inspired, influential writers, thinker and poet, journalist, man of encyclopedic knowledge, José Martí always has angles for new approaches. The selected Pages can be a guide and encouragement.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff