Lucia Jerez

Lucía Jerez, the only novel written by José Martí (Cuba, 1853-1895) ranksamong the first and most important novels of Hispanic AmericanModernism. This work,overlooked or trivialized by critics over theyears, today is considered a revolutionary narrtive because in itthe writer experiments with techniques that pre-announce the XX CenturyVanguard writiers, and even contemporary post-modernism texts.This is a novel built upon symbols, impresionist and expresionist prose,full of visionary enunciations that depict the present and future of anoff-balance world; and the fragile and inconstant experiences of our daily life.Martí, according to his own confession, wrote the novel originally under thetitle of Amistad Funesta (Regrettable Friendship) in seven days for aNew York magazine. He was forced to follow the guidelines setby the magazine’s director: there had to be lots of love; a death; manyyoung women, no sinful passion; and nothing that parents and clergymen wouldreject. And it had to be Hispanic American. The Cubanconfessed he disliked the narrative genre. But years afterwards hechanged his mind and thought about a modified version of his novel, with adifferent title because he realized, after reading Harriet BeecherStowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona, that novelscould be a powerful social and political vehicle.In Lucía Jerez many critics have preferred to see a fundamentally aestheticcreation,the fruit of the end of the XIX Century Modernist stylisticinnovations. But today (re)reading, 'under the surface' of the text, as Martí preferred, one can discover acontemporary narrative that explores thedisconnections and annomalies of modern life.Inthe preliminary study to this text Prof. Ivan A. Schulman examines Jose Marti’s stance with regard to novelistic narratives, explores Lucia Jerez’s structure and style, and addsnotes that contribute to a novel, in-depth comprehension of Marti’s text.