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Cecilia Valdes: Or El Angel Hill
Cecilia Valdes: Or El Angel Hill | Cirilo Villaverde
3 posts | 2 read | 2 to read
Cecilia Valdes is arguably the most important novel of 19th century Cuba. Originally published in New York City in 1882, Cirilo Villaverde's novel has fascinated readers inside and outside Cuba since the late 19th century. In this new English translation, a vast landscape emerges of the moral, political, and sexual depravity caused by slavery and colonialism. Set in the Havana of the 1830s, the novel introduces us to Cecilia, a beautiful light-skinned mulatta, who is being pursued by the son of a Spanish slave trader, named Leonardo. Unbeknownst to the two, they are the children of the same father. Eventually Cecilia gives in to Leonardo's advances; she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl. When Leonardo, who gets bored with Cecilia after a while, agrees to marry a white upper class woman, Cecilia vows revenge. A mulatto friend and suitor of hers kills Leonardo, and Cecilia is thrown into prison as an accessory to the crime.For the contemporary reader Helen Lane's masterful translation of Cecilia Valdes opens a new window into the intricate problems of race relations in Cuba and the Caribbean. There are the elite social circles of European and New World Whites, the rich culture of the free people of color, the class to which Cecilia herself belonged, and then the slaves, divided among themselves between those who were born in Africa and those who were born in the New World, and those who worked on the sugar plantation and those who worked in the households of the rich people in Havana. Cecilia Valdes thus presents a vast portrait of sexual, social, and racial oppression, and the lived experience of Spanish colonialism in Cuba."
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review
Bookworm54
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Pickpick

Finally finished this #AlmostAChunkster for #FoodAndLit #Cuba

It wasn‘t what I expected. It felt like a cross between a Jane Austen novel, Moll Flanders, and Gone with the Wind?

Set in nineteenth century Cuba, young Mulatto Cecilia (of unknown parentage, though we know straight away really) falls in love with a rich white man Leonardo. It is regularly remarked upon that she looks like his sister Adela. This is not a coincidence… 👇🏻

Bookworm54 The blurb also kind of gives the final couple of chapters away. I expected it to play more of a role in the story! Regardless the book is full of dances, intrigue, class politics, scheming, and despite often leaning towards listing notable people and their clothing, was an interesting read. Some of the interludes between masters and slaves were quite difficult to read however. 2y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 2y
Texreader I am so impressed!! Congratulations on making it through this one for Cuba!! 2y
Catsandbooks Interesting! 🇨🇺 2y
45 likes4 comments
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Bookworm54
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Finally starting Cecilia Valdes for #FoodAndLit #Cuba

I am looking forward to this novel, but also feeling a little overwhelmed! It‘s under 500 pages, but the writing is tiny!
It may end up over-running April 😂

#AwesomeApril #AlmostAChunkster

Andrew65 Good luck, always more of a struggle when it‘s small writing. 3y
Texreader Good luck! My foodandlit books are always slipping into other months 3y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Good luck!! 3y
43 likes3 comments
review
batsy
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Pickpick

This is a 19th century Cuban classic that reads like the social novels typical of the era. It's about a young, beautiful girl, the eponymous Cecilia, who is of mixed ethnicity in patriarchal, racist society under Spanish colonial rule. The story and characters are vivid. It is spirited, even melodramatic at times. What made it hard was the overt misogyny, racism and depictions of slavery. I'm glad I read it but it does make one #lookbackinanger.

batsy The author of Cecilia Valdes was a progressive abolitionist, but he reproduces the racism in his narrative despite his intention to depict slavery as inhumane. The repugnant obsession with skin colour and ethnic purity, and the social stratification that results from valuing human lives based on race, is something that was also depicted in another book I read about Spanish colonialism earlier in the year: Zama by Antonio di Benedetto. 7y
TrishB Great review again 👍 I feel saddened by the review so not sure I could attempt the book 😔 7y
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Utopiyll Woah loved what you had to say about this! Xx So in terms of the misogyny did the novel read as the author intending it to bring attention to misogyny or was it just that the novel had a lot of ingrained misogynistic ideas that everyone held back then, including the author? 7y
Cinfhen Excellent review💚 7y
batsy @TrishB Thank you! Strangely enough it's written in a very readable way that tries to capture other aspects of society, but the central issue is slavery and consequences so it does make one both sad and angry. 7y
batsy @Utopiyll Thank you. I would say it's definitely both; the author shows the privilege that slave-owning men have over "their" women and how some women become aware of the evils of slavery, but also reenacts some of those ideas in how it depicts the women. I think it's typical of a lot of male authors of the time, sadly. 7y
batsy @Cinfhen Thanks 😘 7y
batsy This is also letter C for #LitsyAtoZ 7y
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