| In 1896, Wenceslao Galvez y Delmonte fled the violence of Cuba's war for independence and settled in Tampa. He soon made his new home the focus of a work of costumbrismo, the Spanish-language genre built on closely observing the everyday manners and customs of a place.Translated here into English, Galvez s narrative mixes evocative descriptions with charming commentary to bring to life the early Cuban exile communities in Ybor City and West Tampa. The writer s sharp eye finds the local characters, the barber shops and electric streetcars, the city landmarks and new Cuban enclaves. One day, Galvez offers his thoughts on the pro-independence activities of community leaders like Martin Herrera and Fernando Figuerdo. On another, our exiled bourgeois intellectual author wryly recounts his new life as a door-to-door salesman and lector reading aloud to workers in a cigar factory.This scholarly edition includes photographs and newspaper clippings, a foreword on Galvez s extraordinary pre-exile years, extensive notes to the translation, and a wealth of other supplementary material putting the author s life and work in context.A volume in the series New World Diasporas, edited by Kevin A. Yelvington |
