A unique presentation in commemoration of the 129th anniversary of José Martí‘s death, with the objective of generating interest in his writings among English-speaking readers. Anne Fountain, a distinguished Martí scholar, will focus on Martí’s concept of race and how his vision for a free Cuba was informed by his experience of race relations in the United States. As an outlier, she will also touch upon Martí’s essay El terremoto de Charleston, describing the earthquake that shook Charleston, South Carolina on August 31, 1886, which claimed 60 lives. Published in the newspaper La Nación in Argentina, the article critiqued the behavior of African Americans, and Dr. Fountain will place his coverage of the event in context. It should be noted that this Martí chronicle, along with numerous others, would help define the modernist ethos in Latin American prose.
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A with Anne Fountain via Zoom, moderated by Iraida Iturralde, on behalf of our Martí Studies Program.
This event is part of our CreateNYC Language Access Series on Cuban History, Art, and Literature. It will be held in English and will be streamed through our YouTube channel.
FREE ADMISSION
TO ATTEND, CLICK HERE ON THE SCHEDULED DATE AND TIME:
https://youtu.be/shv4fq9IGwQ
To participate in the Q&A via Zoom, click here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89526024766
Anne Fountain is Professor Emerita, San José State University. Her books
about José Martí include, José Martí and U.S. Writers (2003); Versos Sencillos: A Dual Language Edition (2005); José Martí, the United States, and Race (2014); and Ramona: Novela Americana, edición crítica (2018) a critical edition with introduction in Spanish of Martí’s 1888 translation of the Helen Hunt Jackson novel of 1884. She has published numerous chapters, articles, and reviews about Martí and Cuban topics including the chapter on Martí in A Companion to World Literature, Vol 5a, John Wiley & Sons (2020). She served as Guest speaker and consultant for National Endowment for the Humanities Institutes about Martí in 2002 (University of South Florida) and 2019 (University of Tampa) and was the subject of a C-SPAN interview about José Martí. The United States, and Race in February 2017. She is currently working on a a book called Teaching “Nuestra América.” Fountain’s sensitive translation of Martí’s Versos Sencillos, his 1891 collection of poems, is widely considered the most faithful English rendition of Martí’s seminal work.
Image above: A photograph taken in Charleston after the 1886 earthquake, showing widespread damage.
This event is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature.
With the promotional cooperation of
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