Editing Alejo Carpentier

{{Short description|Cuban novelist (1904–1980)}}
{{no lead|date=May 2025}}

==Life==

===Early life and education===
Carpentier was born on December 26, 1904, in [[Lausanne]], Switzerland, to Jorge Julián Carpentier, a French architect, and Lina Valmont, a Russian language teacher.<ref name="Belnap 1993 263-264">{{Harvnb|Belnap|1993|pp=263–264}} cited in {{harvnb|Wakefield|2004|p=5}}</ref> For a long time it was believed that he was born in [[Havana]], where his family moved immediately after his birth; however, following Carpentier's death, his birth certificate was found in Switzerland.<ref>{{Harvnb|Belnap|1993|pp= 263–264}} cited in {{harvnb|Wakefield|2004|p=6}}</ref>

In 1912, Alejo and his family moved from [[Cuba]] to Paris. As an adolescent, he read Balzac, Flaubert, and Zola.<ref name="Belnap 1993 263-264"/> In 1921, Carpentier attended the School of Architecture of the University of Havana. When he was 18, his parents' marriage broke up and his father left. The following year, Carpentier left his studies and tried to find work to support his mother.<ref name="Belnap 1993 263-264"/> He turned to journalism, working for the Cuban newspapers ''Carteles'' and ''Social''. He also studied music.<ref name="Colchie">Colchie, Thomas (editor), ''A Hammock Beneath the Mangoes: stories from Latin America''; Penguin Group, 416–417 (1991).</ref>

Though bilingual from an early age, Carpentier always spoke Spanish with a marked French accent.

===Cuba and exile in France===
In 1921, while studying in Havana, Carpentier became a cultural journalist, writing mostly about avant-garde developments in the arts, particularly music."{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=19}} He contributed columns to ''La Discusión'', a daily journal from Havana. His journalistic work, which was considered leftist, helped establish the first Cuban Communist Party.<ref name="Colchie"/>
During 1923 and 1924 he continued to work as a columnist and also edited musical and theatre reviews for ''La Discusión'' and ''[[El Heraldo de Cuba]]''.{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=24}} In 1927, with the help of Jorge Mañach, Juan Marinello, Francisco Ichaso, and Martí Casanovas, he became a founding member of ''[[Revista de Avance]]'', a magazine devoted to nationalism, radicalism and new ideas in the arts.{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=33}}

The first issue appeared on March 15, 1927; it lasted until September 15, 1930, and became the "voice of the vanguard" and the primary voice of expression of the Cuban movement.{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=19}} Because of his involvement in such projects, Carpentier was often suspected of having subversive and ultramodern cultural ideas. Carpentier was arrested in 1927 for opposing [[Gerardo Machado y Morales]] dictatorship and had signed a democratic and anti-imperialist manifesto against Machado's regime and, as a result, spent forty days in jail.{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=19}} During this brief period in jail he started working on his first novel, ''Ecué-Yamba-O'', an exploration of Afro-Cuban traditions among the poor of the island.<ref name="Colchie"/> (The book was eventually completed in 1933.)

After his release, he escaped Cuba with the help of journalist [[Robert Desnos]] who lent him his passport and papers.<ref name="Colchie"/> Carpentier decided on a voluntary exile to France and arrived in Paris in 1928; he remained there until 1939, when he returned to Havana. When he left Cuba, he was fortunate enough to avoid the political conflicts which had occurred during the 1930s. During this time certain positions were unacceptable to the authorities and Cuban intellectuals were forced to define their political position and for these and other political reasons he decided to leave.

During this time abroad, his disconnection from Cuba and the interaction with different groups of intellectuals and artists in Paris helped with his "critical vision".{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=18}} Carpentier felt that it was important for him to remain outside the influences of movements because he believed in maintaining a "balance against the insularity of his homeland".<ref name="Echevarría 1990, p.34">{{harvnb|Echevarría|1990|p=34}}</ref> Upon arriving in Paris he immediately began working on poems and editorials in Parisian and Cuban magazines. Contributions to the Parisian Journal such as the short story "Cahiers du Sud" (1933), in French, were an effort to acquire European readers as a way to improve his recognition.<ref name="Echevarría 1990, p.34"/> He also contributed to the magazines ''Documents'' and ''L'Intransigeant''.{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=42}} Carpentier was familiar with the activities of the ''Comité de Jeunes Revolutionnaires Cubains'', a group of exiled Cuban leftists who had published ''La Terreur á Cuba'', a brochure against the Machado government. He documented the latest news about this group and their activities in his book ''Homenaje a nuestros amigos de Paris''.{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=43}} It was also during this time that, with the help of Robert Desnos, Carpentier became part of the surrealist movement which became a positive influence in his work. While in France, Carpentier also founded a literary magazine called ''Imán'' in 1931, for which he became editor-in-chief.<ref>{{harvnb|Mocega-González|1980|p=54}}</ref> Most of the authors who worked with him in ''La Revolution Surrealiste'' also contributed works in ''Imán'' under the title "''Conocimiento de America''".<ref name="Janney 1981, p.69">{{harvnb|Janney|1981|p=69}}</ref> Carpentier contributed the short story ''Histoire de Lunes'' (1933); it was experimental for its time as it contained elements of fantasy and folklore characterized as magical reality.<ref name="Janney 1981, p.69"/>

Surrealism helped Carpentier to see contexts and aspects, especially those of American life, which he did not see before and after working among the leading artistic figures for some time, Carpentier did not feel overly enthusiastic about his work within surrealism and had felt that his "surrealist attempts ha[d] been in vain" describing his frustration, as he felt he had "nothing to add to this movement in France".{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=45}}

As Carpentier became acquainted with those among the arts community he had several encounters to meet other famous authors such as [[Pablo Neruda]], who had sent him a draft of his book ''[[Residencia en la Tierra]]'' to review; Guatemalan author [[Miguel Ángel Asturias]], whose work on pre-Columbian mythology influenced his writing;<ref name="Colchie"/>  and [[Pablo Picasso]], an introduction made possible through Carpentier's connection with friends in the arts.{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=32}}

Throughout his time in France Carpentier was occupied with not only literary works, but also other projects that kept him engaged within the arts. He collaborated with French composer Marins François Gaillard on the musical ''Yamba-O'', "a burlesque tragedy", that was presented in the ''Théâtre Beriza'' in Paris (1928); and with composer [[Amadeo Roldán]] helped organize the Cuban premieres of works by [[Stravinsky]] and [[Francis Poulenc|Poulenc]]. In film, Carpentier wrote text and edited music for the French documentary ''Le Vaudou''.{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=31}} He continued to earn his living by writing on contemporary culture, both in French and Spanish. He also began working for a French radio station as a sound-technician and producer. From 1932 until 1939 Carpentier worked on several projects produced by Foniric Studios.<ref name="Echevarría 1990, p.34"/> He directed the production of ''[[Le Livre de Christophe Colomb]]'' and collaborated with Desnos on arranging readings of Edgar Allan Poe's ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'', and Walt Whitman's ''Salute to the World''. Although abroad, Carpentier still maintained contact with Cuba by sending articles and poems to contribute to Havana publications such as ''Ensayos Convergentes''.<ref name="Echevarría 1990, p.34"/>

When the Machado regime came to an end in 1933, Carpentier decided to make plans to return to his native land to visit, and in 1936 he made the trip back to Cuba. The time he had spent in Paris for over eleven years had enriched and "oriented his expressive abilities".{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=77}} Carpentier himself indicated that he was tiring of Paris, and "...in 1939 without any other reason than the nostalgia of Cuba, I vacated my apartment and started the return to La Habana".{{sfn|Bergh|1972|p=131}}

=== Years in Haiti and return to Cuba ===

In 1943, accompanied by French theatrical director [[Louis Jouvet]], Carpentier made a crucial trip to [[Haiti]], during which he visited the fortress of the [[Citadelle Laferrière]] and the Palace of Sans-Souci, both built by the black king [[Henri Christophe]]. This trip, along with readings from [[Oswald Spengler]]'s cyclical interpretation of history, provided the inspiration for his second novel, ''El Reino de Este Mundo'' ''([[The Kingdom of this World]])'' (1949).

Carpentier returned to Cuba and continued to work as a [[journalist]] at the outbreak of World War II. He worked on a history of [[Music of Cuba|Cuban music]], eventually published in 1946 as ''La música en Cuba''.<ref>Carpentier, Alejo 1972. ''La Musica en Cuba''. Mexico.</ref>

=== Life in Venezuela ===

In 1945, Carpentier moved to Caracas as an exile. From 1945 to 1959 he lived in [[Venezuela]], which is the inspiration for the unnamed South American country in which much of his novel ''The Lost Steps'' takes place.

He wrote short stories which were later collected in ''The War of Time'' (1958).<ref name="Colchie"/> While in Cuba, Carpentier attended a ''[[santería]]'' ceremony that was to further deepen his interest in Afro-Cubanism. In 1949, he finished his novel ''The Kingdom of this World''. This novel has a prologue that "outlines Carpentier's faith in the destiny of [[Latin America]] and the aesthetic implications of its peculiar cultural heritage."<ref name="Colchie"/>

===Later life===
Carpentier returned to Cuba after the triumph of the revolution led by [[Fidel Castro]] in 1959. He worked for the State Publishing House while he completed the baroque-style book, ''El Siglo de las Luces'' ''([[Explosion in a Cathedral]])'' (1962).<ref name="Colchie"/> This novel discusses the advent of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and the ideas of the [[French Revolution]] in the New World. It has twin [[leitmotifs]] of the printing press and the [[guillotine]] and can be read as a "meditation on the dangers inherent in all revolutions as they begin to confront the temptations of dictatorship."<ref name="Colchie"/> After reading the book, [[Gabriel García Márquez]] is said to have discarded the first draft of ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude]]'' and begun again from scratch.<ref>Echevarría</ref><!-- original edit doesn't give the year - either 1990 or 1993 -->

In 1966, Carpentier settled in Paris where he served as Cuban ambassador to France. In 1975 he was the recipient of the [[Prix mondial Cino Del Duca]]. He received the [[Premio Cervantes|Cervantes Prize]]<ref name=jp>{{in lang|fr}}[http://www.chez.com/jpquin/carpenti.html Une autre vision de Cuba]</ref> in 1977 and was recipient of the French Laureates [[Prix Médicis]] étranger in 1979 for ''La harpe et l'ombre''.<ref name=jp/><ref name=wiki>[[Prix Médicis]]</ref><ref name=lettre>{{in lang|fr}}[http://www.lettresdecuba.cult.cu/global/loader.php?&cont=showpersona.php&num=1&seccion=4&id=7 Lettres de Cuba, Alejo Carpentier] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071125130521/http://www.lettresdecuba.cult.cu/global/loader.php |date=2007-11-25 }}</ref> A perennial contender for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]],<ref>José Gonzalez Echevarria ''Alejo Carpentier: The Pilgrim at Home'', University of Texas Press, 2014, chapter 1</ref> Carpentier was first nominated for the award in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=13750 |title=Nomination archive: Alejo Carpentier y Valmont |date=April 2020 |publisher=nobelprize.org }}</ref>

Carpentier was struggling with cancer as he completed his final novel, ''El arpa y la sombra'', and finally died in Paris on April 24, 1980. His remains were returned to Cuba for interment in the [[Colon Cemetery, Havana]].

''[[École Française de la Havane|École Française de la Havane "Alejo Carpentier"]]'', a French international school in Havana, is named after him.

==Themes==

===''Lo real maravilloso''===
Carpentier is widely known for his theory of ''lo real maravilloso''. This is the notion that the history and the geography of Latin America are both so extreme as to appear fictional or even magical to outsiders. Thus, Latin America is a region where the line between magic and reality is blurred. It was in the prologue to ''The Kingdom of this World'', a novel of the [[Haitian Revolution]], that he described his vision of ''lo real maravilloso'': "But what is the history of Latin America but a chronicle of magical realism?"<ref>{{Harvnb|Gosser Esquilín|1997|}}</ref> The novel itself develops the outlandish (but true) history of [[Henri Christophe]], first king of Haiti, as an example of how the real history of Latin America is so strange as to appear fictional. Some critics interpret the ''real maravilloso'' as being synonymous with [[magical realism]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|2004|}}</ref> However, Carpentier's theory and its development in his work are more limited in their scope than is the magical realism of, for example, Gabriel García Márquez. Whereas García Márquez's works include events that the reader never mistakes for reality (rainfall of flowers, old men with wings, etc.), Carpentier, for the most part, simply writes about extreme aspects of the history and geography of Latin America, aspects that are almost unbelievable, but that are in fact true.<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|2004|p=12}}</ref>

===Music===
As a young child Carpentier was exposed to a great deal of music. Carpentier himself played the piano, as did his mother; his father played cello, studying under [[Pablo Casals]], and his grandmother played the organ.<ref name="Navarro 1999 25">{{Harvnb|Navarro|1999|p= 25}}</ref> Carpentier studied music theory at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly when he lived in Paris for the first time.<ref>{{Harvnb|Colchie|1991|}}</ref> Carpentier's own compositions made him an important part of the contemporary Cuban musical landscape, but he also studied the origins and political nuances of Cuban music. His devotion to the adaptations of European artistic styles into Latin American music styles can also be seen in his admiration for Afro-Cuban musical themes.<ref>{{Harvnb|Navarro|1999|pp=16–20}}</ref>

Early in his career Carpentier collaborated with other young musicians eager to explore Cuban musical roots. One such collaborator was [[Amadeo Roldán]], a French musician of Cuban background.<ref>{{Harvnb|Navarro|1999|pp= 42–46}}</ref> They helped to organize the Cuban premiere of popular orchestral music of the era ''Conciertos de música nueva'' (''Concerts of New Music''), featuring composers such as [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], [[Darius Milhaud|Milhaud]], [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]], [[Gian Francesco Malipiero|Malipiero]], [[Francis Poulenc|Poulenc]] and [[Erik Satie|Satie]]. In regards to their own music, Carpentier and Roldán were far more interested in integrating African rhythms and melodies into their works and abandoned imitation of European musical styles. "¡Abajo la lira, arriba el bongó!"<ref name="Navarro 1999 43">{{Harvnb|Navarro|1999|p= 43}}</ref> (Down with the lyre, up with the bongo!) was the popular slogan for their style of music. Carpentier and Roldán collaborated on numerous works, including the 1925 orchestral piece ''Obertura sobre temas cubanos'' (''Overture on Cuban Themes'') which was regarded as scandalous for its betrayal of what was seen as the proper European-style symphony in favor of Afro-Cuban inspired music.<ref name="Navarro 1999 43"/>  Other well-known collaborations between the two included ''Tres pequeñas poemas: Oriente, Pregón, Fiesta negra'' (''Three little poems'') produced in 1926, and two Afro-Cuban ballets: ''La Rebambaramba'', a colonial ballet  in two parts (1928) and ''El milagro de Anaquille'' (1929).<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1972|pp= 44–46}}</ref>

Carpentier's interest in music had great influence on his prose writing. Navarro suggests that readers of Carpentier's works are more listeners than they are readers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Navarro|1999|p= 105}}</ref> Lyrical use of colloquial dialects, literary rhythms such as alliteration and assonance and the theme of music within the world of the narrative (drums, footsteps, etc.) are a few examples of music's influence over Carpentier's work.<ref name="Navarro 1999 25"/> In an interview the author himself was quoted as saying "Music is present in all of my work."<ref>{{harvnb|Navarro|1999|p=156}}</ref> For Carpentier, analysis of Cuban identity was grounded in the analysis of Cuban music.  As such, for Carpentier to better understand Cuban identity through his work, he eagerly integrated music into his writing.<ref>{{Harvnb|Navarro|1999|p= 217}}</ref>

===Ethnomusicology and Afro-Cubanism===
With this intrinsic appreciation of music and a fascination with Cuban identity, Carpentier began investigating the origins of Cuban music in a more academic sense.<ref>{{Harvnb|Navarro|1999}}</ref> In 1946, Carpentier published the ethnomusicological study ''La Música en Cuba'' which explores how European music, transplanted African music and the indigenous music of the island all blended together to create Cuban music. Carpentier took particular interest in Afro-Cuban themes.<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1972|pp= 55–56}}</ref>

Particularly fascinated with the overwhelming influence of African music in Cuban music, Carpentier introduced Afro-Cuban influenced music called ''lo afrocubano'', (i.e. heavily improvised and rhythm based music) into what was deemed more formal music venues dependent on European styles, called ''lo guajiro''. Carpentier once wrote that ''lo guajiro'' was, "very poetic, but ''lo guajiro'' is not music...On the other hand, in mestizo and black music...the rich material has an incredible wealth to it...to make it the work of national expression."<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1972|pp= 360–362}} cited in {{harvnb|Navarro|1999|p=39}}</ref> Because of racial tensions between white Cubans and black and [[criollo people|criollo]] Cubans, such preferences were not well received by the Cuban elite of the mid century.<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1972|pp= 293–294}}</ref> Carpentier devoted the majority of his musicology research to the [[Afro-Cuban]] influences present in Cuba. For example, Carpentier paid particular attention to [[Contradanza]], a wildly popular Cuban dance derived from the European style of music and dance, [[Country dance|Contredanse]]. The ample room left for musical improvisation and the element of group dance were easily adapted into African musical tradition where improvisation and dance play integral roles. Hence, a hybrid musical form unique to Cuba was created.<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1972|p=126}}</ref> Carpentier argued that the improvisation inherent in African influenced music allowed for varied interpretations that catalyzed regional differences and therefore regional identity, and concluded that this was why Cuba had such a varied musical identity.<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1972|p=249}}</ref>

==Major works==
Carpentier's major works include:

;Novels:
*''¡Écue-Yamba-O!'' (1933) (''Praised Be the Lord!'')
*''El reino de este mundo'' (1949) (''[[The Kingdom of this World]]'')
*''Los pasos perdidos'' (1953) (''The Lost Steps'')
*''El acoso'' (1956) (''The Chase'', American English translation 1989 by Alfred Mac Adam)
*''El siglo de las luces'' (1962) (''[[Explosion in a Cathedral]]'')
*''Concierto barroco'' (1974) (''Concierto barroco''; English: ''Baroque Concert''), based on the 1709 meeting of [[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]], [[Handel]] and [[Domenico Scarlatti]], with cameo appearances by [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] and [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], and fictional characters from the new world who inspire the Venetian composer's opera, ''[[Motezuma]]''.
*''El Recurso del método'' (1974) (''Reasons of State'')
*''La consagración de la primavera'' (1978) (''[[The Rite of Spring]]''; ''Le Sacre du Printemps'', ballet by [[Igor Stravinsky]])
*''El arpa y la sombra'' (1979) (''The Harp and the Shadow'') dealing with [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]].

;Short stories:
*''El sacrificio'' (1923) (The Sacrifice)
*''Viaje a la semilla'' (1944) (Journey to the Seed)
*''Oficio de tinieblas'' (1944) (Office of Darkness)
*''Guerra del tiempo'' (1956) (''War of Time'')
*''Otros relatos'' (1984) (''Other Stories'')

;Essays:
*''La música en Cuba'' (1946) (''The Music of Cuba''), an ethno-musicological study of Cuba starting from the 16th century, the arrival of European explorers, till the present day of publication, the mid-20th century.
*''Tristán e Isolda en tierra firme'' (1949) (Tristan and Isolde on the Mainland)
*''Literatura y conciencia en América Latina'' (1969) (Literature and Consciousness in Latin America)
*''La ciudad de las columnas'' (1970) (The City of Columns)
*''América Latina en su música'' (1975) (Latin America in its Music)
*''Razón de ser'' (1976) (Reason for Being)
*''Afirmación literaria americanista'' (1979) (Americanist Literary Affirmation)
*''El adjetivo y sus arrugas'' (1980) (The Adjective and its Wrinkles)
*''El músico que llevo dentro'' (1980) (The Musician in Me) 
*''Conferencias'' (1987) (Conferences)

===''El reino de este mundo'' (''The Kingdom of This World'')===
Carpentier's ''[[El reino de este mundo]]'' (1949) highlights the [[Haitian Revolution]] of the 18th century when the African slaves fought the French colonists for their freedom and basic human rights.<ref>{{Harvnb|Paravisini-Gebert|2004|p= 114}}</ref> The novel combines not only historical references of the event with aspects of African faith and rituals, most notably [[Haitian vodou]]; but also the connections between corporeal and spiritual self.<ref>{{Harvnb|Paravisini-Gebert|2004|pp= 115–116}}</ref> The story is seen through the eyes of the protagonist Ti Noël, a black slave. Being a white, European/Cuban writer who published on the subject of the Haitian Revolution, it has been implied that Carpentier chose to write from Ti Noël's point of view so that he would avoid being criticized for any racial stereotyping.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wakefield|2004|p= 58}}</ref> Carpentier incorporates symbolic architecture throughout the novel; representing the dictatorship of colonial rule with structures such as the [[Sans-Souci Palace]] and the fortress of La Ferrière.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wakefield|2004|p= 56}}</ref>

===''La música en Cuba'' (''The Music of Cuba'')===

''La música en Cuba'' (''The Music of Cuba'') is an ethno-musicological study of the [[Music of Cuba]] starting from the sixteenth century with the arrival of European explorers, until the present day of publication, the mid-twentieth century. The blending of different cultures&mdash;black, white, mulattoes, [[criollo people|criollos]] and natives&mdash;mirrors the blending of Cuba's two main musical styles, the Christian European music and the elemental percussion and rhythm-based music of the transported Africans and aboriginal peoples of the island.<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1972|p= 50}}</ref> The book includes a general history of music in colonized Latin America but mainly focuses on Cuban styles of music and dance, influential Cuban musicians and Cuban musical identity. Carpentier devotes a great deal of his study to exploring the influence African descendants had on Cuban music. He has an entire chapter titled, "Los Negros" ("The Blacks")<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1972|p= 136}}</ref> that explores the many substantial ways African music influenced all of Latin American music. According to Carpentier, the African influence on Cuban music in particular was deliberately concealed by the colonist prejudice of 18th- and 19th-century Cuba. At the time of the book's publication many white Cubans were reluctant to even acknowledge the blending of the cultures much less investigate it.<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1972|pp= 302–303}}</ref> Carpentier, though, was eager to do so and by making bold statements about Cuba's past and integral relationships with a wide range of cultures he succeeded in giving back to Cuba an in-depth academic perspective of its own cultural identity through its music.<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1972|p= 304}}</ref>

===''Guerra del tiempo'' (''The War of Time'')===

''Guerra del tiempo'' (''The War of Time'') is a set of surrealistic short stories, in a variety of styles, which evidences Carpentier's ability to work with the fantastic and the surreal. The most important is the first one, "El Camino de Santiago" (The Way of Santiago), which narrates the adventures of a commoner, a Spaniard in the Age of Discovery, who is today a soldier, tomorrow pilgrim, then a sailor, a colonizer, prisoner, and so on; he pursues every dream and suffers every disappointment. The second tale is called "Viaje a la semilla" (Journey Back to the Source). This narrative is striking for the function of the time inversion that the narrator operates to tell the life of the main character, Don Marcial (Marqués de Capellanías).

=== ''El Acoso'' (''The Chase'') ===
{{original research section|date=November 2021}}
Carpentier's ''El Acoso'' was originally published in Spanish in 1956. It was translated into American English by Alfred MacAdam as ''The Chase'' and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1989,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Chase|last=Carpentier|first=Alejo|publisher=New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux|year=1989|publication-date=1989|translator-last=Mac Adam|translator-first=Alfred}}</ref> after over three decades of suppression in the United States for Carpentier's affiliation with Fidel Castro's Cuba<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Chase|last1=Fuentes|first1=Carlos|last2=Carpentier|publisher=Farrar, Straus, Giroux|year=1989|pages=back cover}}</ref> (Carpentier had been Cuba's ambassador to France during this time).  The novel is one of the most influential novels in contemporary Latin American literature, cited by authors such as Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, José Donoso and others as a major influence in the movement known in North America as Latin American Magical Realism, though this identification is somewhat misleading (see section above on Carpentier's theory of ''Lo real maravilloso'') as Carpentier, in his ''lo real maravilloso'', makes a point of referring to actual events that are so fantastic they seem magical, while the Magic Realists used Surrealist techniques and invent completely imaginary events with only the most tenuous connection to history or real events.  As for ''El Acoso'', the novel is highly compressed, richly atmospheric, philosophical, stylistically brilliant, and non-linear; plot is treated almost as an inconsequential side-effect. Though short (121 pages in its English translation), the novel exhibits a certain labyrinthine quality as its fragmented narrative cycles and circles in upon itself. Ostensibly a man is being chased by somewhat shadowy, probably sinister, perhaps governmental, forces. The action starts on a rainy night at a symphonic concert and music plays a part in the clues necessary to piece together what is happening.<ref name=":0" />  ''The Chase'' is perhaps Carpentier's strongest novel, and easily one of the better novels written in the 20th century, though it is almost unknown in the English-speaking world in spite of MacAdam's superb 1989 translation.

=== ''El arpa y la sombra'' (''The Harp and the Shadow'') ===
''[[The Harp and the Shadow]]'' is a historic novel (also considered the first novel in the literary style of La nueva crónica de Indias) published in 1979. It follows two attempts by popes [[Pope Pius IX|Pius IX]] and [[Pope Leo XIII|Leo XIII]] to beatify [[Christopher Columbus]], both of which eventually fail. The second part of the novel, which is considerably longer than the other two, is a confession by Columbus, to be given to a Franciscan confessor. Raymond L. Williams sees the novel as "a fictional narrative about the life of Christopher Columbus and his fate as a historical figure. This novel is laden with allusions to Western literary tradition, from classical antiquity to modern Caribbean".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Raymond L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ujpYOqiFzkC&pg=PA148|title=The Columbia Guide to the Latin American Novel Since 1945|date=2007-09-21|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-50169-9|language=en}}</ref> James J. Pancrazio writes that "the confession is ironic because it never occurs; when the priest arrives to administer the [[Last rites|Last Rites]], Columbus, after painstakingly contemplating his life, decides that he has nothing to confess. In this regard, the mediation of guilt, not repentance, is what structures the confession."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pancrazio|first=James J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7GMVjfvCWqYC&pg=PA120|title=The Logic of Fetishism: Alejo Carpentier and the Cuban Tradition|date=2004|publisher=Bucknell University Press|isbn=978-0-8387-5582-2|language=en}}</ref>

==Style==

===Baroque===
The [[Baroque]] style dates back to the cultural period of the 17th and early 18th centuries.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wakefield|2004|p= 1}}</ref> It is most often defined as "the dominant style of art in Europe between the [[Mannerist]] and [[Rococo]] eras, a style characterized by dynamic movement, overt emotion and self-confident rhetoric".<ref>{{Harvnb|Piper|1984|pp= 44–45}} cited in {{harvnb|Wakefield|2004|pp=3–4}}</ref> Carpentier first became fascinated with this style in architecture and sculpture; however, he later describes ''el barroco'' as ''un espíritu'', and not ''un estilo histórico'' ("a spirit, not an historical style").<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1990|p= 175}} cited in {{harvnb|Wakefield|2004|p=5}}</ref> Wakefield insists that this attitude towards the Baroque stemmed from Carpentier's background in both Europe and Latin America which allowed him to take on a superior front in the face of post-colonialism and ultimately have the literary upper-hand where he could use European style to tell the Latin American story.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wakefield|2004|p= 3}}</ref> Carpentier developed his vision of the baroque in his early works before he described himself as a baroque writer. He experimented with the technique in several developmental stages: "first as a cultural style of aesthetic fascination, later as a literary device to create period ambiance, and finally as a weapon of postcolonial pride, defiance and one-upmanship".<ref>{{Harvnb|Wakefield|2004|p= 10}}</ref>

This style strongly presents itself when comparing works such as the early ''Ecue-Yamba-O'' to the celebrated ''El reino de este mundo'', regarding Carpentier's use of more historically eloquent vocabulary in the latter, instead of the authentic language of the ethnically inspired characters. Here he escapes the stereotype of "nativism" by incorporating European standards, but continues to achieve a sense of normalcy without the expected use of the colloquialisms which the protagonist Ti Noel would undoubtedly use.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wakefield|2004|p= 49}}</ref>

Kaup claims that Carpentier utilizes what is known as the "New World Baroque", since Latin America didn't come into contact with the Enlightenment or "European modernity".<ref>{{Harvnb|Kaup|2005|p= 109}}</ref> This ''contraconquista'' (counter conquest) allows the New World authors to experiment with new identities and the manners of expressing them.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kaup|2005|pp= 110–111}}</ref> As such, Carpentier observed in his 1975 essay that "American Baroque develop[ed] along with ''criollo'' culture ...: the awareness of being Other, of being new, of being symbiotic, of being a ''criollo''; and the ''criollo'' spirit is itself a Baroque spirit."<ref>{{Harvnb|Carpentier|1975|p= 100}} cited in {{harvnb|Kaup|2005|p=110}}</ref> This ''criollo'' of the New World Baroque is often seen as the dominant style of European literature emerging as a subordinate literary construction in Latin America.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kaup|2005|p= 116}}</ref>

===Influence of travel===
Wakefield notes that Carpentier's diverse travels were motivated by his need to incorporate the sights he experienced into familiar descriptions within his novels. Carpentier's ''El reino de este mundo'' was inspired by his 1943 trip to Haiti, and ''Los pasos perdidos'' drew on his visit to Venezuela in 1949. Similarly, his travels to Guadeloupe and the Gulf of Santa Fe inspired ''El siglo de las luces'', and Vera and Enrique's firsthand descriptions of Baku and Mexico in ''La consegración de la primavera'' were drawn from Carpentier's trips to those places.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wakefield|2004|p= 9}}</ref>

===Surrealism===
During his visit to France early in his life, Carpentier met and collaborated with many figures of the French [[Surrealism|Surrealist]] movement. Taken with Surrealist theory, Carpentier absorbed much of it from his contemporaries, mainly his friend and colleague, the Parisian journalist [[Robert Desnos]]. Striving to portray unlikely beauty, termed, "the third beauty", Surrealist theory embraced unique perspectives of the world.<ref name="Navarro 1999 62">{{Harvnb|Navarro|1999|p= 62}}</ref> Within the Surrealist theory was the concept of [[Primitivism]] or a reverence for presiding folkloric tradition.<ref>{{Harvnb|Navarro|1999|p=67}}</ref> Carpentier, inspired by French Surrealists, learned to view his Cuban home in this new light. He left France with a bursting sense of Cuban and Latin American pride and the artistic goal to capture what it meant to be both.<ref name="Navarro 1999 62"/>

==See also==
{{Portal|Cuba}}
* [[Cuban American literature]]
* [[List of Cuban-American writers]]
* [[Latino literature]]
* [[Caribbean literature]]
* [[Latin American literature]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==References==
<!-- please copy/paste the following templates for use in this section:
Book citation template:
*{{citation|last=|first=|last2=|first2=|authorlink=|title=|location=|publisher=|year=|isbn=}}
Journal citation template:
*{{citation}}
-->

;Primary
*Carpentier, Alejo (1956), ''El acoso'', Editorial Losada, SA, English translation Alfred Mac Adam, ''The Chase'', New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1989.
*Carpentier, Alejo, ({{circa|1970s}}), "A Conversation with Jean-Paul Sartre", and "About the Real Marvelous American Realities, Part 3", trans. in Carner, Grant Calvin Sr, "Confluence, Bakhtin, and Alejo Carpentier's Contextos in Selena and Anna Karenina". Doctoral Dissertation 1995 (Comparative Literature), University of California at Riverside.
*{{citation|last=Carpentier|first=Alejo|title=The Baroque and the Marvelous Real|year=1975}}
*{{citation|last=Carpentier|first=Alejo|title=Obras completas: Ensayos, Vol. 13|location=Mexico|publisher=Siglo XII|year=1990}}
*{{citation|last=Carpentier|first=Alejo|title=La música en Cuba|location=Mexico|publisher=Fondo de Cultura Economica|year=1972}}
*{{citation|last=Carpentier|first=Alejo|title=Razón de ser|location=Caracas|publisher=Universidad Central de Venezuela|year=1976}}
*{{citation|last=Carpentier|first=Alejo|title=El reino de este mundo|location=D.F., México|publisher=SEIX BARRAL|year=2004|isbn=978-970-749-012-3}}

;Secondary
*{{citation| last =Belnap| first =Jeffrey Grant| title =The Post-Colonial State and the 'Hybrid' Intellect: Carpentier, Ngugi, and Spivak|location=Irvine, CA|publisher=University of California Press|year=1993}}
*{{citation|editor-last=Bergh|editor-first=Klasu Müller|title=Asedios a Carpentier|location=Santiago de Chile|publisher=Editorial Universitaria|year=1972}}
*{{citation|last=Colchie|first=Thomas|title=A Hammock Beneath the Mangoes: Stories from Latin America|publisher=Plume|year=1991|isbn=978-0-452-26866-1|url=https://archive.org/details/hammockbeneathma00colc}}
*{{citation|last=Echevarría|first=Roberto González|title=Alejo Carpentier, the Pilgrim at home|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0-8014-1029-1|url=https://archive.org/details/alejocarpentierp00robe}}
*{{citation|last=Gosser Esquilín |first=Mary Ann |title=Caribbean Identities Reconstructed and Redefined in Women's Narrative Texts: Marie Chauvet, Myriam Warner-Vieyra, and Ana Lydia Vega |journal=Latin American Issues |volume=13 |issue=2 |year=1997 |url=http://webpub.allegheny.edu/group/LAS/LatinAmIssues/Articles/Vol13/LAI_vol_13_section_II.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020718051243/http://webpub.allegheny.edu/group/LAS/LatinAmIssues/Articles/Vol13/LAI_vol_13_section_II.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-07-18 }}
*{{citation| last =Kaup| first =Monika| title =Becoming-Baroque: Folding European forms into the New World baroque with Alejo Carpentier| journal =CR: The New Centennial Review| volume =5| issue =2| format= Subscription required| year =2005| pages =107–149| url =http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/new_centennial_review/v005/5.2kaup.html| access-date = 2010-12-03| doi =10.1353/ncr.2005.0043| s2cid =145345077| url-access =subscription}}
*{{citation|last=Janney|first=Frank|title=Alejo Carpentier and his Early Works|location=London|publisher=Tamesis Books Unlimited|year=1981|isbn=978-0-7293-0062-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/alejocarpentierh0000jann}}
*{{citation|last=Mocega-González|first=Esther P.|title=La narrativa de Alejo Carpentier: el concepto del tiempo como tema fundamental|location=New York|publisher=Eliseo Torres|year=1975}}
*{{citation|last=Mocega-González|first=Esther P.|title=Alejo Carpentier: estudios sobre su narrativa |year= 1980 |language=es}}
*{{citation|last=Navarro|first=Gabriel|title=Musica y escrita en Alejo Carpentier|location=Alicante|publisher=Universidad de Alicante|year=1999|isbn=978-84-7908-476-9}}
*{{citation| last =Paravisini-Gebert| first =Lizabeth|author-link=Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert| title =The Haitian Revolution in Interstices and Shadows: A re-reading of Alejo Carpentier's The Kingdom of This World"| journal = Research in African Literatures| volume =35| issue =2| date =Summer 2004| pages =114–127| jstor =3821348| doi=10.1353/ral.2004.0052| s2cid =162578400}}
*{{citation|last=Piper|first=David|title=A-Z of Art & Artists|location=London|publisher=Michell Beazeley|year=1984|isbn=978-0-949819-49-9}}
*{{citation|last=Wakefield|first=Steve|title=Capentier's Baroque Fiction: Returning Medusa's gaze|location=Great Britain|publisher=The Cromwell Press|year=2004|isbn=978-1-85566-107-3}}
*{{citation| last =Shaw| first =Donald| title =Alejo Carpentier|location=Boston, MA|publisher=Twayne Publishers P|year=1985}}

== Further reading ==

<!-- please copy/paste the following templates for use in this section:
Book citation template:
*{{citation|last=|first=|last2=|first2=|authorlink=|title=|location=|publisher=|year=|isbn=}}
Journal citation template:
*{{citation}}
-->

;English
*Adams, Michael Ian (1975), ''Three authors of Alienation: Bombal, Onetti, Carpentier'', Austin: University of Texas Press, {{ISBN|0-292-78009-5}}
*Echevarría, Roberto González (1983), ''Alejo Carpentier: Bibliographical guide'', Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, {{ISBN|0-313-23923-1}}
*Brennan, Timothy (ed. 2001), ''Alejo Carpentier Music in Cuba: Edited and with and Introduction by Timothy Brennan'', translated by Alan West-Durán, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8166-3229-9}}
*Carner, Grant Calvin Sr (1995), "Confluence, Bakhtin, and Alejo Carpentier's Contextos in Selena and Anna Karenina". Doctoral Dissertation (Comparative Literature), University of California at Riverside.
*Cox, Timothy J. (2001), ''Postmodern Tales of Slavery in the Americas : From Alejo Carpentier to Charles Johnson'', New York: Garland.
*Giffuni, Cathe (1993), "An English Bibliography of Alejo Carpentier", ''Cuban Studies'' 22. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, (Ed. Jorge I. Dominguez), 1992, pp.&nbsp;219–229.
*Harvey, Sally (1994), ''Carpentier's Proustian Fiction : The Influence of Marcel Proust on Alejo Carpentier'', London: Tamesis Books, {{ISBN|1-85566-034-2}}
*Janney, Frank (1981), ''Alejo Carpentier and his Early Works'', London : Tamesis Books, {{ISBN|0-7293-0062-5}}
*King, Lloyd (1972), ''Alejo Carpentier : His Euro-Caribbean Vision'', St. Augustine, Trinidad: Research & Publications Fund Committee.
*Pancrazio, James J. (2004), ''The Logic of Fetishism : Alejo Carpentier and the Cuban Tradition'', Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press.
*[[Gustavo Pérez Firmat|Pérez Firmat, Gustavo]]. ''The Cuban Condition: Translation and Identity in Modern Cuban Literature''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Rpt. 1997, 2006.
*[[Gustavo Pérez Firmat|Pérez Firmat, Gustavo]]. "''Ese idioma'': Alejo Carpentier's Tongue Ties", ''Symposium'' 61.3 (2007): 183–197. Reprinted as: "Ese idioma: a(s) língua(s) enredada(s) de Alejo Carpentier". ''No reino de Alejo Carpentier: doze ensaios críticos''. Ed. Elena Palmero González. Rio Grande: Editora de Furg, 2010. 147–170.
*Shaw, Donald, (1985), ''Alejo Carpentier'' Twayne World Author's Series, {{ISBN|0-8057-6606-5}}
*Tusa, Bobs (1983), ''Alchemy of a hero : a Comparative Study of the Works of Alejo Carpentier and Mario Vargas Llosa'', Valencia; Chapel Hill : Albatros Hispanofila, {{ISBN|84-7274-099-4}}
*Tusa, Bobs, (1982), ''Alejo Carpentier, a Comprehensive Study'', Valencia; Chapel Hill : Albatros Hispanofila, {{ISBN|84-7274-090-0}}
*Wakefield, Steve (2004), ''Carpentier's Baroque fiction : Returning Medusa's Gaze'', Tamesis Books, {{ISBN|978-1-85566-107-3}}
*Webb, Barbara (1992), ''Myth and History in Caribbean Fiction : Alejo Carpentier, Wilson Harris, and Edouard Glissant'', Amherst: [[University of Massachusetts Press]].
*Young, Richard E. (1983), ''Carpentier, El reino de este mundo''.

;Spanish
*Acosta, Leonardo (1981), ''Música y épica en la novela de Alejo Carpentier''.
*Ainsa, Fernando, (2005), ''Alejo Carpentier ante la crítica''.
*Arias, Salvador (1977), ''Recopilación de textos sobre Alejo Carpentier''.
*Barroso, Juan (1977), ''Realismo mágico y lo real maravilloso en El reino de este mundo y El siglo de las luces''.
*Bergh, Klaus Müller (1972), ''Alejo Carpentier : Estudio biográfico-critico''.
*Bergh, Klaus Müller (1972), ''Asedios a Carpentier''.
*Birkenmaier, Anke (2006), ''Alejo Carpentier y la cultura del surrealismo en América Latina''.
*Blanco, Luis (1970), ''Alejo Carpentier : tientos y differencias''.
*Calahorro, Inmaculada López (2006) ''Alejo Carpentier y el mundo clasico''.
*Chaple, Sergio (2004), ''Estudios carpenterianos''.
*Collard, Patrick (1991), ''Cómo leer a Alejo Carpentier''.
*[[Leo Corry|Corry, Leo]] (2020), ''[https://www.concierto-barroco.com/copy-2-of-barroco?lang=es Concierto Barroco de Alejo Carpentier - Una guía para su lectura] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516122211/https://www.concierto-barroco.com/copy-2-of-barroco?lang=es |date=2020-05-16 }}'', Tel Aviv University.
*Cvitanovic, Dinko (1997), ''Carpentier : una revisión lineal''.
*[[Luis Duno-Gottberg|Duno-Gottberg, Luis]] (2003), "Solventando las diferencias: La ideología del mestizaje en Cuba", Iberoamericana – Frankfurt am Main, Vervuert, Madrid.
*Echevarría, Roberto González (1993), ''Alejo Carpentier, el peregrino en su patria''.
*Echevarría, Roberto González (2004), ''Alejo Carpentier, el peregrino en su patria''.
*Fama, Antonio (1995), ''Las últimas obras de Alejo Carpentier''.
*Fowler, Víctor (2004), ''Diccionario de conceptos de Alejo Carpentier''.
*González, Eduardo (1978), ''Alejo Carpentier : el tiempo del hombre''.
*Labastida, Jaime (1974), ''Casa de las Américas'', no.87, "Con Alejo Carpentier".
*Martí, José (1974), ''Un camino de medio siglo : Homenaje nacional al 70 aniversario de Alejo Carpentier''.
*Mayo, Edmundo Gómez, ''Construcción y lenguaje en Alejo Carpentier''.
*Mocega-González, Esther P. (1975), ''La narrativa de Alejo Carpentier : el concepto del tiempo como tema fundamental''.
*Mujica, Héctor (1975), ''Conversación con Alejo Carpentier''.
*Padura, Leonardo (2002), ''Un camino de medio siglo : Alejo Carpentier y la narrativa de lo real maravilloso''.
*Pickenhayn, Jorge Oscar (1978) ''Para leer a Alejo Carpentier''.
*Plaza, Sixto (1984), ''El acá y el allá en la narrativa de Alejo Carpentier''.
*Sáinz, Enrigue (1980), ''Conversación con Alejo Carpentier''.
*Santander, Carlos (1971), ''Alejo Carpentier: Viaje a la Semilla y otros relatos''.
*Selma, José Vila (1978), ''El "último" Carpentier''.
*Rodríguez, Alexis Márquez (1982), ''Lo barroco y lo real-maravilloso en la obra de Alejo Carpentier''.
*Rodríguez, Alexis Márquez (2004), ''Nuevas lecturas de alejo Carpentier''.
*Zurdo, Oscar Velayos (1985), ''El diálogo con la historia de Alejo Carpentier''.
{{Commons category|Alejo Carpentier}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{EB1911 poster|Havana}}
{{Miguel de Cervantes Prize}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpentier, Alejo}}
[[Category:20th-century Cuban novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Cuban essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century musicologists]]
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1980 deaths]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Cuba to France]]
[[Category:Cuban communists]]
[[Category:Cuban exiles]]
[[Category:Cuban male essayists]]
[[Category:Cuban male novelists]]
[[Category:Cuban musicologists]]
[[Category:Cuban people of French descent]]
[[Category:Magazine founders]]
[[Category:Magic realism writers]]
[[Category:Premio Cervantes winners]]
[[Category:Prix Médicis étranger winners]]
[[Category:Swiss emigrants to Cuba]]
[[Category:Writers from Lausanne]]