Biography of a Runaway Slave

Rating:
Summary: REVIEW QUOTES
Review: "...a powerful account of a vanished world...invaluable." --Newsweek

"An extraordinary record of a bygone era...Montejo reveals an appealing personality as he talks of women, religion, and politics. His descriptions of the activities and treatment of slaves on the Spanish plantations before and after abolition are fascinating. A rare record of history as it was lived..." --Library Journal

"Its contribution to our understanding of Cuban history and national temperament is no less than its immense appeal as a human testament...All the fire and dash of the Cuban character, the refusal ever to cringe or to give up, take on flesh and meaning in the reminiscences of this stubborn veteran." --Times Literary Supplement

Rating:
Summary: REVIEW QUOTES
Review: "...a powerful account of a vanished world...invaluable." --Newsweek

"An extraordinary record of a bygone era...Montejo reveals an appealing personality as he talks of women, religion, and politics. His descriptions of the activities and treatment of slaves on the Spanish plantations before and after abolition are fascinating. A rare record of history as it was lived..." --Library Journal

"Its contribution to our understanding of Cuban history and national temperament is no less than its immense appeal as a human testament...All the fire and dash of the Cuban character, the refusal ever to cringe or to give up, take on flesh and meaning in the reminiscences of this stubborn veteran." --Times Literary Supplement

Rating:
Summary: Questionable change of authorship
Review: In the preface to the (translated) 1968 edition of "The Autobiography of a Runaway Slave" (by Esteban Montejo, edited by Miguel Barnet), Barnet describes how Montejo had recounted his life story and adds, "Esteban soon became the real author of this book. He was constantly looking at my notebook, and he almost forced me to write down everything he said."

Though I do not own a copy of the recent edition, it is very puzzling that Barnet now lists himself as first author, followed by the translator, with Montejo's name last. Certainly the work of an editor or translator is arduous, and deserves proper credit. Yet both are distinct from the author's.

It's both an irony and a shame that Barnet, who is a white member of Cuba's ruling elite, seems to have appropriated the story of a poor, black slave, whose protests and defiance more than 100 years ago would surely be considered counter-revolutionary today.

Rating:
Summary: Questionable change of authorship
Review: In the preface to the (translated) 1968 edition of "The Autobiography of a Runaway Slave" (by Esteban Montejo, edited by Miguel Barnet), Barnet describes how Montejo had recounted his life story and adds, "Esteban soon became the real author of this book. He was constantly looking at my notebook, and he almost forced me to write down everything he said."

Though I do not own a copy of the recent edition, it is very puzzling that Barnet now lists himself as first author, followed by the translator, with Montejo's name last. Certainly the work of an editor or translator is arduous, and deserves proper credit. Yet both are distinct from the author's.

It's both an irony and a shame that Barnet, who is a white member of Cuba's ruling elite, seems to have appropriated the story of a poor, black slave, whose protests and defiance more than 100 years ago would surely be considered counter-revolutionary today.

Rating:
Summary: Masterful reconstruction of the life of a Cuban slave
Review: Miguel Barnet, eduated in Havana at an American school, came to discover his Cuban heritage later in life. His tour-de-force was The Life of a Runaway Slave, the as-told-to-biography of Estaban Montejo, an earthy, candid man who had runaway from the sugar fields and who had fought in Cuba's wars for independence. One thing readers must remember is that Barnet intevriewed Montejo when the latter was 103 years old, in a nursing home, in 1963 when the interviews were started. Oral history is difficult enough and this great time-lag makes the task of the interviewer even more dificult.

Rating:
Summary: a worthy read, some dull parts
Review: some of this book was fascinating...to me. i found the old man's recollections of so many aspects of long-past cuba's rural life just gripping, but even moreso, to have it told, more or less, in his words, just added a special dimension that no other type of book could really create. i felt like i was being led on a journey by a character of such realness that no true "biographer" or fiction writer could approximate it.

particularly good parts: his descriptions of the cruelty of cuban slavery, of the cruelty of whites, of his ideas about sex, about certain aspects of the war for independence

now for the bad stuff: some of it, i must admit, just dragged. he was a religious/mystical guy, and all his descriptions of the old religions, though certainly realistic and valid, were just boring to me, and i started skimming. also, in part this book was the recollections of a 105 year old man, and so, while i give such an old man credit for being able to tell a good story (or perhaps the credit is due to the editor), it still reads at point like...an old man's story, and not an old man who has a true gift for story-telling. as for plot, forget it. suspense...think again. drama...no. just the facts, and thank god they're interesting enough on their own.

Rating:
Summary: (auto)biography of a runaway slave
Review: The actual slave of the Biography of a Runaway Slave is ex Cuban slave Esteban Montejo. Montejo's life story is uniquely interesting because it speaks to life on and off the plantation. Montejo's candid retelling of his life under slavery introduces the reader to details about slavery and slave populations erased in general discussions of slavery. When Montejo recalls the Chinese indentured servants and slaves who distanced themselves from other slaves, the Congolese and the Lucumis and their respective spiritual practices, as well as the fights between the two, the shortage of women that caused men to be with men (as well as communal acceptance of this), the barter system between area whites, non-slaves, and slaves, and the roaming escaped slaves and the free black communities he encounters during his time in the woods he forces the reader to re-examine common notions of slavery. His story offers a nice supplement and/or counter (depending on your own politics) of current literature on slavery (i.e. Brent, Equiano, Douglass, Prince, Blassingame,etc..). My only concern with this text is that it was originally titled autobiography and has since been retitled biography. While this may explain the occassionally abrupt topic changes in the text, I wonder if there is more to it. Even though memory games make autobiographies suspect (ya' know- biased), biographies heighten the concern about the presentation of the material. Yeah,I know everyone has an agenda. You still need to find out what it is to know if you agree or not.(I'm going to start reseaching Barnet and why it is a bio and not an auto anymore.)Nonetheless. . .happy reading because it's a great text.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting read on black Cuban culture
Review: While there are always the nagging doubts of how much credit rests with the editor and how much with the illiterate man telling the story in these testimonies, this is nonetheless a very interesting account coming from a 105 year old Cuban who had been a slave, fought in the War of Independence (domestically known as the Spanish-American War, once the Americans jumped in at the tail-end) and lived through Castro's revolution. Montejo offers many bizarre tales, of devilish Catholic priests drowning girls in caves, of witches, of the War. Perhaps the most suspect aspect is that of Montejo's life in the forest, isolated from everything for several years, which he details as a very good and happy time for him, which in reality must have been a very difficult and painful experience. The story is very interesting reading, however, that illuminates very well the thoughts of this man and to a lesser extent his culture, which he claims that he disassociated with somewhat. His detail of the relationship between the tribal African religions of Lukumi and Congo and the Catholic Church are indicative of many places where indigenous peoples adopt their conqueror's religion for display but retain their beliefs most passionately- though in Cuba it seems like the Church didn't really make an attempt to convert the common slave to the "true religion." This is also shown in his own personal beliefs in that he incorporates some elements of Catholicism but mainly holds faith in different African religions. The most striking aspect to me was Montejo's discussion of family relations- which is eerily in line with the present-day realities of the black majority (approaching 75% illegitimacy rate) in the US today- in that he describes an essentially matriarchal structure (or lack thereof) in which there is no real nuclear family. Marriage is not a great issue, women take their children in search of a man to live with them, and men are not particularly concerned with families or keeping their women around. This is certainly a very interesting book on the subject of black culture and religion in Cuba, that has managed to retain its identity through 400 years of Spanish colonial rule, 60 years of US puppet dicatorship, and still flourishes today.