Table of Contents

Translated by Esther Allen with an Introduction by Roberto González Echevarría

José Martí: An Introduction by Roberto González Echevarría
Chronology
Suggestions for Further Reading

Earliest Writings
Abdala
Letter to His Mother from Prison
Political Prison in Cuba

1871-1881
Notebooks 1-3
Early Journalism:
The Poor Neighborhoods of Mexico City
Sarah Bernhardt
Impressions of America (by a very fresh Spaniard)

1882-1890
Poetry:
Prologue to Juan Antonio Pérez Bonalde's Poem of Niagara

Ismaelillo:
Waking Dream/Sueño despierto
Fragrant Arms/Brazos fragantes
My Kinglet/Mi reyecillo
Son of My Soul/Hijo del alma

Free Verses/Versos libres:
My Verses
The Swiss Father/El padre suizo
Famous Island/Isla famosa
Love in the City/Amor de ciudad grande
I Hate the Sea/Odio el mar
Winged Cup/Copa con alas

Notebooks 4-15:
Undated Fragment
A Passion

from The Golden Age:
Pin the Tail on the Donkey: A New Game and Some Old Ones

Letters from New York:
Coney Island
The Trial of Guiteau
Prizefight
Emerson
Tribute to Karl Marx, Who Has Died
from La América: The Brooklyn Bridge; The Glossograph; Indigenous Art; Mexico, the United States, and Protectionism; Graduation Day
The Indians in the United States
The World's Biggest Explosion
Impressionist Painters
A Great Confederate Celebration
The Cutting Case
The Poet Walt Whitman
Class War in Chicago: A Terrible Drama
A Walking Marathon
New York Under Snow
Blaine's Night
A Chinese Funeral
Inauguration Day

Political Correspondecne:
Letter to Emilio Núñez
Letter to General Máximo Gómez
A Vindication of Cuba

1891-1894
Poetry:
Simple Verses/Versos sencillos:
Prologue
I (I am an honest man/Yo soy un hombre sincero)
III (I hate the masks and vices/Odio la máscara y vicio)
XXVIII (Past the manor with the tomb/Por la tumba del cortijo)
XXX (Blood-hued lightning cleaves/El rayo surca, sangriento)
XXXVI (Yes, I know: flesh/Ya sé: de carne se puede)
XLV (I dream of marble cloisters/Sueño con claustros de mármol)

Notebooks 18-20

Letters from New York:
Our America
The Lynching of the Italians
The Monetary Conference of the American Republics
A Town Sets a Black Man on Fire

from Patria:
The Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico
My Race
To Cuba!
The Truth About the United States

1895
Politics:
The Montecristi Manifesto

Final Correspondence:
Letter to His Mother
Letter to Manuel Mercado

War Diaries:
Part I: From Montecristi to Cap-Haïtien
Part II: From Cap-Haïtien to Dos Ríos

Afterword by Esther Allen
Notes
Index

About the Author

Jose Martiwas a Cuban revolutionary and fighter for independence who was also known worldwide as a poet and a journalist. Referred to by many as the "Apostle of the Cuban Revolution," Marti was born in Havana in the middle of the 19th century. Marti's skills were not merely limited to creative writing, as he was also a very well-respected philosopher, translator, professor, publisher, Freemason, and political theorist.

Esther Allen is an essayist and translator of Spanish and French. An associate professor at Baruch College, City University of New York, she directed the work of the PEN/Heim Translation Fund from its founding in 2003 to 2010, and cofounded PEN World Voices- the New York Festival of International Literature (2004). A two-time recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts translation fellowships, she was a fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library in 2009-2010. The French government has honored her as a Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres (2006). Visit her website at estherallen.com.

Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria is the Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literatures at Yale University. He was awarded the 2010 National Humanities Medal by President Obama and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a number of other grants for his work as a critic of Latin American literature and culture.

Reviews

"Martí is the most remarkable figure in the history of Cuba....No English-language collection is as comprehensive as this handsome new addition to the Penguin Classics."—Tom Miller, The Los Angeles Times Book Review