Writing Slavery in Cuba and the United States

To illustrate the social imaginary of the slavery novels produced in Cuba and the United States, this essay studies and contrasts the fundamental strategic and narrative complexities of major works produced in both countries. By focusing on the historical and cultural similarities and differences which created two distinct ideological and literary universes, this essay refutes the traditional notion that the Cuban novels were "abolitionist", written "from the heart", proposed radical social and political changes, or the immediate elimination of the island's institution of slavery.