Customer Reviews

Biography of a Runaway Slave

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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.

This book gives great insight into a slave's life and his attitudes before and after freedom. He also tells about living in the woods as a runaway. Well worth the money.

The singular virtue of this riveting story is the re-creation of the mind of a 103-year-old man, Esteban Montejo, remembering his life through a series of changes of slavery, emancipation, revolution, the Spanish-American War, which few of us can imagine. This the translator does with great passion, great humor, and great honesty. The story has been rendered with great delicacy and a flavour the catches Creole rhythms. Recalling being disciplined by an officer during the revolution for leaving his post without permission, Esteban remarks, "I was saved, but I still go around thinking about that man's mother." Later, recalling the past and looking to the future, he remarks, "I don't want to die so that I can fight all the battles yet to come. I won't get into the trenches or use any of these modern weapons. A machete will do for me."

The present text is apparently a reworking of a 1966 text by the same translator, which was used in German translation by the avant-garde composer Hans Werner Henze as the 'libretto' for his stage work "El Cimarron", for vocalist and a small chamber group. El Cimarron has also been performed in English, using Barnet's original text.

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.

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.

"...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

This book was the worst example of oral history I've ever encountered. Riddled with scenes of witchcraft, sex, and other crazy tales, true history is hard to find in this book.
I would not suggest this book to anyone except for a laugh. How interviewing someone who is 105 years old as the only source for a book seems crazy to me. This craziness is reflected throughout the biography.

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.