The introduction presents Manzano and Plácido to readers as Cuban authors of African descent that navigated conflicting bodies of religious knowledge and disparate aesthetic practices.This chapter defines key terms both critical and theoretical. And, briefly takes a look at how Plácido and Manzano have been studied as assimilationists in the formation of the Cuban literary tradition.The introduction provides a very brief review of scholarly approaches to Plácido and Manzano but suggests a radical departure from most previous scholarship on the authors.This chapter introduces African-inspired spirituality as a lens for articulating antislavery philosophy in black Cuban poetry and prose.This book explores new terrain because it explores what the relationship between aesthetics, religion, and black aspirations for emancipation might teach us about the origins of Cuban literature.
Literary Diversity through Translation: The Role of Independent Cultural Mediators in the Selection of Cuban Literature in Norway
