{"id":1779,"date":"2007-08-22T11:51:50","date_gmt":"2007-08-22T07:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dominicana-online.org\/?p=1779"},"modified":"2018-08-01T03:20:55","modified_gmt":"2018-08-01T03:20:55","slug":"literatura","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dominicanaonline.org\/en\/cultura\/literatura\/","title":{"rendered":"Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dominican Republic has created a literary heritage of great scope that spans from the time of the discovery of the Americas to the 21st<\/sup> century. The poetry, novel, story, essay and history are expressions of the political, social, and economic development of the country that has been imbued with multiple currents of thought, especially European and American.<\/p>\n

We invite you to learn more about Dominican literature in the publication ALL THINGS DOMINICAN | Lo Dominicano, available on Amazon here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Colonial Preamble to Dominican Literature<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cLiterature in the Spanish language begins for Santo Domingo with Columbus\u2019 diary of his voyage, in the excerpt of Father Bartolom\u00e9 de Las Casas, and with the letters to the Catholic kings in which he narrates the discovery.\u201d \u2013 Pedro Henr\u00edquez Ure\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The works that described and collected information about the new territories began to be written and transmitted early. Andalusian doctor Diego \u00c1lvarez Chanca sent the first descriptions of the flora and fauna of the Hispaniola island to the council of Seville in 1493-1494.<\/p>\n

Friar Ram\u00f3n Pan\u00e9 gave Columbus his \u201cRelaci\u00f3n de las Antig\u00fcedades de los Indios,\u201d the first ethno-linguistic document written on the island and on the American continent, around 1498.<\/p>\n

The following works of the chroniclers would follow: Historia de las Indias and Apolog\u00eda, by Bartolom\u00e9 de las Casas, and Historia General y Natural de las Indias, by Gonzalo Fern\u00e1ndez de Oviedo.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Creole Literature<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The first Creole writers born on the island began to emerge in the sixteenth century, trained in the European culture of the conquerors. In poetry, historians mention Leonor de Ovando, as the first poet. A Nun of the Regina Angelorum congregation born in Santo Domingo in the sixteenth century, her devotional poems exalt the Catholic faith in which she was raised.<\/p>\n

The majority of the writers of that time were religious, like Friar Alonso de Espinosa, Canon Crist\u00f3bal Liendo, Friars Alonso Pacheco, Diego Ram\u00edrez, and P. Crist\u00f3bal de Llerena.<\/p>\n

Few writings from the seventeenth century have survived; however, the names of many writers are known, such as Tom\u00e1s Rodr\u00edguez de Sosa, Luis Jer\u00f3nimo de Alcocer, Baltasar Fern\u00e1ndez de Castro, Friar Diego Mart\u00ednez, Tomasina de Leiva, and Pedro Agust\u00edn Morel, according to Henr\u00edquez Ure\u00f1a in his essay \u201cLiteratura de Santo Domingo\u201d (1941).<\/p>\n

The important writers emigrated in the following two centuries, due to social and political convulsions, among them, Jos\u00e9 Francisco Heredia, Antonio Del Monte y Tejada, Jos\u00e9 N\u00fa\u00f1ez de C\u00e1ceres, Esteban Pichardo, and Francisco Mu\u00f1oz Del Monte.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dominican Literature<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Historians speak of an actual Dominican literature from the time of the foundation of the Republic in 1844, which in its different genres has reflected the social, political and cultural experiences of more than four centuries of convulsed history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe poetry, novel, story, essay and history have expressed the political, social and economic development of the country, which, since the feat of discovery, has been imbued with multiple currents of thought, especially European and American,\u201d according to Basilio Belliard, essayist, anthologist, poet and literary critic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dominican Poets<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The poetic genre is considered one of the most robust in Dominican literature, with prominent exponents in the 19th<\/sup> and the 20th<\/sup> centuries. Those who have been called \u201cmajor gods\u201d of Dominican poetry are Jos\u00e9 Joaqu\u00edn P\u00e9rez, the first romantic; Salom\u00e9 Ure\u00f1a de Henr\u00edquez, \u201cneo-classical in the style of Quintana and Gallego,\u201d according to Mariano Lebr\u00f3n Savi\u00f1\u00f3n; Gast\u00f3n Fernando Deligne, modernist, deemed the most original of the Dominican poets by Pedro Henr\u00edquez Ure\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

Other prominent poets of that time were intellectuals, such as Francisco Gregorio Billini, C\u00e9sar Nicol\u00e1s Penson, Federico Henr\u00edquez y Carvajal, Federico Garc\u00eda Godoy, Emilio Pru’homme, Enrique Henr\u00edquez, Amelia Francasci, Encarnaci\u00f3n Echevarr\u00eda, Josefa Perdomo, Federico Garc\u00eda Godoy, and Emiliano Tejera.<\/p>\n

The modernists came after the traditionalist poets in 1912, beginning with Otilio Vigil D\u00edaz, \u201cintroducer of the avant-garde into Dominican literature, and a great innovator of our lyric influenced by French symbolism,\u201d as essayist Belliard notes in Funglode\u2019s dominicanaonline web pages.<\/p>\n

The books \u201cG\u00f3ndolas,\u201d of 1912, and the \u201cGaleras de Pafos,\u201d of 1921, place Vigil D\u00edaz as a pioneer of the free verse and prose poetry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Poetic Movements<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Postumismo was another notable movement, created in 1921 by Domingo Moreno Jim\u00e9nez, Andr\u00e9s Avelino, and Rafael A. Zorrilla.<\/p>\n

Moreno Jim\u00e9nez favored self-expression, unaffected poetry anchored in the land, in what is Dominican, and on the environment. It broke with the metrical pattern verse and the combinations and substitutions accepted at that time.<\/p>\n

Hector Inch\u00e1ustegui Cabral, Manuel del Cabral, and Tom\u00e1s Hern\u00e1ndez Franco are three independent writers whose prominent poetic work made important contributions in the forties.<\/p>\n

Also, the Poes\u00eda Sorprendida movement, formed in October 1943 by Franklin Mieses Burgos, Antonio Fern\u00e1ndez Spencer, Manuel Rueda, Aida Cartagena Portalat\u00edn and Freddy Gat\u00f3n Arce. Contrary to the \u201cpostumistas,\u201d they favored \u201ca national poetry nourished by what is universal… creation without limits, without borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another poetic surge was that of the \u201cGeneration of the 48,\u201d considered by Spanish poet Leopoldo Panero Torbado, as one of the \u201cmost promising in the Spanish-speaking poetry.\u201d (Lupo Hern\u00e1ndez Rueda, \u201cLa Generaci\u00f3n del 48 en la Literatura Dominicana.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez Rueda, M\u00e1ximo Avil\u00e9s Blonda, Luis Alfredo Torres, Guarocuya Batista del Villar, V\u00edctor Villegas, Alberto Pe\u00f1a Lebr\u00f3n, Abelardo Navarro, and Rafael Lara Cintr\u00f3n are poets who belong to that movement.<\/p>\n

Besides poets, this group included playwrights, storytellers, historians and politicians, who made an art \u201cof indirect, and sometimes obscure, expression,\u201d to protect themselves from reprisal from the Trujillo dictatorship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Poetry after the Dictatorship<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe physical and moral captivity of the artists\u201d ended with the overthrow of the dictatorship in 1961. From there, as Hern\u00e1ndez Rueda points out, \u201cwriting became open, objective, conceptual.\u201d<\/p>\n

New poets and writers emerged, who would have to \u201clive and participate in a radically different time,\u201d according to poet and essayist Ram\u00f3n Francisco in his book \u201cLiteratura dominicana 60.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLiterary fury led to action\u201d for Antonio Lokward, Miguel Alfonseca, Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Ram\u00f3n Francisco, Ren\u00e9 del Risco, Jeannette Miller, and others.<\/p>\n

The same happened for post-civil war poets Soledad \u00c1lvarez, Mateo Morrison, Andr\u00e9s L. Mateo, Enriquillo S\u00e1nchez, Tony Raful, and Enrique Eusebio.<\/p>\n

The poetic work of Cayo Claudio Espinal came later; he received the Siboney national poetry prize in 1978 for his work \u201cBanquetes de Afflicci\u00f3n.\u201d He is the founder of the Contextualist Movement, which proposes the rise of a new humanism. A year later, the prize was awarded to Jos\u00e9 Enrique Garc\u00eda, PhD in Philology, for his collection of poems \u201cEl Fabulador.\u201d In 2001 he received the National Poetry Prize, and the following year, the National Prize for Children’s Literature.<\/p>\n

Another generation of poets would break away from the previous one at the beginning of the eighties, \u201cby disregarding the ideological and the historical circumstance, creating a poetry of thought and reflection on other subjects,\u201d as essayist and literary critic Basilio Belliard points out.<\/p>\n

Among the renowned authors of that time are Jos\u00e9 M\u00e1rmol, Plinio Cha\u00edn, Dionisio de Jes\u00fas, Medar Serrata, V\u00edctor Bid\u00f3 and Jos\u00e9 Alejandro Pe\u00f1a, among others. In the 80s, the circle of women poets was made of Carmen Imbert Brugal, Dulce Ure\u00f1a, Carmen S\u00e1nchez, Chiqui Vicioso and Martha Rivera-Garrido, great-granddaughter of poet Gast\u00f3n Fernando Deligne.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Millennium Poets<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In the late twentieth century, Basilio Belliard published \u201cDiario del Aut\u00f3fago\u201d (1997), \u201cFlights of Memory\u201d (poetry and essay 1999), and other works. \u201cSue\u00f1o Escrito\u201d won him the 2002 National Poetry Prize. His poems have been translated into French, Italian, and Portuguese.<\/p>\n

Poet Fausto Leonardo Henr\u00edquez, Belliard\u2019s contemporary, was a priest from La Vega, winner of the 2009 Federico Rielo Mystic World Poetry Prize, in Rome. Also, Jos\u00e9 Acosta, winner of the Salom\u00e9 Ure\u00f1a Poetry Prize for his first book entitled \u201cTerritorios Extra\u00f1os.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 21st<\/sup> century opens with new poets that enlarge the distance with the turbulent past. Literature themes and styles are renewed, the nation and the way of life changed. Focused on contemporary realities, the production by new poets and writers expresses global themes: violence, drug trafficking, sexuality, immigration, urban alienation.<\/p>\n

Some of the outstanding new poets are Frank B\u00e1ez, the 2009 Salom\u00e9 Ure\u00f1a National Poetry Prize for his work \u201cPostales;\u201d Ariadna V\u00e1squez, 2012 National Poetry Prize, for her collection of poems \u201cDeb\u00ed Dibujar el Mar en Alguna Parte;\u201d Arg\u00e9nida Romero, winner of the Young Poetry Grand Prize for the work \u201cArriaga;\u201d and, Juan Dicent, author of \u201cPoemarios,\u201d \u201cPoeta en Animal Planet,\u201d and \u201cMonday Street.\u201d Also, Mario D\u00e1valos, another Salom\u00e9 Ure\u00f1a National Poetry Prize, and the author of \u201cEl Libro de las Inundaciones,\u201d \u201cCanto al Hogar Encendido,\u201d and \u201cUna Casa Azul,\u201d among others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Storytellers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201c… The storyteller must have the soul of a tiger to throw himself on the reader, and the tiger’s instinct to select the subject and calculate exactly how far away his prey is and the force to hurl himself at it… in the hidden plot of that difficult art… the reader and the subject have the same heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is what Juan Bosch, the distinguished Dominican storyteller, wrote in his \u201cApuntes Sobre el Arte de Escribir Cuentos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaster of the genre in Latin America\u201d (Belliard), the University of Chile inaugurated in August 2010 the C\u00e1tedra Juan Bosch, Estudios del Caribe.<\/p>\n

The Dominican short narrative is more than 162 years old, from the first documented story, \u201cEl Garito,\u201d written by Francisco Javier Angulo Guridi.<\/p>\n

Literary historians consider that the short stories written before the second half of the 19th<\/sup> century are of Spanish tradition.<\/p>\n

The greatest exponent of the 19th<\/sup> century Creole short story was C\u00e9sar Nicol\u00e1s Penson, author of \u201cCosas A\u00f1ejas,\u201d which reflects the Dominican customs and traditions based on oral tradition.<\/p>\n

The modern short-story of the 20th<\/sup> century begins with Virginia Elena Ortea, Fabio Fiallo, Manuel Cestero Tulio, and Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n L\u00f3pez, Ram\u00f3n Marrero Aristy, Hilma Contreras, Jos\u00e9 Rijo, Ram\u00f3n Lacay Polanco, Tom\u00e1s Hern\u00e1ndez Franco, N\u00e9stor Caro, and Virgilio D\u00edaz Grull\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

Juan Bosch’s three collections of short narratives, \u201cCuentos Escritos Antes del Exilio,\u201d \u201cCuentos Escritos en el Exilio,\u201d and \u201cM\u00e1s Cuentos Escritos en el Exilio,\u201d became more popular upon his return to the country in 1961. The writer and Dominican politician guided the group of young writers who gathered around him, among them storytellers Miguel Alfonseca, Ren\u00e9 del Risco, Iv\u00e1n Garc\u00eda, and others, who were developing their own voices.<\/p>\n

Armando Alm\u00e1nzar, Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Efra\u00edn Castillo, Rub\u00e9n Echavarr\u00eda and Jos\u00e9 Manuel Sanz Lajara stood out during the sixties. Ren\u00e9 Rodr\u00edguez Soriano, Roberto Marcall\u00e9 Abreu, Pedro Peix, and Carlos Esteban Deive, who was born in Spain, belong to the next decade, but all his activity as writer and anthropologist took place in the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

Ren\u00e9 Rodr\u00edguez Soriano, \u00c1ngela Hern\u00e1ndez, Rafael Garc\u00eda Romero, Jos\u00e9 Acosta, Avelino Stanley, C\u00e9sar Zapata, Pedro Camilo, Pastor de Moya, Manuel Garc\u00eda Cartagena, Ram\u00f3n Tejada Holgu\u00edn, and Pedro Antonio Valdez stand out in the eighties and the nineties.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Millennium storytellers <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Short stories continue to be actively cultivated in the twenty-first century by a new generation of writers who are starting to be recognized internationally. Among those already recognized are Rey Emmanuel And\u00fajar, Rita Indiana Hern\u00e1ndez, Frank B\u00e1ez, International Youth Short Story Prize of the Book Fair; Juan Dicent, Ariadna V\u00e1squez, and Isidro Jim\u00e9nez Guill\u00e9n, winner of the Youth Short Story Grand Award, in 2013.<\/p>\n

Also, Nan Chevalier, Fai Rosario, Rub\u00e9n S\u00e1nchez, Eugenio Garc\u00eda Cuevas, Osiris Vallejo and Justiniano Est\u00e9vez Aristy, among others who begin to open new paths for Dominican short story writing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Novelists<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As an overall assessment, poetry and short story have beat the novel, but this genre picks up in production and recognition in the twenty and twenty-first centuries with the contributions of novelists of different generations.<\/p>\n

The past marked the future of the Dominican fiction novel for a long time. Several scholars attribute its lag to two fundamental reasons: 1) a royal decree dated on April 4th, 1531, which prohibited books of \u201cromance, vain or profane stories on the island.\u201d On the other hand, road stories were allowed, which ended up being the most disseminated source; 2) the lack of socio-cultural conditions to produce works of fiction, including the lack of academia and publishers.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the absence of external referents in a small island population explains why the first Dominican novels of the nineteenth century were written abroad, where their authors came into contact with the literary styles and trends of the moment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First Novels<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cLos Amores de los Indios\u201d is, in chronological order, believed to be the first novel written by a Dominican, Alejandro Angulo Guridi, and published in 1843 in Villa Clara, Cuba, where his family lived in exile.<\/p>\n

The novel \u201cEl Montero,\u201d by Pedro Francisco Bon\u00f3, came out in Paris, in 1856, in the form of brochures that appeared in El Correo de Ultramar, a French newspaper on political, literary, mercantile and industrial issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cLos Fantasmas de Hig\u00fcey,\u201d by Francisco Angulo Guridi, was published in Havana in 1857.<\/p>\n

Twenty-three years later, in 1879, the first part of \u201cEnriquillo,\u201d by Manuel de Jes\u00fas Galv\u00e1n, was published by Santo Domingo’s religious printing house San Luis Gonzaga. The author lived in exile during the years prior to the novel. The publication of the complete work took place in 1882 by the Garc\u00eda Hnos. printing house, located in the capital city. This emblematic novel in the historical legend category, has documentary value for critics, and has been regarded as well written, considering its publishing date.<\/p>\n

The first Dominican novelist, Amelia Francasci, who wrote under the pseudonym of Francisca Amelia de Marchena S\u00e1nchez, is a Galv\u00e1n contemporary.\u00a0 She wrote some seven novels, the first of which, \u201cMadre Culpable,\u201d was published in 1892. Educated in Cura\u00e7ao and the Netherlands Antilles, she focused her romantic works, typical of her time, on foreign scenarios.<\/p>\n

\u201cBan\u00ed o Engracia y Anto\u00f1ita,\u201d by Francisco Gregorio Billini Aristy, is one of the classic novels of costumbrismo published that same year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Novels of the Twentieth Century<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The historical novel continues with Federico Garc\u00eda Godoy and Tulio Mar\u00eda Cestero in the twentieth century. In his works \u201cRufinito\u201d (1908), \u201cAlma Dominicana\u201d (1911), and \u201cGuanuma\u201d (1914), Garc\u00eda Godoy evokes episodes of the first and second Republic. Cestero, in turn, concentrates on the tyranny of Ulises Heureaux in \u201cLa Sangre\u201d (1913).<\/p>\n

The Dominican novel of the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, in the words of Belliard, has \u201cthree important moments, according to its type and theme.\u201d The theme of sugar cane, explored by Moscoso Puello in \u201cCa\u00f1as y Bueyes\u201d in 1935; by Marrero Aristy, in \u201cOver\u201d, in 1939; and by Pedro P\u00e9rez Cabral (Corpito) in \u201cJenjibre\u201d, in 1940. The biblical theme, explored by Esteban Deive, in \u201cMagdalena\u201d (1964); Veloz Maggiolo, in \u201cEl Buen Ladr\u00f3n\u201d, in 1960; and Ram\u00f3n Emilio Reyes, with \u201cTestimonio\u201d, in 1961; And the third is the theme of Costumbrismo, expressed in \u201cLa Cacica,\u201d by Rafael Damir\u00f3n, in 1944; in \u201cLa Ma\u00f1osa,\u201d by Bosch, in 1936; and in Billini\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

The production of the Dominican novel has not stopped in its modern stage. 151 novels and 160 short narratives were published from 1961 to 1990, according to statistics compiled by historian Frank Moya Pons.<\/p>\n

Some of the creative voices of that period are: Aida Cartagena Portalat\u00edn, whose novel \u201cEscalera para Electra\u201d (1970) was a finalist in the Biblioteca Breve Award by Seix and Barral Publishing House, of Barcelona, Spain. Other authors who have marked the era with their productions are: Roberto Marcall\u00e9 Abreu, Andr\u00e9s L. Mateo, Pedro Peix, Antonio Lockward, Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Manuel Rueda, Juan Bosch, and Virgilio D\u00edaz Grull\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Current Panorama<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The works of Veloz Maggiolo, Antonio Valdez and Pedro Verg\u00e9s stand out in the current panorama of the Dominican novel, in terms of literary quality and international projection.<\/p>\n

Veloz Maggiolo, author of a dozen novels, won the William Faulkner Prize, from the University of Virginia, United States, for his novel \u201cThe Good Thief.\u201d In 2006, he received the Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Arguedas extraordinary award for narrative for his novel \u201cLa Mosca Soldado,\u201d presented by Casa de las Am\u00e9ricas to relevant Latin American writers.<\/p>\n

He has won the National Novel Award four times, the 1998 National Literature Award, and the 1997 National Book Fair Award.<\/p>\n

The work of writer Pedro Verg\u00e9s \u201cS\u00f3lo Cenizas Hallar\u00e1s” (Bolero), with characters staged in the months after the murder of Trujillo, underscored the Dominican novel abroad, when his author received the Spanish narrative critics award in 1981 and the 15th<\/sup> Blasco Iba\u00f1ez novel award.<\/p>\n

The novel \u201cEl Carnaval de Sodoma,\u201d by Pedro Antonio Valdez, was adapted to film in Mexico and in Spain in 2006, by one of the best Latin American directors, Mexican Arturo Ripstein.<\/p>\n

Valdez won the 1998 National Novel Prize for \u201cBachata del \u00c1ngel Ca\u00eddo,\u201d and he received the Alberto Guti\u00e9rrez de la Solana International Prize from the United States that same year for his book \u201cParadise.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

New Generation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The novelists of the new generation \u2013 almost all born in the mid and late seventies \u2013 began to make their contributions to Dominican literature, including those who lived outside of the country and those who write in English about Dominican issues.<\/p>\n

While many novelists from the distant and recent past portray the Dominican world from a historic perspective, present-day authors write influenced by the cultural molds traced by the global world of post-modernity.<\/p>\n

The predominant themes for the writers that began to publish starting in the year 2000 are: public and underground violence, marginal life, drugs, consumerism and pornography.<\/p>\n

The young people who lead the millennium are liberated both from \u201cthe narrative and aesthetic currents that preceded them, as from the identity presuppositions around \u201cDominicanidad\u201d … they present an attitude of disengagement that allows them to act in a lucid and experimental way,\u201d states scholar Fernanda Bustamante, in her book \u201cEscritura del Desacato: A ritmo desenfadado\u201d (2015, Cuarto Propio Publisher, Santiago, Chile.)<\/p>\n

One of the most successful narrators of that generation is Rey Emmanuel And\u00fajar, author of \u201cLos Gestos In\u00fatiles,\u201d first prize winner at the VI Concurso Latinoamericano y Caribe\u00f1o, in 2015. He also wrote the novels \u201cCandela\u201d (Alfaguara 2007), that received the Penn Club Award of Puerto Rico, and \u201cEl Hombre Tri\u00e1ngulo\u201d (Isla Negra 2005).<\/p>\n

Likewise, Rita Indiana Hern\u00e1ndez’s literary and musical circuit extends internationally. In her short novel \u201cLa Estrategia de Chochueca\u201d and her other narratives, \u201cshe addresses the alienation of the market, the schizophrenia of society, the breaking of heteronormativity and the desecration of the body and space,\u201d says Fernanda Bustamante in her book.<\/p>\n

The themes are not homogeneous. Writer Jos\u00e9 Acosta won the 2015 Casa de las Am\u00e9ricas Award with his novel \u201cUn Kil\u00f3metro de Mar,\u201d an adventure journey of two teenagers.<\/p>\n

Another novel, \u201cEl Dedo Mayor de la Realidad que me Saluda,\u201d the first by Joan Prats, launched in 2011 by Santillana, is a humorous story of a young Dominican who studies in Barcelona.<\/p>\n

It is worth mentioning the contribution of Dominican-American novelists that have won awards abroad, such as Pulitzer Prize winner Junot D\u00edaz, Julia \u00c1lvarez, and Nelly Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n

Also, the novel of a poet and academic of another generation, Miguel Angel Forner\u00edn, who premiered in 2011 his \u201cTu siempre crees que viene una guagua,\u201d an agile and refined narrative about a group of children who enter adolescence in a time of uncertainties tinged by corruption and political assassinations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essayists<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As in the other genres of literature, Dominican essayists go back to the mid-nineteenth century. Since then, internationally renowned authors enrich Dominican writing with literary, historical, sociological, political, and scientific themes.<\/p>\n

The most outstanding Dominican essayist of international scope was Pedro Henr\u00edquez Ure\u00f1a. In addition to the merits of his Dominican work, he is considered a cultural influence in Argentina, where he lived and formed a family.<\/p>\n

Federico Garc\u00eda Godoy, one of the most educated literary critics of his time, wrote essays that were disseminated in Revue Hispanique of France and in magazines in Spain and Latin America.<\/p>\n

Juan Bosch is another noted essayist, whose work transcended Dominican borders and expanded to Latin American and Caribbean nations, such as Chile, Venezuela and Cuba, where he has been honored.<\/p>\n

Marcio Veloz Maggiolo has a wide and respected work as an essayist, and his works have been published abroad, including \u201cArqueolog\u00eda pre-hist\u00f3rica de Santo Domingo\u201d (Singapore, New York, Mc Graw Hill, 1972), which is considered \u201cthe most complete compendium of Dominican archeology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other great Dominican essayists were Rafael Mar\u00eda Moscoso Puello, \u201cthe first Dominican scientist who studied the national flora;\u201d Am\u00e9rico Lugo, Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n L\u00f3pez, Manuel Arturo Pe\u00f1a Battle, Joaqu\u00edn Balaguer, and Juan Isidro Jim\u00e9nez Grull\u00f3n, among a long list.<\/p>\n

In addition to Veloz Maggiolo, other current essayists are Federico Henr\u00edquez Gratereaux, Manuel N\u00fa\u00f1ez, Carlos Esteban Deive, Andr\u00e9s L. Mateo, Bruno Rosario Candelier, Di\u00f3genes C\u00e9spedes, Jos\u00e9 M\u00e1rmol, Odalis G. P\u00e9rez, and Miguel \u00c1ngel Forner\u00edn, who received the Pedro Henr\u00edquez Ure\u00f1a National Essay Prize in 1995, for his work \u201cLa Escritura de Pedro Mir.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Did you know?<\/strong> Dominican Leonor de Ovando is considered the first woman to write poetry and sonnets on this side of the world, the first female poet of the Americas (sixteenth century.)<\/p>\n

Did you know?<\/strong> There are many male writers and poets that are politicians in the history of Dominican literature, such as Juan Pablo Duarte, Father of the Nation, Juan Bosch, and Joaqu\u00edn Balaguer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

National Literature Awards<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u00c1ngela Hern\u00e1ndez<\/strong>, 2016 National Literature Prize, received the Cole Prize, for her novel \u201cMudanza de los Sentidos;\u201d the 1997 National Short Story Award, for \u201cPiedra de Sacrificio;\u201d the 2005 Annual Poetry Prize for her book \u201cAlicornio,\u201d and the 2012 Annual Short Story Prize for her work \u201cLa Secta del Crisantemo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberto Marcall\u00e9 Abreu<\/strong>, winner of the 2015 National Literature Prize for his contribution to the Dominican narrative in short story and novel. He won the UC Novel Award in 2012 for \u201cLas Calles Enemigas.\u201d Some of his works are: \u201cLas Dos Muertes de Jos\u00e9 Irino,\u201d \u201cEl Min\u00fasculo Infierno del Se\u00f1or Lukas,\u201d and \u201cS\u00e1bado de Sol Despu\u00e9s de las Lluvias.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony Raful<\/strong>, won the 2014 National Literature Prize. His numerous works cover the genres of poetry, essay and history. University Professor and former Minister of Culture, among his books and recent essays are \u201cDe Trujillo a Fern\u00e1ndez Dom\u00ednguez y Caama\u00f1o,\u201d \u201cLa Pasi\u00f3n por la Libertad\u201d and \u201cEl Asesinato del Presidente de Guatemala Ordenado por Trujillo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 M\u00e1rmol<\/strong>, winner of the 2013 National Literature Prize. Poet and essayist, founder of the Ergo collection of Dominican poetry. In 1987 he won the Salom\u00e9 Ure\u00f1a National Poetry Prize; in 1992 the Pedro Henr\u00edquez Ure\u00f1a poetry prize; in 1994 the Casa de Teatro prize, and second prize in the 1994 Eliseo Diego international prize, of Plural magazine.<\/p>\n

Armando Alm\u00e1nzar<\/strong>, winner of the 2012 National Literature Prize in recognition for his 45 years of literary work as a writer, poet, short story writer, art critic and journalist. His first book, \u201cL\u00edmite,\u201d was published in 1979 by Alfa y Omega. His stories are included in Antolog\u00eda del Cuento Latinoamericano Contempor\u00e1neo and in the book \u201cNarradores Dominicanos,\u201d by Venezuelan publisher Monte \u00c1vila.<\/p>\n

Jeannette Miller,<\/strong> winner of the 2011 National Literature Prize. Essayist, poet, storyteller and novelist. Outstanding figure of the generation of the sixties. The following poetry books are among her works: “El viaje\u201d and \u201cF\u00f3rmulas para Combatir el Miedo.\u201d Author of several essays, a book of Dominican art in two volumes and the novels \u201cLa Vida es Otra Cosa\u201d (2005) and \u201cA m\u00ed no me Gustan los Boleros\u201d (2009).<\/p>\n

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BIBLIOGRAPHY<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n