Patria y lejanía: epistolario de José María Heredia

Abstract

In this article, we examine the correspondence of José María Heredia (1803-1839), a poet born almost by accident in Cuba and exiled from the island for his independence related ideas. The letters of this outlawed national poet, whose life path traces a labyrinthine biographical journey from the utopia of American independence to the certainty of the discouraging limitations of that dream, are presented as a momentof great transcendence in the course of the Hispanic-American self. For this reason, our approach to this collection of letters is framed within the context of its reinsertion into the cultural, historical, and biographical context, as well as within the entirety of this author’s poetic work.