Novel
Sab
Synopsis
Sab, a mulatto slave on a Cuban estate, secretly loves Carlota, his master's daughter. An English merchant, Enrique Otway, wants to marry her for the fortune he expects from her; Sab discovers the young man's disloyal conduct and secretly seeks to help the woman he loves. Around Carlota, raised by a father as romantic as she is, and her friend Teresa, the enslavement of Black people and the subjection of women echo each other.
Context
Begun in Cuba, the novel was continued during the crossing of 1836 and appeared in Madrid in December 1841, the year of the author's first poems. It would not be published on the island until 1914. Britannica places it among anti-slavery works; the American translator Nina M. Scott compares it to Uncle Tom's Cabin, which came ten years later, as a critique of slavery in the name of maternal values. The French translation by Élisabeth Pluton, introduced by Frank Estelmann, appeared in 2010.
Who it is for
A Romantic novel of the nineteenth century, translated into French in 2010 and into English in 1993.
Prizes and reception
For Catherine Davies, it is the only novel that is both feminist and abolitionist published by a woman in Spain or Cuba in the nineteenth century.
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