Dominican Republic / All works
Novel
Baní o Engracia y Antoñita
Not translated into English
Francisco Gregorio Billini · 1892
Synopsis
Leopoldo, who tells the story, returns to his town of Baní after seven years away. He is welcomed with a celebration, and he thinks he finds a brother in every hand he shakes. He sees his friends again, learns what happened during his absence, and above all meets again two young girls, Engracia, eighteen, and Antoñita, seventeen, whose fate occupies the narrative, amid the festivities, the carnival and the habits of the small town.
Context
Retired to his home after leaving the presidency, the author published this novel in 1892, ten years after a first narrative. On leaving, according to Biografías y Vidas, he had declared that his enemies would think him on the way down when he felt himself standing at the summit; his resignation is linked sometimes to his refusal to gag the press, sometimes to the fear of a civil war. The Fundación Corripio reissued the book in 1998, with notes by Manuel Rueda.
Who it is for
In Spanish; a talkative and picturesque novel of manners, as valuable as a portrait of a town as for its plot.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as its author's major contribution to Dominican literature; included in 1998 in his literary works.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.