Jose Julian Marti

Bio

Editor, publisher, poet. Very important Cuban national leader, forerunner of the modernista movement in Hispanic literature, as well as the organizer and moving spirit of the second war of independence, which merged with the Spanish-American war and ended with the establishment of Cuban freedom. The pre-Castro Republic of Cuba owed its existence to MartÍ more than to any other single man. He remains one of the greatest men Latin America has produced. Imprisoned at age 16 for espousing independence during the rebellion of 1868, MartÍ was exiled to Spain, where he studied law for a time. He wrote constantly, always with the cause of Cuban freedom uppermost in his mind. He moved to New York City in 1881, and began the final crusade for Cuban independence, publishing “La Patria,” a periodical devoted to Cuban interests. At the outbreak of the revolution on 1895, which he had largely inspired, he insisted on accompanying Gen. MÁximo GÓmez to Cuba. He was killed soon after a skirmish with Spanish troops. In addition to his own voluminous writing (essays, political tracts, literary criticism, newspaper articles, biographical sketches), MartÍ edited Cuban nationalist newspapers, journals, etc. His poems collected in “Ismaelilla” (1882) and “Versos Sencillos” (1891). His writings were collected in 73 volumes as “Obras completas” (Havana 1936-1953).