Jennet Rodriguez Betancourt

writing literary compendiums such as: Aguinaldo Puertorriqueño (1843), Album
Puertorriqueño (1844), Cancionero de Borinquen” (1846), and a second Aguinaldo
Puertorriqueño (1884).
Although this group of young Creole writers evidenced a new form of artistic
expression with a deep love for homeland, they did not communicate “…una firme
expresión de nuestro espíritu, por estar sometidos ingenuamente a los temas y las normas
ya caducas de la literatura española. La imitación supera a la originalidad y el balbuceo
se evidencia” (Pedreira 155). Yet, in their self-expression they began to display a new
self-awareness that was contributing to the beginnings of a new artistic manifestation.
According to Ramón Luis Acevedo, “La literatura puertorriqueña como expresión
colectiva de un pueblo con clara identidad y conciencia de sí mismo comienza hacia
mediados del siglo XIX” (9). He goes on to state that before this period the Puerto Rican
still did not exist as a cultural and historical subject with its own uniqueness.
It is during this period that a new Creole state of mind began to surface and that
writers increased their literary production both in quantity and quality; nonetheless, it
continued under imperial authorization and approval. According to the authors of The
Empire Writes Back, “… early post-colonial texts have the potential for subversion in
their themes, but they cannot be fully developed because of rigid censorship.
Consequently, any type of discourse in the colony is “under direct control of imperial
ruling class who alone license the acceptable form and permit the publication and
distribution of the resulting work” (Ashcroft 6). This is the setting under which Manuel
A. Alonso (1822-1889), one of the most important figures of the group of ascending
young Puerto Rican writers along with Francisco Vasallo son and Santiago Vidarte,
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