Dominican Republic / All works
Novel
The Cross and the Sword
Enriquillo
Manuel de Jesús Galván · 1882
Synopsis
Hispaniola, from 1503 to 1533. After the massacre of Jaragua ordered by Governor Nicolás de Ovando, the young Guarocuya, nephew of Queen Anacaona, survives and grows up with the Franciscans under the name Enriquillo. Converted, educated and betrothed to Mencía, he nonetheless sees the colonists strip him of his inheritance without any court hearing him. Breaking with his Spanish upbringing, he takes to the mountains with his people and leads a Taíno rebellion.
Context
Published in part in 1879, then in full in 1882 by García Hermanos, the novel has one hundred and twenty-five chapters in three parts and draws on Bartolomé de las Casas's History of the Indies, in which he plays a role. José Martí praised its style, and generations of Dominican schoolchildren read it in class. In 1952 Unesco included it in its collection of representative works: it then appeared in French, translated by Marcelle Auclair, and in 1954 in English, signed by Robert Graves, as The Cross and the Sword.
Who it is for
For reliving the conquest of Hispaniola and a cacique's revolt, in the founding novel of Dominican letters.
Prizes and reception
Regarded by many as the great Dominican novel, it is also accused of glorifying the Conquest; Kirkus found it overloaded but rich.