Cambria Press Publication Review: Juliet of the Tropics: A Bilingual Edition of Alejandro Tapia y Rivera’s La Cuarterona (1867)

Congratulations to Professor John Maddox on the great review of his book, Juliet of the Tropics: A Bilingual Edition of Alejandro Tapia y Rivera’s “La Cuarterona” (1867) , by the journal Hispania.

The book review states:

“Thanks to John Maddox’s translation and critical introduction, the play, now in both Spanish and English, has the potential to reach a bilingual audience. Until this volume, none of Tapia’s works of theatre had been translated into English. … Who will use this book? The focus on a Puerto Rican author who championed women, who defended abolitionism, and opposed racism makes this work very suitable for studies in a comparative context in Caribbean literature. The array of characters in addition to the tragic Julia (Juliet) include Carlos, the young man of Spanish blood who loves her, his mother, a Countess whose “noble” family has fallen on hard times, and wealthy don Críspulo, who is portrayed as fat and red, an outsider. That don Críspulo’s daughter, Emilia, who is supposed to marry Carlos, turns out to be a half sister to Julia because don Críspulos’s slave María is the mother of both of them, adds to the themes of miscegenation and societal taboos. …The writings of Alejandro Tapia y Rivera are deserving of wider recognition, and the bilingual and annotated edition of La cuarterona created by John Maddox admirably serves this purpose.”

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