A Trip to Cuba

Julia Ward HoweProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 259K words
Chapters: 26

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Trip to Cuba by Julia Ward HoweAuthor: Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910,Language: English, Class: F1751: History of the Americas: West Indies. Cuba, Release Date: Dec 3, 2011

Editor's review

This is Julia Ward Howe's travel account of Cuba, in which the author records the island's scenery, towns, and daily life through the eyes of a nineteenth-century American traveler. The work's value lies in offering an observation text with a literary tone: the narrative is unhurried, the details lean toward sensory impressions and character sketches, and it combines curiosity on the journey with the prejudices inevitable to its era and the author's station. Readers may treat it as material for understanding nineteenth-century Caribbean travel writing and ways of cross-cultural looking, rather than as a present-day tourist guide. When reading, one should attend to the author's standpoint and rhetorical choices, separating "what she saw" from "how she narrates it"; readers unfamiliar with the historical background may consult modern Cuban history for comparison. The prose is moderately difficult, suited to slow reading, and individual chapters can be selected as samples for discussion of travel literature and women's writing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century travel literature and Caribbean history
Scholars and students of American women's writing and cross-cultural observation
General readers who enjoy narrative travelogues and prefer slow, attentive reading

Not a good fit for

Travelers seeking practical tourist information and contemporary guides
Readers expecting a systematic general history of Cuba or political-economic analysis
Readers averse to nineteenth-century prose style and colonial perspectives

Reading tips

Gain a basic understanding of nineteenth-century U.S.–Cuba relations before entering the text
Mark the author's observational perspective and value judgments as you read, making brief annotations
Read selected chapters on towns and character descriptions closely to appreciate the literary technique
Compare with other contemporary Caribbean travelogues to examine differences in narration

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a travel guide?

No. It is a nineteenth-century travel account focused on personal observations and literary description; it offers no practical information such as contemporary transport or accommodation and is best read as a historical and literary text.

What background knowledge is needed before reading?

A grasp of basic nineteenth-century U.S.–Cuba relations, the tradition of travel writing, and the social attitudes of the author's time will make the observations and prejudices in the text easier to understand.

Are the views in the book still applicable today?

The book bears many marks of its era, and some views reflect the limitations of travelers of the time. It is best treated as historical material, distinguishing factual record from the author's evaluations, and not applied directly.

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About the author

Julia Ward Howe Author · American · 1819–1910

Julia Ward Howe (Howe, Julia Ward, 1819–1910) was an American writer, abolitionist, and women's rights activist, best known for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," which was widely sung by Union forces during the Civil War. Her writing spans poetry, travel accounts, biography, and political essays, in a clear style animated by moral conviction. Six of her works are held here, including Margaret Fuller, Reminiscences, 1819–1899, A Trip to Cuba, Is Polite Society Polite? and Other Essays, Modern Society, and From the Oak to the Olive: A Plain Record of a Pleasant Journey, commonly classified under inspirational growth. She helped found the American Woman Suffrage Association and in 1908 became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.