Resonancias románticas y modernistas en La cuna de piedra, novela breve de José Felipe Castellot

Abstract

La cuna de piedra (1903), by José Felipe Castellot, was the first novel published in the State of Campeche, and is the only narrative made known by its author, recognized more as a poet and playwright. This article analyzes the plot, character configuration, heterodiegetic voice disengagements and lyrical construction deployed in the short novel La cuna de piedra. Our objective is to highlight the artistic and ideological presuppositions of a late Latin American romanticism interwoven with modernist elements in the aforementioned story: a story set in the pre-Hispanic Mayan civilization, that is, a temporality remote from the author’s present; a population without free will, subjugated by a tyrant ruler; a sentimental relationship spoiled by the extinction of the protagonists; idealization of the values practiced by the heroic Mayan couple; lyrical exaltation of the tropical jungle, as well as the introduction of a lilting and precious language attached to sensory perceptions.

Keywords

• campeche literature
• short novel
• josé felipe castellot
• pre-hispanic mayan word