La tristeza nos precede: Poetry and Resistance in the Early Works of Norberto James Rawlings
When and Where
Speakers
Description
We are delighted to welcome back professor Ramón (Arturo) Victoriano-Martínez, in collaboration with the Centre for Caribbean Studies, for an invited lecture.
About the Presentation
This presentation examines the poetry of Norberto James Rawlings as a form of resistance against the authoritarian rule of Joaquín Balaguer. His collections Sobre la marcha (1969) and La provincia sublevada (1972) emerged in the wake of the 1965 April Revolution and reflect the struggles of a generation fighting repression. By reading his work against Balaguer’s political rhetoric, this analysis reveals how poetry functioned as both testimony and defiance.
James Rawlings’ verses capture disillusionment, betrayal, and perseverance, offering a counterpoint to Balaguer’s imposed “peace.” While some critics see his poetry as tied to its historical moment, this lecture argues that its immediacy gives it lasting relevance.
About the Presenter
Ramón Antonio Victoriano-Martinez (Arturo) was born in the Dominican Republic, where he graduated with a B.A. in law at the Universidad Católica Santo Domingo. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in the area of Hispanic and Latin American Literatures. After graduation he taught in the Department of Language Studies (University of Toronto Mississauga), the Caribbean Studies Program and the Latin American Studies Program (University of Toronto) from 2011 to 2019. His primary area of research are the literatures and cultures of the Hispanic Caribbean with an emphasis on issues of race, gender, diaspora and national belonging.
He is the author of the monograph Rayanos y Dominicanyorks: La dominicanidad del siglo XXI (IILI, 2014). His current research project analyzes the Dominican literary production from 1966 to 1978 when, on the one hand, writers such as Norberto James Rawlings resisted the oppressive regime of Joaquín Balaguer through their works while on the other, authors like Roberto Marcallé Abreu, chronicled the disillusion and bourgeois conformity of the middle class.