Magín Robert: El hombre detrás del seudónimo

Abstract

Abstract:The use of anonymity and pseudonyms is a recurring practice among writers from different periods, genres, countries, and literary currents. The reasons for this practice range from modesty to prejudice, the search for fame, or even a simple whim. While some pseudonyms are familiar and endearing—Fernando Pessoa, Virginia Woolf, and Pablo Neruda, for example—, others, like the Cuban playwright Justo Eleboro, are lost in the annals of Caribbean and island literature. This article explores the brief work of Eleboro, a 19th-century Literary costumbrismo playwright whose dramaturgy constitutes a denunciation of colonialism, racism, slavery, and the phallocentric regimentation of gender roles. With an interdisciplinary perspective that combines historiographical and political analysis, this essay reads Eleboro's plays from the moment of the discovery of his true identity—Magín Robert—, which had been buried in a pseudonym for more than a century. An understanding of the latter's political and revolutionary militancy is crucial to the process of contextualizing his work and making it visible.