Cirilo Villaverde (1812-1894)
Born on October 28, 1812 in San Diego de Núñez, Pinar del Río, Cuba. From an early age he began to study. At the age of thirteen, he moved to Havana City, where after studying at the school, run by Antonio Vázquez, he began to study Latin with Fray Joaquín de Morales, philosophy teacher from Convento de la Merced. His intellectual top is awakened by Francisco Javier de la Cruz, renowned successor of Félix Varela and José de la Luz y Caballero, and professor in the cathedra of San Carlos Seminary, semiofficial facilities at that colonial time. Also in Havana he graduated first as Bachelor of Laws and then as Doctor of Law, profession he practiced for a short time due to his love for literature. He devoted himself to Literature fascinatingly while to teaching and journalism to a lesser extent.
Cirilo Villaverde’s literary work has brought about a certain debate among the critics; some consider it romantic, others no transcendental. Only when Cecilia Valdés comes out, the author is venerated by all of them. After publishing the first volume of Cecilia Valdés or La loma del ángel, the novel was not completed until forty years later due to thousand disappointments. This novel is undoubtedly the most brilliant and valuable work of Villaverde. Eminent personalities have judged it and indicated the place it deserves. If Villaverde has no more credit than being the author of this novel, he would deserve the constant memory and immortal gratitude from his fellow citizens just for this work. Cecilia Valdés or La Loma del ángel, considered the top novel of XIX century, has been adapted for a movie and used as base for an operetta with the same name, composed by the outstanding Cuban musician Gonzalo Roig.
He was professor in Buenavista, La Empresa de Matanzas and Real Colegio de Cuba schools. Villaverde was arrested in 1848, convicted to prison for his separatist ideas and his participation in the conspiracy of Trinidad and Cienfuegos, in the south-center part of the island. He is able to escape from jail and go to the United States.
Cirilo Villaverde stood out in novels and short stories. Some of his novels are historical and in some others he wrote descriptive passages of Pinar del Río. His style is romantic but not over elaborated, and in some cases indicates an alignment to realism. Most of his works are a sentimental dramatization of current subjects. He translated several important literary works from English, and maybe French, into Spanish. He used different pseudonymous as: Un contemporáneo, Sansueñas, Simón Judas de la Paz, among others.
He spent great part of his life exiled in the United States. In 1868, when the Independence war began, he became a member of Junta Revolucionaria that was established in New York. Cirilo Villaverde died in New York on October 23, 1894.
Bibliography:
La cueva de Taganana, 1837
La peña blanca, 1837
El espetón de oro , 1838
Cecilia Valdé o La Loma del Ángel, 1839, 1882
Teresa, 1839
La joven de la flecha de oro, 1841
Excursión a la Vuelta Abajo, 1843-1844
Compendio geográfico de la Isla de Cuba, 1845
Comunidad de nombres y apellidos, 1845
El librito de cuentos y las conversaciones, 1847
El librito de los cuentos, 1857
Dos Amores, 1858
Cuban editions he collaborated with:
Aguinaldo Habanero
El Álbum
El Artista
La Aurora
La Cartera Cubana
Cuba Literaria
Faro Industrial de La Habana
Flores del Siglo
Miscelánea de útil y agradable recreo
Recreo de las Damas
Revista de La Habana
La Siempreviva
La Habana
American editions he collaborated with:
La América
El Avisador Hispanoamericano
La Familia
El Fígaro
Frank Leslie's Magazine
Revista Cubana
La Verdad
El Independiente
La Ilustración Americana
El Espejo
Read other related articles at La Bijirita:
 Cecilia Valdés. Cuban Zarzuela
Cirilo Villaverde and his Cecilia Valdés
Villaverde in front of the mirror
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