Havana Letter: 07/15/08

With this entry, I conclude my jaunt through Havana: Tales of a City. The book closes with an 1849 letter by William Cullen Bryant that he later included in his Letters of a Traveller (1850).

Like Maturin M. Ballou, Bryant was fascinated by the ladies of Havana. His description of the ladies in their volantes matches Ballous, though he takes more time to describe how they used them in their day to day activities. He shows how the women would wait in their carriages for vendors to bring their wares out to them, somewhere between modern drive through and the street side service that posher places offer on Rodeo drive.

Of the recent pieces I read in Havana, Bryant's letter and Wallace's poem seemed the most genuine. I think much of that authenticity stems from them being intact, rather than being excerpts lacking the necessary context. Bryant's Letters of a Traveller is part of the Google Books but I think sometime I would like to hold a copy in my hand and curl up in a comfy chair to read it.

Here is the complete list of reviews from Havana: Tales of a City.

• Cuba Revisited by Martha Gellhorn
• Dreaming in Cuban (excerpt) by Cristina Garcia
• What to Wear by Consuelo Hermer and Marjorie May
• Cuban Childhood by Fidel Castro and Frei Betto
• The Cuba Journal by Sophia Peabody Hawthorne
• Our Man in Havana (excerpt) by Graham Greene
• Chronicle of the City of Havana by Eduardo Galeano
• The War with Spain (excerpt) by Henry Cabot Lodge
• Marlin off the Morro by Ernest Hemingway
• Cuban Sketches (excerpt) by James Steele
• Singing to Cuba (excerpt) by Margarita Engel
• Creole Ladies, Marti the Smuggler, Bullfighting by Maturin M. Ballou
• Academic Discourse at Havana by Wallace Stevens
• Havana Letter by William Cullen Bryant

Comments