Manuel del Cabral
Manuel del Cabral was a prominent Dominican poet and diplomat, born in 1907 in the Dominican Republic. Initially pressured to pursue a legal career by his father, a political figure, Cabral eventually followed his passion for literature, joining a progressive literary group known as "la cueva." His early work, including the poetry collection *Pilón: Cantos al rerruño, y otros poemas*, celebrated the diverse cultural heritage of the Dominican Republic, integrating indigenous, European, and African influences. After relocating to the United States in 1938, he engaged in diplomatic service while also expanding his artistic endeavors into painting.
During his time in South America, Cabral became influenced by surrealism, producing politically charged poetry that criticized the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. His writing evolved over the decades, reflecting a shift towards metaphysical themes, likely influenced by European literary figures he encountered. Following periods of political resistance, particularly against authoritarian regimes, Cabral returned to the Dominican Republic in the 1980s after years of exile. He received several accolades, including the National Prize for Theatre and the National Prize for Literature, and is remembered for honoring Afro-Spanish and Afro-French culture in his works. Cabral passed away in 1999, and his contributions to literature and culture continue to be celebrated, including posthumous honors at international literary events.
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Subject Terms
Manuel del Cabral
Writer
- Born: March 7, 1907
- Birthplace: Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
- Died: May 14, 1999
- Place of death: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Biography
Manuel del Cabral was born in the Dominican Republic in 1907. His father, Mario Fermin Cabral, served as president of the Senate in the Dominican Republic, a position that would later pave the way for his son to pursue a diplomatic career. Having completed secondary school at the Escuela Normal de Santiago, Cabral, under pressure from his father, studied law. However, Cabral convinced his father to allow him to pursue a career in literature in Santo Dominigo. There he joined a literary group that called itself “la cueva” (the cave). Its members, young and full of new, innovative ideas about poetry, rejected traditional Dominican values that emphasized a Eurocentric point of view. Thus his first volume of poems, Pilón: Cantos al rerruño, y otros poemas, published in 1931, celebrates all the traditions—indigenous, European, and African—that constitute Dominican life.
Cabral moved to the United States in 1938 and secured a diplomatic post, inaugurating a career in politics he would continue the rest of his life. Cabral also began painting at this time. Soon after his arrival in Washington, D.C., Cabral was transferred to Bogota, Columbia. He began to reconnect with some of the literary luminaries of South America. It was during this period that Cabral embarked upon his most productive period as a poet. Under the influence of surrealists he met in South America, Cabral began writing his most explicit political poems, largely directed against Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship in the Dominican Republic and the United States.
By the 1950’s, Cabral’s poems took on a more metaphysical bent as he began to explore humankind’s relationship to the universe. This existential turn in Cabral’s work was due in large part to the European writers he met during his diplomatic trips overseas. Nonetheless, Cabral soon faced a more immediate political decision when the Trujillo regime broke off diplomatic relations with Argentina, where Cabral was serving as a diplomat. Cabral resigned his post and remained in Argentina, criticizing the regime openly for the first time (Trujillo had been instrumental in securing Cabral’s first diplomatic post). Only when Juan Bosch was elected president of the Dominican Republic in 1963 did Cabral return to his country and resume his career as a diplomat to Chile. However, when Bosch was deposed by Trujillo sympathizers later that year, Cabral again resigned in protest.
He would not return to his native country until 1980, when he received the Premio Nacional de Teatro (National Prize for Theatre) for a play. Cabral had also resumed painting and gave an exhibition at the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library). In 1992 he was awarded the Premio Nacional de Literatura (National Prize for Literature). After his death in 1999, the IV Feria Internacional del Libro 2001 (Fourth International Book Fair 2001) was held in his honor. As was noted at the event, his body of work is important because Cabral was among the first South American poets to celebrate the Afro-Spanish and Afro-French culture in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic.