José Antonio Fernández de Castro

José Antonio Fernández de Castro was part of the Minorista Group and participated in the famous Protest of the Thirteen, an action that resulted in legal proceedings and imprisonment. He was imprisoned on several occasions by the Machado regime. He was a writer, journalist, diplomat, translator, and professor. He belonged to the Academy of the History of Cuba and the National Academy of History and Geography of Mexico. He is the author of "Half a Century of Colonial History of Cuba," the anthology "Modern Poetry in Cuba," and the editor of "Writings of Domingo del Monte."

He was born in Havana, where he completed elementary school and high school. Between 1912 and 1913 he studied English in public schools in New York. He graduated with a Doctor of Civil Law degree from the University of Havana in 1917, began practicing in the law firm of M. Viondi, a friend of José Martí, and attended the literary gatherings of Domingo Figarola-Caneda.

His thorough investigations in archives and libraries initially resulted in Half a Century of Colonial History (1923), an organized and annotated compilation of 239 letters received by José Antonio Saco between 1823 and 1879, with a preface by Enrique José Varona.

He collaborated with the journal Social (including his translation of poems by Langston Hughes, in 1928). He was a frequent attendee of the gatherings at Café Martí.

He participated in the Protest of the Thirteen (1923) and was part of the Minorista Group (1923-1928). He joined the Movement of Veterans and Patriots (1924), was imprisoned, and traveled again to the United States. In Ocala, Florida, he prepared, together with Raúl Martínez Villena and Calixto García Vélez, the bombing of Cuba's Presidential Palace. He was detained by American federal police.

In 1926, back in Cuba, he joined the editorial staff of Diario de la Marina and was director of its Sunday Literary Supplement. He became a notable promoter of the artistic and literary avant-garde. With Félix Lizaso, he published Modern Poetry in Cuba (Madrid, 1926), a selection of representative texts in the development of the genre between 1882 and 1925, which legitimized the work of "The New Ones."

He was appointed instructor in the newly created chair of Cuban History at the University of Havana, under the direction of Ramiro Guerra (1928). He oversaw the edition of the two volumes of Writings of Domingo del Monte (1929), with his introduction and annotations, for the Collection of Cuban Books, founded by Fernando Ortiz. He was imprisoned several times during the tyranny of Gerardo Machado.

Between 1931 and 1933, he was chief editor of the journal Orbe, published by Diario de la Marina. In Barraca de feria (1933), a book highly praised by Cuban and foreign critics, he compiled his critical articles, various reviews, and monographs that originally appeared in magazines and newspapers.

He served as a diplomat in Mexico (1934, 1938-1944, and 1948-1951), Port-au-Prince (1936), Lisbon (1937), and Moscow (1944). He translated from English Biography of the Modern State by E. R. Crossman (1940) and The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine (1943), published by the Economic Culture Fund of Mexico. He created the preface and selection for Varona (Mexico, 1943). He traveled through Alaska, Persia, Egypt, and Morocco.

His correspondence with contemporary intellectuals provides substantial information about the Cuban cultural process. The Institute of Literature and Linguistics holds a collection of unpublished letters. In his Historical Outline of Letters in Cuba (1548-1902)—published in 1949—he condensed the evolution of a process with the contribution of new data and personal interpretations.

He was a member of the Academy of the History of Cuba and the National Academy of History and Geography of Mexico. He was an editor of El País, La Mañana, and La Luz; he contributed to América Libre, Archivo José Martí, Baraguá, Bohemia, Carteles, Cuadernos de Historia, Cuba Contemporánea, Excélsior, Grafos, Humanismo, Información, Nosotros, Revista Bimestre Cubana, Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional, Romance, Selecta, Universidad de La Habana, Mensuario de Arte, Literatura y Crítica, El Mercurio (Santiago de Chile), El Nacional (Caracas and Mexico), La Crónica de Lima, La Voz de México, and cultural supplements in Mexico. He used the pseudonyms Half-deck, José M. Fernández, Juan del Pueblo, i.p., Juan Mambí, Pedro de Toledo, Domingo de P. Toledo y J., Jafdec, Juan Julio, and Iván Parson.

He died on July 31, 1951.

Active Bibliography
José Antonio Saco and his friends during the Revolution of Yara, Historical Essay, Imp. El Siglo XX, Havana, 1923.
Nothing but 1 Man, Imp. El Siglo XX, Havana, 1927.
Essays on a Suicidal Poet (Mayakovsky, His Life and Work), Eds. of Revista de la Habana, Havana, 1930.
Barraca de feria (18 essays and 1 premiere), Editor J. Montero, Havana, 1933.
Projection of Fígaro's Ideas: Larra in Rizal. Imp. Rambla, Bouza, Havana, 1937.
A Cuban Opponent of Ernesto Renan. Henri Didier, His Life, His Works, and His Will, Department of Education, Department of Culture, Havana, 1938.
Domingo del Monte, Editor and Corrector of Heredia's Poems, Separata de la Revista Cubana, [Havana, 1938?].
Mexico in the Work of Marx and Engels, by Domingo de P. Toledo y J. (pseud.), Economic Culture Fund, Mexico, D. F., 1939.
Projection of Fígaro's Ideas. Larra in Argentine Political Thought, Economic Culture Fund, [Mexico, D. F.], 1940.
Cuban Essays on History and Criticism. With a letter from Fernando Ortiz, Jesús Montero, editor, Havana, 1943 (Library of history, philosophy, and sociology, 13).
The Negro Theme in the Letters of Cuba, 1608-1935, Ediciones Mirador, Havana, 1942.
Vicente Rocafuerte. A Free American, Department of Public Education, Mexico, D. F., 1947.
Historical Outline of Letters in Cuba (1548-1902), Preliminary Note by Raimundo Lazo, Dept. of Cultural Exchange of the University of Havana, Havana, 1949.
Varona. Personal Memories, Editorial Lex, Havana, 1949.
Orbit of José Antonio Fernández de Castro, Introduction and Selection by Salvador Bueno, Ediciones Unión, Havana, 1966.

Passive Bibliography
Bueno, Salvador: "José Antonio Fernández de Castro: Journalist and Researcher," in Themes and Figures of Cuban Literature, Ediciones Unión, UNEAC, Havana, 1964, pp. 229-236.
Lizaso, Félix: "José A. Fernández de Castro," in Contemporary Essayists, 1909-1920, Editorial Trópico, Havana, 1938, pp. 230-234 and 279-28 (Cuban Anthologies, 2).
Roig de Leuchsenring, Emilio: "José A. Fernández de Castro," Social, 15 (3): 107, Havana, Mar., 1930.