# José Martí was also an excellent editor

**Date:** 02/09/2020

Each of the works carried out by José Martí as an editor demonstrates that for him, within the broad world of communication, there was no minor task, assured in this capital the prestigious Cuban researcher, pedagogue and historian Pedro Pablo Rodríguez, in the context of the XXIX International Book Fair of Havana (FIL Cuba 2020).

The specialist highlighted the leading role developed by Cuba's National Hero in the preparation of the newspapers where he worked in several countries, in which he had the opportunity to suggest the placement of engravings, the typography to be used, and other elements, with the purpose of increasing the effectiveness of the message.

The first editions of his Versos Sencillos and El Ismaelillo were of his own authorship, he commented, since he was always very demanding with his publications, and he considered errata as inadmissible mistakes.

Furthermore, he referred to the novel Ramona, by American author Helen Hunt Jackson, whose first edition translated into Spanish by the Master was published in 1888, as a vivid example of his intentions to create awareness through feeling.

In that text, Martí's intention is evident to make the reader aware of the war that existed between the United States and Mexico, and how the latter lost half of its territory and the cruelties and injustices caused by that process, such as the suffering of the indigenous peoples, he said.

He also commented on several of the translations made of works by authors such as Víctor Hugo and Hugh Conway, among many others, which were reproduced in the newspapers and magazines of the time, or were part of contracts with prestigious American publishing houses.

His broad command of French and English, and his vast knowledge of the Spanish language, allowed him to carry out his work with outstanding mastery and naturalness, he added, which demonstrates that he was always on par with the great classics of literature, more so because he moved with notable elegance and refinement among the most structured resources of the language and neologisms.

As a conclusion to his dialogue, Pedro Pablo Rodríguez affirmed that in Martí were united in perfect symbiosis all the skills necessary to be a writer capable of communicating with unequaled dexterity about all types of topics, always with a richer and more complex perspective.