Santa Lujuria in
its third edition
Angela Oramas Camero
The novel Santa Lujuria (Sacred
Lust), by Marta Rojas, now in its third edition,
invites readers, particularly in Cuba, Spain and
Florida, to learn of the realities and fantasies of
the wealthy and evil Spaniard Antonio Ponce de León,
Marquis of Aguas Claras, and his bastard son,
Francisco Filomeno, born in Cuba and the grandson of
the conquistador of Florida, Juan Ponce de León.
The Letra Viva publishing house in
Coral Gables, by chance more than intention,
recently published Santa Lujuria, on the 500th
anniversary of the arrival in Florida (1513), of the
Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, who thought he
would find in this territory the fountain of youth.
Meanwhile, celebrations are taking place for the
foundation in 1565 of St. Augustine, the Spanish
settlement thought to be the oldest town in the
United States.
The birth of Filomeno is narrated in
detail, as is how, on the very same day, the Marquis
took him away from his mother Lucila Méndes, a mixed
race Cuban woman who, while free, was in practice
still treated as a slave by Antonio Ponce de León.
However, some years later, the Marquis arranged for
the child to be raised in St. Augustine by his
mother in the condition of a nursemaid and under a
different name, Isabel de Flandes.
Subsequently, Antonio Ponce de León
left for Florida in a brigantine, the Saeta.
The crossing took nine days, during which the
Marquis recalled events and experiences during his
life in Havana, interesting reflections demonstrated
thanks to the fantastic imagination and study of the
period undertaken by the author.
The novel reveals a clip of the
ambitions of Filomeno who, at 18 years of age and
about to obtain a degree in law, liked to be called
the marquesito de color quebrado (Little
marquis of fractional color) but is intent on
whitening his skin, soul and lineage, while two
other characters are, equally, treated with
exceptional force: the fainthearted Captain Aranda
and the beautiful Lucila, renamed Isabel, the
central figure in an impassioned plot hatched in
Havana, Santiago de Cuba and St. Augustine in
Florida.
It is not my intention to comment,
even in synthesis, on the novel’s content, but to
simply affirm that Santa Lujuria is a
reflection of historic literature, given that it is
inspired by a colonial period between the end of the
18th century and the beginning of the 19th. And,
given that, it reveals passages involving ambition,
intrigue, lust, violence and inter-ethnic conflict.
"Filomeno, with his hands
bandaged, was chatting with the governor about the
voyage to Santiago de Cuba, from where he had
received testimonies through an envoy about the
plans that the interloper José Bonaparte had
prepared for a possible uprising in the Spanish
overseas territories, including the very faithful
island of Cuba." This is one paragraph from the
novel based on an event of historic significance.
The first edition of Santa
Lujuria was published by Letras Cubanas, Havana,
in 1998, financed by the Education and Culture
Development Fund. The cover depicts an illustration
by the eminent artist Santiago Armada, Chago.
