Literature of the Dominican Republic refers to works written in the country or outside of it by writers,[1] either by nationality or ancestry. Although one can only speak rigorously of Dominican literature in relation to works written after Dominican Independence, it is customary to include the literary production of the colonial era. During the colonial period, Cristóbal de Llerena wrote the interlude Octava de Corpus Christi and Leonor de Ovando wrote some sonnets, which is why she is considered the first woman to write poetry on this side of the world. Modern Dominican literature began with the founding of the first cultural society Lovers of Letters, to which Manuel de Jesús Galván, Jose Gabriel García, Francisco Javier Angulo Guridi, Manuel de Jesus Heredia, Manuel Rodríguez Objío, among others, belonged.[2]
The literature of the Dominican Republic continues to be in flux and in search of greater projection within and outside the national territory, although Dominican authors have cultivated the various manifestations of literary work, reflecting in their works the mixture of Spanish, African and Taíno elements that occurs in the Caribbean and the influence of successive emigrations for political and economic reasons. Poetry, novels, short stories, essays and history have expressed the political, social and economic discourse of the country, which since the feat of discovery has been permeated by multiple currents of thought, especially European and American initially, and from the Far East in the productions of some writers of the late twentieth century.
Poetry has had prominent exponents. The 19th century was one of the most robust for the genre, although the 20th century was even more prolific and meant the evolution towards its maturity, with the emergence of the avant-garde movements.
Although it developed late, Dominican novels have had important exponents in the country. Emerging under the influence of French romanticism of Victor Hugo, it is possible to highlight three important moments in it according to its typology and theme: the sugarcane novel, the biblical novel, and the costumbrista novel.
The short story has had more significance than the novel and its main exponent in the 20th century has been Juan Bosch, master of the genre in Latin America. The writer and politician wrote three significant collections of stories entitled Stories written before exile, Stories written in exile and More stories written in exile. The modern short story began in the second phase of the 19th century, that is, late in comparison to other countries.
For decades, Dominican intellectuals have had in the essay a stage that they have expanded and developed with talent. The political essays of the independentists, the conservatives and the restorers stand out. One of its best exponents in the international arena was Pedro Henríquez Ureña, renowned author of academic essays on literary topics.[3] The local passion for historical subjects, especially those dealing with the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and other transcendental political episodes, has influenced the development of historians of stature in different periods of the Dominican Republic.
The Corripio Foundation and the State Secretariat for Culture award the National Literature Prize every year. [4]