Alejo Carpentier
El arpa y la sombra (The Harp and the Shadow)

The Harp and the Shadow is a historic novel (also considered the first novel in the literary style of La nueva crónica de Indias) published in 1979. It follows two attempts by popes Pius IX and Leo XIII to beatify Christopher Columbus, both of which eventually fail. The second part of the novel, which is considerably longer than the other two, is a confession by Columbus, to be given to a Franciscan confessor. Raymond L. Williams sees the novel as "a fictional narrative about the life of Christopher Columbus and his fate as a historical figure. This novel is laden with allusions to Western literary tradition, from classical antiquity to modern Caribbean". James J. Pancrazio writes that "the confession is ironic because it never occurs; when the priest arrives to administer the Last Rites, Columbus, after painstakingly contemplating his life, decides that he has nothing to confess. In this regard, the mediation of guilt, not repentance, is what structures the confession."
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