In the Roaring Twenties, two worldly young aristocrats embark on a journey to see one of their idols, the sublime Italian actress Eleonora Duse, who, to their utmost delight, has recently returned to the stage. What follows as they prepare for their adventure and, later, when they arrive in the Cuban capital, is a hilarious, erotic, and political tragicomedy, told in hallucinatory language, replete with Rabelaisian characters: among them, a quasi-widow who runs her family as if it were an army, sisters too ugly to marry off, a kind friend with the face of a monkey, a hermaphrodite nun, an iconoclastic, dissolute painter, the handsomest communist who ever lived, disheartened phantoms, bands of irresistible Cuban men, transmigrating souls, and, finally, the very seed of a demon who will one day make the Island his own. As they struggle to meet the celebrated actress, the two protagonists find themselves bouncing from the somber offices of the Cuban secret police to an Arabian Nights-inspired ball, to an agitated Lenin tribute and a drum celebration honoring Babalu Aye, to a horrific crime scene in the heart of Havana's Chinatown, and through a world of sordid brothels and interracial orgies. Yet at the heart of The Last Masquerade is the sickly, reclusive, and wearied stage legend Eleonora Duse, whose voice is heard at intervals throughout, as if from a distant land, revealing for the first time the story of her private life. She was rivaled in her day only by the great Sarah Bernhardt, and Duse's passing encounters with her two aristocratic fans reveal a person different from the one they had imagined: an ordinary woman whose life has been fueled by loss and sorrow, haunted by the fragility of love and by an inordinate intimacy with death, all of which she has used as instruments with which to sharpen her craft. As the final curtain drops on the novel, we are let into the mystery of a world long forgotten, of two cosmopolitan centers outside Europe and America where the ruling class had as much fun as anyone in the world, and, like everyone else, had to suffer the consequences.

The Last Masquerade

Literature & Fiction

Antonio Orlando Rodríguez

Humor & Satire

Rayo/Harper Collins

Jose Marti was barely 16 years old when he began to fight for the independence of his homeland through his writing. At 17 he was declared an enemy of Spain and sentenced to six years of prison and hard labor. But that did not stop him. Marti dedicated his life to defending Cuba s right to independence. Today he is remembered and honored as a man of integrity brilliant and courageous a lover of freedom and peace. Would you like to get to know Marti? Open this book and start reading!José Martí tenía apenas 16 años de edad cuando comenzó a luchar por la independencia de su patria a través de sus escritos. A los 17, fue declarado enemigo de España y condenado a 6 años de cárcel y de trabajo forzado. Sin embargo, eso no lo detuvo: Martí dedicó su vida a defender el derecho de Cuba a ser un país independiente. Hoy es recordado y honrado como un hombre íntegro, valiente y brillante, amante de la libertad y de la paz.

Conoce a Jose Marti (Spanish Edition) (Personajes del mundo Hispanico)

Children's Books

Biographies

Santillana Usa

José Martí was barely 16 years old when he began to fight for the independence of his homeland through his writing. At 17 he was declared an enemy of Spain and sentenced to six years of prison and hard labor. But that did not stop him. Martí dedicated his life to defending Cubas right to independence. Today he is remembered and honored as a man of integritybrilliant and courageousand as a lover of freedom and peace.

Conoce a José Martí / Get to Know José Martí (Spanish Edition) (Personajes del Mundo Hispánico / Historical Figures of the Hispanic World)

Santillana USA / Loqueleo

A lomo de cuento is a unique series that encourages young readers to explore the geography and culture of fascinating countries as they explore and enjoy oral tradition. This volume about Cuba opens with the folktale El güije de la charca and on the informational section covers different aspects of Cuba's geography and fauna, the country's rich African heritage and historical buildings, and more. Includes an easy-to-make recipe, Cuban adages, and an illustrated map.

A lomo de cuento por Cuba: El güije de la charca (Lomo de cuento / Storybook Ride) (Spanish Edition)

Sergio Andricaín

Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths

Vista Higher Learning

Espiridiona Cenda, una joven cubana de sólo veintesiéis pulgadas de estatura, llega a la Nueva York de fines del siglo XIX con el deseo de triunfar como bailarina y cantante. Esta biografía imaginaria de un personaje real recrea con libertad y una fabulación ilimitada las aventuras y desventuras de Chiquita, una mujer seductora e independiente que llegó a convertirse en una de las celebridades mejor pagadas de los teatros de vaudeville y las ferias de su tiempo.

Chiquita (Spanish Edition)

Alfaguara

One day, a mockingbird, capable of imitating all kinds of other bird calls and sounds, finds that he can no longer remember how to sing his own song, and must set out to try to remember it again.

Cuento del sinsonte olvidadizo / Story of the Forgetful Mockingbird (Mar De Cuentos / Sea of Stories) (Spanish Edition)

Animals

Ediciones El Naranjo Sa De Cv

Premio Alfaguara de Novela 2008. La historia real e increible de Espiridiona Cenda -Chiquita - la artista cubana de 65 cm de altura que se convirtio en reina del espectaculo en los teatros de Paris y Nueva York en las postrimerias del siglo XIX. Una novela sorprendente donde caben tambien una hermandad de enanos una guerra los artistas mas famosos de la epoca y los episodios del fogoso comienzo del siglo XX enfrentado a todos los milagros de la tecnologia y la mecanica. Un libro que se lee con avidez desde el principio hasta el fin.

Chiquita

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Books by Antonio Orlando Rodríguez