Enrique Serpa's first novel, Contraband, brilliantly depicts the turbulent and wretched world of Havana in the 1920s. Through the bustle of a crowd of fishermen, prostitutes, smugglers, and impoverished children, we see the smoldering embers of the fire that will engulf the island of Cuba, where the obscene wealth of a few mocks the extreme destitution of the majority. Contraband is also the story of a confrontation between the rather cowardly and delusional owner of La Buena Ventura, worn down by debauchery, and Requin.
Enrique Serpa's first novel, Contraband, masterfully depicts the turbulent and impoverished world of Havana in the 1920s. Through the bustle of a crowd of fishermen, prostitutes, smugglers, and destitute children, we see the smoldering embers of the uprising that will engulf the island of Cuba, where the obscene wealth of a few mocks the extreme destitution of the majority. Contraband is also the story of a confrontation between the rather cowardly and delusional owner of the Buena Ventura, worn down by debauchery, and Requin, the ship's captain, a man of honor and a pirate in his spare time. A complex, ambiguous atmosphere quickly takes hold, one of contempt and domination against a backdrop of fascination. Published in 1938 and constantly reprinted, Contraband is considered a classic of contemporary Cuban literature. “You are the best novelist in Latin America, and you must give it all up to write novels,” Ernest Hemingway told Enrique Serpa, whom he criticized for devoting too much time to his journalism. As for Eduardo Manet, who agreed to write the preface to the translation of Contraband, he unhesitatingly places Serpa alongside the greatest writers, Carpentier, Faulkner, and… Hemingway.
