Fatal Friendship: A novel translated by Juan F. Zeledón

Dear reader, This is my translation for the first and only novel written by José Martí and published initially in "El Latinoamericano" a bimonthly newspaper in New York back in 1885. I want to take this opportunity to honor The Great Apostle of Our America. In 1911 Gonzalo de Quesada writes an introduction for Amistad funesta. The novel was first published in “El Latino Americano” in 1885. This bimonthly newspaper was part of the Hecktograph Company based in New York. Gonzalo de Quesada also assures that there was no public library holding a sample of the novel. On its editions, this novel appeared to be written by the pseudonym of “Adelaida Ral”. Therefore, the authorship of this novel was discovered by Gonzalo de Quesada when he found this newspaper with notes on it; notes by Martí. That was the office of the “Partido Revolucionario Cubano” (Cuban Revolutionary Party) as well as the office for Patria (Motherland) a newspaper that Martí administrated. The office of Patria was located on 120 Front Street in New York. One day while working in that office Gonzalo de Quesada found such artwork and asked Martí: “What is this, Master?” Martí answered in a kind way arguing that: “… memories of fights and sadness; but save them for another occasion. In this moment we should only focus on the magnum work; the only one worthy, the one of achieving independence”. I have been searching other translation/s into English of this novel, but still no news. I think the English version of this novel will be favorable for those readers and critics who do not read in Spanish but are interested in the Latin American culture and literature. My intention is to promote more interest and studies to explore this branch in Martí´s literary work. His creative writing in this arena is not that abundant compared to his poetry and chronicle, however, one can find out important characteristics leading to the development of his narrative. Martí himself translated Called back by Hugh Conway and he gave it the title of Misterio (Mystery). Gonzalo de Quesada suggests that if Martí had more time for writing fiction he would have been quite successful in this field; he compares Misterio to the original of Ramona by Hellen Hunt Jackson, “ever found in libraries”. These clues make me think of the achievements of Martí and his intentions to function as an interpreter to the Latin American readers; he also translated a lot into Spanish. From the novel Called back to articles such as “Brooklyn bridge” where he describes meticulously the details on the architectonic and design for the construction of the iconic bridge in New York. Sincerely, Juan Francisco Zeledón