Overview

Montalván, la negra, by Zoila Aurora Cáceres (Evangelina), published in 1929, is a work yet to be discovered in Peruvian black literature. The novel boldly articulates the axes of race and gender through a language characterized by a marked melodramatic tone. Set in a colonial estate, the narrative denounces slavery and the hierarchical racial order through the relationship between Perico, a mulatto, and Zoraida, a white woman of Moorish-Christian origin. Structured in two parts, the work proposes, in its first segment, a reclamation of the resistance of Afro-Peruvian communities, while the second part offers a critical reflection on the social and racial prejudices that pervade Peruvian society. In this regard, the novel constitutes an audacious political statement for its time. Melodrama serves as a powerful tool of denunciation, linking racial mistreatment with gender oppression, particularly evident in the abusive relationship between Zoraida and Zacarías, the overseer of the estate. The narrative further exposes the multiple forms of gender-based violence and shared oppression, culminating in an ambivalent outcome that legitimizes noble lineages and suggests a process of racial whitening. From this tension, the work invites a reevaluation of social justice and cultural transformation, while challenging the literary conventions of its time with a critical perspective on race and gender. In this edition, specialists Eduardo Huaytán Martínez and Andrew Reynolds preserve the original syntax of the text, incorporating modern criteria for accentuation to facilitate reading. Additionally, they include an introduction and explanatory notes on cultural, historical, and literary references that enrich the understanding of this foundational novel.

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