Bad English and Fresh Spaniards: Translation and Authority in Philippine and Cuban Travel Writing

Abstract

Cuban José Martí narrated his 1880 travels in New York in “bad English” while Filipino Antonio Luna commented on his 1889 travels in Madrid in “fresh Spanish.” The texts chronicle the shifting and wary gazes of colonial travelers toward Spain’s waning imperial rule and the rise of US expansionism, travelers who employ imperial languages to express anti-imperial messages. Through the mechanisms of translation, Luna and Martí bolster their own authority within a hostile, metropolitan environment. By dictating the terms through which multiple languages engage with each other, Luna and Martí also dictate how different subjects engage with each other. This leads them to make vastly diverging claims about what it means to be a “savage” in the late 19th century.