The limited development that Cuban literature had achieved at the beginning of this period – in addition to the fact that the periodizations reflect in a schematic way the natural flow and overlaps that take place in the field of the evolution of ideas and their expression in literature – gives capital importance to the prose expressions of Cuban thinkers who lived in the period, since these correspond to a large extent with the literary currents in vogue and reach aesthetic nuances similar to the field of literature itself, without forgetting that they also served as a watering hole for poets and writers in general.

This criterion is endorsed by other authors: “It is traditional in the histories of Cuban literature to include the assessment of different manifestations of historical, political, economic, philosophical and religious thought as part of Cuban literature of the period. It is true that this so-called reflective prose – perhaps precisely because of its non-literary nature – was of extraordinary importance for the beginnings of the process of formation of a national consciousness, because through its contents the essential problems of our history are shown. However, the expression of these contents is not exempt from certain significant literary features, since the nonexistence of narrative and the poverty of our dramatic literature, as well as the development and prestige achieved during the 18th century by the essay and oratory, and in general by a critical, illustrated and didactic prose, must have stimulated the accentuation of the expressive proportion of prose as a means of guaranteeing its ideological effectiveness. But it is even worth asking whether that reflective prose did not then fulfill a literary function, even if it was subordinated to other functions, and whether that prose did not It was recognized as literature and was not received aesthetically.”

Ideology and aesthetics were significantly linked in the nation’s development; the connections between Romanticism and independence are notable, especially considering that the principles of moderation, balance, and harmony characteristic of the neoclassical school that preceded the Romantic movement were at odds with the reformist and libertarian impulse.

The centuries of colonization also brought with them a certain aesthetic and ideological delay with respect to the renaissance of culture in Europe, which is evident in the gap existing in our letters at the same stage in which great works of Spanish literature were created, so that the manifestations and genres of literature were not totally differentiated in the country, while the disjunction between art and science was not so precise in terms of language, all of which explains the literary value of our first scientific, political and historiographical pieces.

Through the work of the main thinkers active in the intellectual scene of the late 18th century and during the 19th century, one can trace the evolution of society’s thinking about itself, from timid reformism to the most radical independence movement, in addition to the changes in aesthetic sign from which prose sometimes tried to separate itself, but which remained between the lines, more evident now with the relationship between romanticism and independence movement, which would bring an unusual lyricism to our historical epics.