{"product_id":"the-pond-la-charca-paperback","title":"The Pond (La Charca) - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eManuel Zeno-Gandia\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eKal Wagenheim\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator), \u003cb\u003eJuan Flores\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBefore the turn of the century, while the rich in Madrid, Paris and Rome capped their sumptuous dinners with sips of Puerto Rico's exquisite black caf , the anemic men, women and children who harvested the precious crop lived in squalid huts and rarely saw a scrap of meat. Brutalized by grinding poverty, theirs was the harsh world of Manuel Zeno-Gandia's La Charca, published in 1894 and widely acknowledged as the first major novel to emerge from Puerto Rico. In the colloquial Spanish of Puerto Rico's hill-country, una charca is a stagnant pond, a body of brackish water. Puerto Rico's Spanish colonial society, says Zeno-Gandia, was an immense charca of human beings, oppressed by poverty, ignorance and disease. His bitter melodrama offers stark contrasts: the beautiful Puerto Rican countryside, a veritable Garden of Eden; yet within that \"regal panorama,\" starved, diseased human beings clung desperately to life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 222\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.51 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 03, 2009\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42714818084927,"sku":"9781558760929","price":34.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/8045765d0cfcb8a6594539ceb174cd61.webp?v=1765069343","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/the-pond-la-charca-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}