Which Cuban writer authored The Kingdom of This World?

The Cuban writer who authored The Kingdom of This World was Alejo Carpentier.

Carpentier published the novel in 1949, using the Haitian Revolution as its historical backdrop. Its central character, Ti Noel, witnesses the upheavals of slavery, rebellion, political power, and changing regimes before, during, and after Haiti’s declaration of independence in 1804.

The novel is especially important because its prologue develops Carpentier’s idea of lo real maravilloso, usually translated as “the marvelous real.” He argued that the history, cultures, religions, and landscapes of the Americas could produce forms of wonder rooted in lived reality rather than in European surrealist invention. This idea strongly influenced discussions of magical or marvelous realism in Latin American literature.

The original Spanish title is El reino de este mundo. The English translation appeared in 1957, translated by Harriet de Onís. Readers sometimes confuse Carpentier with other influential Cuban writers, including Reinaldo Arenas, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and José Lezama Lima, but none of those authors wrote this novel. Carpentier was born in Lausanne and grew up in Havana.