Cosas Añejas

Published in 1891, Cosas Añejas (Aged Things) is the crowning achievement of César Nicolás Penson (1855-1901), a prominent Dominican journalist, lawyer, and writer. This seminal work represents 19th-century Dominican literature, compiling traditions and historical episodes from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, bridging oral popular memory and written records.

Penson's “Tradiciones,” akin to Ricardo Palma's Tradiciones Peruanas, blend historical facts with literary fiction, popular superstition, and a rich, eclectic language. His narratives offer vivid portraits of Santo Domingo's colonial and early republican society, its customs, and its people's ways of life and thought. Penson's style, praised for its clarity and wit, intersperses cultured language with popular idioms, proverbs, and social critique.

A central theme, explored with deep contextual insight in this edition, is the pervasive anti-Haitianism of the era. Penson, reflecting a widespread sentiment fueled by the long Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo, portrays Haitians with negative stereotypes, framing their presence as a threat to Dominican identity and culture. This stance is often balanced with a sense of Hispanophilia, an affinity for the "Motherland" (Spain), seen as a safeguard of European values.

Cosas Añejas also provides rich socio-historical context, detailing the bustling civic life, economic developments (like the burgeoning sugar industry and new national currency), and political conflicts of the late 19th-century Dominican Republic. Penson’s detailed descriptions of fashion, food, and urban landscapes offer a unique window into the daily life of Santo Domingo, making the work an invaluable document beyond its literary merit.

This critical edition, meticulously prepared by Rita María Tejada, provides extensive notes to clarify Penson's rich vocabulary, historical allusions, and cultural references, making this crucial work accessible to contemporary readers. Cosas Añejas stands as an indispensable document for understanding the complex sociopolitical and cultural landscape of the Dominican Republic in the 19th century, serving as both a literary achievement and a historical record of national anxieties and identity formation.