La pasión del obstáculo

La pasión del obstáculo is a major critical edition of the poetry and poetic world of Juana Borrero (1877–1896), one of the most fascinating yet under‑read figures of Hispanic American modernismo. Edited and extensively introduced by Francisco Morán, the volume situates Borrero’s work at the very center of late 19th‑century Cuban modernist experimentation—far beyond the clichés of “romantic child prodigy” or mere disciple of Julián del Casal.

Drawing on Borrero’s poems, paintings, diaries, and especially her extraordinary love letters to Carlos Pío Uhrbach, Morán traces how “the obstacle” — the impossible love object, paternal prohibition, the threat of exile and war — becomes the true motor of desire and of writing. The edition examines Borrero’s early encounter with Casal, the devastating break she never managed to repair, and the way his poem “Virgen triste” becomes a haunting script she rewrites obsessively in her own voice, fusing eros, self‑destruction, and literary vocation.

Far from a marginal figure, Borrero emerges here as a fully modern poet whose representations of eroticism, jealousy, homoerotic undertones, and suicidal fantasy link her more closely to Delmira Agustini or Alfonsina Storni than to conventional romanticism. La pasión del obstáculo offers students and scholars a rigorously annotated text, careful reconstruction of biographical and historical context, and a powerful theoretical reading of desire, gender, and nation in fin‑de‑siècle Cuba. It is ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on modernismo, women’s writing, Cuban literature, and gender/queer studies.