This documentary is about the existential, intellectual and literary path of a writer whose work was based on the ideals of his life through which he channeled - with his art - the stories, idiosyncrasies and essence of the Dominican people.   

Juan Bosch, short story writer and essayist, was born in La Vega in 1909. He began to write at a young age. His first story was published in 1923 in Barahona’s “Las Brisas del Birán” magazine under the pseudonym Rigoberto de Fresni. In 1924 a fire destroyed all the short stories he had written since 1921.   
By 1929, before he left the country, Bosch was writing articles and stories for the newspaper Listín Diario. These stories included “La negación,” (The Denial) “El prófugo,” (The Fugitive), “La vuelta” (The Return) and “Orgullo” (Pride).

At this point, a series of events propelled Bosch to a point where he was considered one of the most important and representative figures in Dominican literature.  His short story “Chenco” was published in the Bahoruco Magazine in 1931. “El alzado” appeared in Repertorio Americano on November 21st of the same year. In 1932, “La mujer” (The Woman) was published in Havana’s Revista Carteles and “Los vengadores” (The Avengers) in Repertorio Americano.  A year later Repertorio Americano also published two more of Bosch’s short stories, “Cundito” and “Bumbo.”

His first collection of short stories, Camino Real, published in 1933 in Santo Domingo, put him in the category of the best short story writer in the DR and the first writer in the country with a literary consciousness.

He wrote La Mañosa in 1935 but the theme of the story heralded to times past. Because of the inherent contradictions in the nature of tyranny, the politically charged story was censored and banned in the Dominican Republic by the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo.  In 1938, in a letter directed to Trujillo, Bosch resigned from his civil service post in the Statistics Information Office and went into exile in Puerto Rico.

In doing so, he bid a temporary farewell to his country and a permanent farewell to the dictator.

In exile, his collective consciousness was stirred and propelled him to pursue a path that would consolidate his political activity, encouraging Bosch to develop and refine the literary genre which most interested him: the short story.

The mastery Bosch achieved in the short story not only reflects his maturity as a writer but also contributed enormously to the prestige of his country. His stories put the Dominican society in a special place on the literary map of Latin America.

In 1938, under the pseudonym Stephen Hillcock, he published his first stories in Puerto Rican magazines: Illustrated Puerto Rico and Latin Soul (Alma Latina).
 
Illustrated Puerto Rico published: “La negación” (The Denial), “Revolution,” “Guaraguaos,” “Lucero” (Bright Star), “Sombras” (Shadows), “El abuelo” (Grandfather), “Cundito”, “El alzado”, “La verdad” (The Truth), and “La mujer.”
Along with his writing activities, Bosch worked on the organization of the original works of Puerto Rican intellectual Eugenio María de Hostos for a publication of Hostos’ complete works, being done on the occasion of his centenary.  
 
In addition to personal satisfaction, the work gave Bosch the economic security he needed and the opportunity to write a series of essays about Hostos. In 1938 he published “Mujeres en la Vida de Hostos” (Women in Hostos’ Life”). In 1939, he wrote “Hostos and the Cuban Revolution” and “Hostos el Sembrador” (Hostos the Sower).

In mid-1939, Bosch went to Cuba where he established residency. He lived in Enrique Cotunabamá Henríquez’s home where he undertook the formation of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD in Spanish). In 1941, he published “Dos pesos de agua” (Two Pesos of Water) and in 1947 “Ocho cuentos” (Eight Stories).

From mid-1951 to February 1952, he worked on the essay “Cuba, the Fascinating Island” which would be published in Chile in 1955.  

When Batista returned to power in Cuba, Bosch left the country for Costa Rica where he taught at the Political Education Institute of San Jose. From there he traveled to Bolivia and later to Chile where, in 1955 he published “Judas Iscariot, Slandered” and his collection of short stories, including “The Girl from La Guaira” and “Christmas Story,” in 1956.

Between 1958 and 1961, Juan Bosch lived between Venezuela and Costa Rica where he participated in the cultural life of both countries.

Finding himself agitated about the situation facing his compatriots back home, Bosch published a letter in Venezuela’s La Esfera de Caracas newspaper on February 27, 1961. Three months later, the dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo was assassinated.

Between 1960 and 1961, Bosch wrote his last two short stories, “The Man who Cried,” and “The Indelible Stain.” The latter being the last of his career as a short story writer.

Chronologically, the published appearance of his short stories were on the following dates: Camino Real (1933), Two Pesos of Water (1941), Eight Stories (1947), The Girl from Guaira (1955), The Christmas Story (1956), Stories Written in Exile (1962), More Stories Written in Exile (1964), Stories Written before Exile (1974), and More Than Complete Short Stories (2001). The last four collections mentioned comprise the complete collection of his short stories.

Some of the stories later published in these collections were singled out for literary distinction, such as “The Woman” and “Luis Pie,” which received the Hernández Catá Prize. Bosch also won first prize for his stories at the Latin American Floral Games (Juegos Florales Hispanoamericanos) held in the Dominican Republic.

Out of necessity and due to a lack of leadership in the country, Bosch began his political praxis by undertaking a different kind of writing. His work became more focused on social issues and the political and economic situation in the country. He wrote about and analyzed different societies as well as the economic and social differences within his own country, the Dominican Republic. 
On September 25, 1963 – having been democratically elected as president on February 27 -  Bosch was overthrown in a military coup after only seven months in office. For the second time, Bosch once again fled into exile on September 28. He went to Puerto Rico where he was met at the airport in San Juan by the Governor, Luis Muñoz Marín. It was during this period of exile that Bosch finished his second novel, “El oro y la paz” (Gold and Peace).

During the two years that Bosch spent outside his country, 1964-65, he produced a series of political and social essays, unleashing the so-called “April War.”

On September 25, Bosch was once again welcomed home and began a second phase as a prolific writer of essays, with the publication of “Bolívar y la guerra social” (Bolivar and the Social War) and “Pentagonismo, Sustituto del imperialismo” (Pentagonism, Substitute for Imperialism). In mid-1967 his articles began to appear in Ahora magazine. Topics such as “More on the Dictatorship with Popular Support” and “The Sheer Stupidity of the National Bourgeoisie” are just some of Bosch’s social and political writings.   

In 1968, Bosch traveled to Spain where he lived for a year-and-a-half and wrote: “Dominican Social Composition,” “From Columbus to Fidel Castro,” “Imperial Frontier,” and “The Next Step for a Dictatorship with Popular Support.” 

With a long and prolific literary career, which spanned eight decades of writing on the most important social and political topics of his country, Bosch clearly established his endless concern for the day-to-day situation experienced by the country’s various social sectors, especially the poorest of them all, whom he christened the “children of Machepa.”

All of his time, thought and intellectual activity was dedicated to describing Dominican society in a detailed, artistic and realistic manner.

His body of work forever elevated the Dominican Republic to the summit of the literary world. His name will always be part of his country’s legacy as Dominicans proudly remember him as part of themselves when they speak of their “Professor Juan Bosch.”