It is not obvious at first glance why a writer like Mayra Montero should be included in a volume of this kind. Yet the oblique manner in which the legacy of writers such as Carpentier and García Márquez operates in some of the works of this Cuban-Puerto Rican novelist is precisely what makes her novels rich and, in a very particular way, has allowed her to re-theorize magical realism within her texts. The purpose of this study is to see how, through the portrayal of Voodoo practices, beliefs and rituals Montero conjures up, especially in El rojo de su sombra / The Red of His Shadow (1993), a world which is at once magical and real. Before I go further into this topic I will briefly address Montero's literary trajectory to better appreciate the value of her work.

Montero as Caribbean Writer

A journalist by profession, Montero has shown herself to be a very prolific and versatile author. Born in Cuba in 1952, she migrated to Puerto Rico with her family while in her teens. Nowadays she is best known for her portrayals of what critics such as Antonio Benítez Rojo has called Caribbeanness:

Montero is, then, an author who explores her surrounding world from the perspective of an insider; she is part of that community, that island bridge, which has given the world writers of the stature of García Márquez and Carpentier. This is why her writings – whether they treat music, ethnicity, religion, identity, even eroticism – always have a Caribbean tint to them. It is worth noting that Montero is one of the only Caribbean female writers to have ventured into the genre of the erotic novel, writing her first novel of this kind in 1991, La última noche que pasé contigo/The Last Night I Spent with You. To Montero's surprise this text was a finalist for the XIII Sonrisa Vertical Prize of Erotic Narrative series.