José Martí and forensic oratory

Abstract

The article delves into one of the least studied oratorical genres within the tribunicial activity of the Apostle. He was skilled in all oratory, but researchers usually prioritize the analysis of the political pieces. Among the conditioning causes of this phenomenon is the fact that these speeches have been preserved until today. This presupposes the need to investigate in his work and to identify texts that gather characteristics of a forensic piece; as well as evidences of the contexts in which he exposes them, to assume them as an example from which to characterize Marti's forensic oratory. For that reason, it is analyzed, with the help of the historical, hermeneutic and dialectical materialist methods, the essential aspects of this particular form of oration with support in the text "The Spanish Republic before the Cuban Revolution". In doing so, features of this mode of public intervention are unveiled, from the perspective of the most universal of Cuban orators. It is reached, among others, the following conclusions: Marti's work contains representative texts of the forensic oratory, this has high transcendence for Cuba. Among its most significant features are its ethic and humanism, within the framework of a conception mediated by values such as equality and dignity, which is highly significant for the relations between countries nowadays.