Alejo Carpentier was a pivotal figure in the development of Latin American literature. Though he was born in Switzerland to French and Russian parents, he was raised primarily in Havana, Cuba and considered himself Cuban throughout his life. He emerged as a key player among Cuba’s 1927 intellectual generation, contributing significantly to the arts as a novelist, musicologist, essayist, and playwright. He is credited as one of the originators of magical realism, a style that blends magical elements with the real, reflecting the complexities of human experience.

Alejo Carpentier’s early years were split between his home, where French was the primary language, and the streets of Havana, where he immersed himself in the Spanish language and Cuban culture, including its Afro-Cuban influences. This dichotomy set the stage for his lifelong exploration of cultural identity. The narrator of The Lost Steps shares a similar background, with European heritage, but was born in the Antilles. After his mother’s death, he moves to New York with his father, who despises the US as a cultural void. The narrator’s search for belonging then leads him to Europe and eventually to Latin America, mirroring Carpentier’s own cultural navigation.