Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980) was a Cuban novelist and essayist who was born in Switzerland and grew up in Havana. Capentier aligned himself with leftist politics and was jailed in 1927 for criticizing the regime of Gerardo Machado. After his release from jail, Carpentier moved to Paris where he associated with various avant-garde movements. Carpentier did not return to Cuba until 1939. He is best known for his novels, although he also wrote academic essays, journalistic articles, musicology studies, opera librettos, and plays. In 1949, Carpentier wrote El Reino de este Mundo, a novel about the Haitian revolution in the eighteenth-century that incorporated themes of Afro-Cubanism and lo real maravilloso, or magical realism. In 1946 Carpentier published La Música en Cuba, after studying the African roots of Cuban music and dance. Capentier’s other major works include ¡Ecue-Yamba-O! (1933), “Viaje a la semilla” (1944), Guerra del tiempo (1958), Los pasos perdidos (1953), and El siglo de las luces (1962). The article “Reflexiones acerca de la pintura de Wifredo Lam," published in 1944, reveals that Carpentier’s interest in Cuban identity, Afro-Cubanism, and lo real maravilloso was not limited to literary and musical manifestations, but also incorporated visual art.