ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Núria Sabaté-Llobera The ...

arrive in poverty, begin in a shop of six or eight feet square; live on
a biscuit, and rise by patience, industry, and economy, to wealth;
and unlike the Yankees, never fail. (98)
La presencia predominante de catalanes en el comercio hace que a partir de finales
del XVIII catalán y negociante sean figuras casi sinónimas. En la cultura
norteamericana el estereotipo del oficio comercial recae en los judíos y Abbot,
desde su perspectiva anglosajona, identifica automáticamente al catalán con el
judío. Curiosamente, el apelativo judío para referirse a los negocios de los catalanes
es algo que se repite en varios autores. El médico norteamericano John G.
Wundermann, publica en 1844 Notes on Cuba donde narra que
The sale of groceries and provisions is monopolized by Catalans.
These latter, are an industrious, shrewd, economical class; and have,
perhaps in consequence of these qualities, received their sobriquet
of Spanish Jews, which can only be considered into a compliment to
the Israelite. A large portion of the commerce of the island is in
their hands, as well as a very great part of its wealth. In the interior
of the island they appear to monopolize every branch of trading,
from the pack of the humble pedlar to the country tienda with its
varied contents; and in the maritime towns, many a commercial
house, whose ships cover the sea, is theirs. (citado en Bakhtiarova
49)
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