> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://cul-de-sac-1.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Excerpt from "A la costa", A Novel by Luis A. Martínez (Issue #1) - URL: https://cul-de-sac-1.ghost.io/excerpt-from-a-la-costa-a-novel-by-luis-a-martinez-issue-1-cop/ - Published: 2026-08-12T01:51:09.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-12T01:51:09.000Z - Author: Cul-De-Sac - Tags: Issue #1 Translated by Hugo Benavides --- ![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hh8o!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d680f88-47ab-4610-9b51-bd45842f527c_1149x694.jpeg) Mural in Houston, TX (Photo by Hugo Benavides) --- *A la costa* (*To the Coast*) is an Ecuadorian novel by Luis A. Martínez first published in 1904\. It explores the social and political conflicts of its time. The novel targets a series of issues heightened by immigration, including social identity, the political conflict between liberals and conservatives, economic differences between the highland and the coast, and between plantation workers and urbanites. Written by an initiator of the realist literary tradition in Ecuador, the novel provides a literary reflection on the human toll xenophobia and discrimination take when they replace empathy and human understanding. This excerpt comes very early in the novel and narrates the rags-to-riches plight of one of its main characters, who after losing family and fortune due to a major earthquake, moves to Quito, the capital, to finish his law degree with no prospect of ever returning to his hometown. The excerpt below ends on an ambiguously high note. The character succeeds in getting his degree and developing a successful law practice, but the reader is left wondering at what cost. He has suffered the loss of all his family members, their support as well as the family business, and at the end of his youth is left with only a new-found professional success. This very short Ecuadorian narrative, written over a century ago, with its caustic tone and unsettling energies of despair, seems to anticipate all the issues of life and belonging that *Cul-de-sac* seeks to engage. What price must we be—or are we—willing to pay for our happiness and that of others? In James Baldwin’s words, “What is ‘the price of the ticket’?” Or, as Simone de Beauvoir poignantly asked on the verge of WWII, “How much is our own happiness related to ‘the blood of others?’ ” ***Excerpt*** Time is the greatest doctor for the soul’s diseases. It attenuates, if it does not erase, the deepest wounds. Ramirez felt time’s benevolent hand. That hand worked so gently in his case that it left him almost oblivious to its passing. Two years after the earthquake, its lingering shadows had been relegated to an obscure corner of his memory. These shadows consisted of vague impressions reflecting the dry facts that he had indeed lost his whole family and all his wealth along with his natural vitality and any faith in his prospects. Shortly after the cataclysm, he returned to Quito to continue his interrupted studies. Study was the only future that remained to him because all the family 's assets—a general trading store—had been wiped out in the catastrophe.​​ Survival in Quito was hard. He supported himself on a monthly payment of ten *pesos* sent by a priest, a distant relative who lived on the coast. Still, he found it was essential to live. With his meager monthly sum, he paid the rent for the small, miserable room and the tasteless food taken in a tavern. Many times, he went without the stinking wax candle needed to study at night. Doing financial wonders and saving penny by penny, he was able to buy the barely respectable clothes needed to go out onto the streets and show up at his classes. All exuberances​ typical of youth were​ absolutely forbidden him. Friends who might have been able to help him or even prove an invaluable resource in facing life’s struggles were, for Ramirez, out of the question. Inhibited by poverty and of sullen and melancholy disposition, he was never able to be intimate with anyone. He nevertheless succeeded in completing his studies. In recognition of his extreme poverty, and in consideration of his remarkable studiousness, perseverance, and self-discipline, the examination and degree fees were waived. With what profound emotion did he receive from his relative, the priest, the small sum of money to buy a simple frock coat and top hat for the examination! Because of the fluency and lucidity with which he performed during his exams, he was given an excellent mark. He was awarded a degree with distinction. But how intense was the humiliation the new doctor felt at not having enough money to invite teachers and classmates to share even a bad bottle of wine, as is usual​ in these cases! Lonely, sullen, and ashamed—with the chill of death in his soul—as soon as he concluded the exam, Ramirez rushed directly to his poor little room, witness to so many miseries and so much bitterness. Despite all his tenacity and good faith, he was without anyone to share his triumph with. There was no mother to shed tears of happiness, nor was there a joyful father to welcome the new lawyer with profound pride and excitement. That night—which for so many others is a time of joy and a time of delight in a thousand awakened hopes—was, for Ramirez, a time of tears. Little by little he won small sums of money in minor legal disputes​​​. Then the defense he made before a court martial of a poor craftsman accused of conspiracy gave him, along with the victory in winning the case, a deserved reputation for being eloquent and knowledgeable about the law. Soon came many other cases far more complicated. His professional bearing around legal matters gained confidence and authority, permitting his walk to become boldly self-assertive in the offices of the law. His reputation as a lawyer grew and spread as he gained recognition. He was in good health and was free from misery. His future was assured.