Barnet initiated what is now known as a testimonial narrative tradition with his "Biografía de un cimarrón". Both as anthropological study or literature, it draws its authority from the perceived authenticity of the eyewitness account. The protagonist of Barnet’s work, Esteban Montejo, comes to represent not only the collective psychology of Cuba’s former slave class, but also the collective historical conscious of the entire Cuban population. Such authenticity is complicated by the translator's own inherent bias and motives—in this case Barnet—who is from another ethnicity and class. But Barnet was a staunch supporter of the Revolution, and his work satisfies political emphases in its focus on and recognition of the former slave class of Afro-Cubans.