Firstly, I would like to suggest that Sarmiento in this undertaking couples the biographical theme with that of the realm of present reality, therefore, the work is a denunciation of his enemy Rosas.
The life of Juan Facundo Quiroga (1788-1835), his biography, provides Sarmiento with the opportunity to formulate his critique. I would like to provide a very short outline of Facundo Quiroga's life before embarking on the analysis of Sarmiento's ''Facundo''.
At a very young aged Facundo Quiroga worked on the land in La Rioja. In 1812 Facundo Quiroga started helping the independence movement by providing them with cattle and other resources. In 1820 Facundo Quiroga recaptured La Rioja, and took political control of the province, after a rebellion from neighbouring San Juan. In 1826, despite having joined the unitarios, Facundo Quiroga confronted president Rivadavia because of political and ideological disagreements. Quiroga`s response to Rivadavia's ecclesiastical reforms was his rallying cry ''Religion or Death''.
After defeating General La Madrid in Tala (182 6) and Rincòn (1827), a union of provincial governments was created to fight central government power. The forces of General La Paz overpowered Facundo Quiroga at La Tablada and Oncativo in 1830. Quiroga, after fleeing to Buenos Aires sought support from Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793-1877). With Rosas' support, Quiroga initiated his second campaign in 1831.
In 1833 put hero participated in the Campaign of the Desert organized by Rosas and, in the same year, Facundo Quiroga was assassinated in Barranca Yaco after following a conciliation meeting attended by the provincial governments of Salta and Tucuman.
Roberto Gonzalez Echevarrìa, in his book ''Myth and Archive'' (A Theory of Latin American Narrative), has written: 'Facundo is a book that is impossible to pigeonhole; it is a sociological study of Argentine culture, a political pamphlet against the dictatorship of Juan Manuel Rosas, a philològical investigation of the origins of Argentine literature, a biography of the provincial caudillo. ''Facundo'', Sarmiento's autobiography, a nostalgic evocation of the homeland by a political exile, a novel based on the figure of Quiroga; to me is like a Phenomenology of the Spirit. Whatever one makes of the book, Facundo is one of those classics whose influence is pervasive and enduring and which is claimed by several disciplines at once. The fact that Sarmiento rose to become president of Argentina and put into practice policies that had such a tremendous impact on the course of his country's history adds to the canonical status of his book'. (1).
The first chapter is entitled 'Aspecto Fìsico de la Repùblica Argentina y personajes, hàbitos e ideas que engendra'. This chapter gives us a vivid picture of the region`s geography and a profile of its inhabitants: it is a physical study of the South-American region. After an outline of the subcontinent's landmarks, Sarmiento passes on to describe in more detail the characteristics of the gaucho but not before giving us his first impression of the 'Indian'.
'Al sur y al norte acechaban los salvajes, que aguardan las noches de luna para caer cual enjambres de hienas, sobre los ganados que pacen en los campus, y sobre las indefensas poblaciones'. (2).
In the last passage, Sarmiento was describing the Malones or Indian invasions of towns and estancias.
Sarmiento`s mentioning of the rivers and their influence on political configurations are lucid. He envisages, in the first chapter, the federal development of North Amèrica, (p.60) and the contribution made by the navigation of the interior, particularly the navigation of the San Lorenzo, in the north, the Mississippi in the south, and the channels in the centre, which exposed many parts of the north-American territory to the Atlantic. The Argentinian Republic Sarmiento asserts es ''una sola e indivisible''.
In ''Facundo'' Sarmiento stresses the monopoly of Buenos Aires. He states that the terrains organisation is centralist and Unitarian (p.60) an argues that even if Rosas had cried ''¡Federaciòn o Muerte!'' Rosas would have accepted the established unitarian system of government.
But Sarmiento explains that what he wanted to be was unity with civilization and in freedom, and what Rosas had given was unity with barbarism and slavery (p.60).
Sarmiento`s main political argument can be seen in this first chapter. There, he very clearly expresses his preference for the development of Buenos Aires:
''Lo que por ahora interesa conocer, es que los progresos de la civilizaciòn se acumulan sòlo en Buenos Aires: la Pampa es un malìsimo conductor para llevarla y distribuirla en las provincias, y ya veremos lo que de aquì results. Pero sobre todos los accidentes peculiares a ciertas partes de aquel territories, predomina una facciòn general, uniforme y constant; ya sea que la tierra este cubierta de la lujosa y colosal vegetaciòn de los tròpicos, ya sea que arbustos enfermizos, espinosos y despacibles revelen la escasa porciòn de humedad que les da vida; ya en fin, que la Pampa ostente us despejada y monòtnoma faz, la superficie de la tierra es generalmente llana y unida, sin que basten a interrumpir esta continuidad sin lìmites las sierras de San Luis y Cordoba en el centro, y algunas ramifications avanzadas de los Andes al norte'. (3).
Sarmiento, after favouring Buenos Aires, draws a comparison between the Pampa and the plains of the Tigris and the Euphrates. The experiences of the caravans travelling long distances between Arab places are, in his view, similar to the experiences of the caravans which travel to Buenos Aires.
Sarmiento considers the leader of Asian caravans to be reminiscent of the capataces in Argentina. In his opinion, both need a strong will to cope with the vandals and insubordination.
They also need, according to Sarmiento, chicote de fierro and it is in this fashion, Sarmiento argues, that Argentina`s life should be established, with the mandate of the brutal force.
'Si los bàrbaros la asaltan, forman un cìrculo atando unas carretas con otras, y casi siempre resisten victoriosamente a la codicia de los salvajes avidos de sangre y de pillaje. (4).
Chapter two is entitled 'Originalidad y personajes argentinos'. There Sarmiento asserts that if there is something important in Argentinian literature such writings ought to be found in the description of the great natural scenery, and particularly, he argues, by the description of the struggle between European civilization and Indigenous barbarism, between the intelligence and the matter. (p.75,76).
Sarmiento suggests that America has peculiarities, characteristics, that are out of the circle of ideas in which the European spirit is educated. This is why he explains that those dramatic elements become unrecognisable outside Argentina.
'Si un destello de literatura nacional puede brillar momentaneamente en las nuevas cociedades Americans, es el resultara de la descripciòn de las grandiosas escenas naturales, y sobre todo de la lucha entre la inteligencia y la materia; lucha imponente en Amèrica, y que da lugar a escenas tan peculiares, tan caracteristicas y tan fuera del cìrculo de ideas en que se ha educado el espìritu europeo, porque los resortes dramàticos se vuelven desconocidos fuera del paìs'. (p.75,76).
Julio Ramos in his contribution to 'Revista Iberoamericana', provides a chance of reconciliation in Sarmiento`s texts. Ramos comments about Sarmiento`s reply to Alsina when the latter criticizes the `defects' and 'spontaneity' of his 'poetry':
'La respuesta de Sarmiento a Alsina es sumamente ambigua. En todo caso, Sarmiento le asegura que no retocarìa la obra, y asume el ''defecto'' de la ''espontaneidad'', de la ''poesìa'', como un complemento de la escritura de la historia. Modo que al no basarse sòlo en la racionalidad europea -en la escritura de la ciudad-, podìa llegar a escuchar la voz alienada del otro, para asì incluìrla en el orden de un (nuevo discurso). La ''informalidad'', la ''inmediatez'', la ''indisciplina'' del Facundo eran entonces las condiciones de la posibilidad del acercamiento a la tradiciòn (oral) ''bàrbara'' que habìa que incorporar, representàndola'. (5).
Sarmiento supports his argument by stating the case of a north-american writer, author of ''The Last of the Mohicans'': 'El ùnico romanticista norteamericano que haya logrado hacerse un nombre europeo, es Fenimore Cooper, y eso porque transportò la escena de sus descripciones fuera del cìrculo ocupado por los plantadores, al limite entre la vida bàrbara y la civilizaciòn, al teatro de la guerra en que las razas indìgenas y la raza sajona estàn combatiendo por la posesiòn del terreno``.(6).
In Sarmiento`s view, Cooper`s description of the habits and costumes of the Mohican gives the impression of imitating the costumes and habits of the Pampa.
Sarmiento gives a similar opinion of the merits of the literary discourse provided by the Argentinian Esteban Echevarrìa and his poem 'La Cautiva'. (p.76).
Roberto Gonzàles (contributions to ''Revista Iberoamericana'', N°142, also gives importance to the topological element when he refers to the 'barroque' in Latina American literature: 'Mucho del encanto de la literatura barroca latinoamericana se halla en las contorsiones topològicas que se requieren para describir el Nuevo Mundo como un collage de piezas del Viejo. En cambio, los viajeros cientìficos trajeron un conceto de la historia que permitirìa que una singular naturaleza americana sentara las bases de un ser American distinto y autonomo' (p.394).
Roberto Gonzàles also comments on the disposition of the scientific travellers when they wrote their accounts. Gonzàles thinks that it was very difficult for travellers to maintain their cultural identity while exploring the natural American environment.
'La prueba màs ardua para el viajero era, sin embargo, mantener su sentido de identidad a la vez que exploraba el mundo natural americano; establecer una distancia de la realidad descrita, sin por ello distorsionarla; permanecer alejado, continuar escribiendo como otro, en medio de una realidad que amenazaba con revelar un conocimiento que concebiblemente podrìa, por su poderoso atractivo, hacer perder al viajero su sentido de identidad'.(7)..
We could elaborate on the following questions:
What was the idea of these scientific, or non-scientific, travellers?
Why did they abandon the known world to visit the 'unknown'?
Was this the effect of Kantian influence?
Was it the Kantina man-cosmic unity postulate?
Roberto Gonzàles provides us with an answer:
'El ideal, era por supuesto, el descubrimiento de uno mismo, un uno mismo en que naturaleza y persona constituyeran una unidad indivisible, unidad en la cual la exhuberante y hasta sombrìa belleza del mundo natural estarìa en perfecta armonòa con el alma del viajero en busca de sus secretos'. (8).
''Facundo'' clearly shows Sarmiento`s fascination with the work of the European explorers. The vivid narration of the physical aspects of the region are truly proof of their influence. The importance that Sarmiento gave to the work of the explorers is confirmed in his statement quoted by Gonzales, in Revista Iberoamericana, N°142, (p. 397), and quoted in our next paragraph:
'Sud Amèrica en general, y Argentina en partiicular, necesita de un Tocqueville que, armado con el conocimiento de la teoròa social ,como el viajero cintìfico con sus baròmetros, brùjulas y octantes, viniera y penetrara las profundidades de nuestra vida polìtica como en un vasto territorio inexplorado por la ciencia y lo revelara a Europa, a Francia...'.
According to Gonzàles this quotation from Sarmiento unveils the origin of the scientific instruments which Melquiades would bring to Macondo many years later. Gonzales considers that the most interesting point in the discussion is that the travellers's scientific literature resolves ''Facundo'' as a text and this creates a new narrative form in America. (p.397).
Sarmiento`s outline has some loopholes. Although his vision of the barbarian is full of contradictions we can distinguish, particularly in Los cuadros costumbristas, the gaucho`s knowledge and the campesino`s culture.
Knowledge and recognition of the environment are key features in the collection of costumbrista passages. The barbarian has a word. His (her) word has value in terms of the producction of reason. El gaucho ''rastreador'' has his domestic y popular science:
'El màs conspicuous de todos, el màs extraordinario, es el gaucho rastreador', writes Sarmiento in p.82.
Then Sarmmiento writes on p.83:
'Yo mismo he conocido a Calibar, que ha ejercido en una provincia, su oficio durante cuarenta años consecutivos. Tiene ahora cerca de ochenta años: encorvado por la edad conserva sin embargo, un aspecto venerable y lleno de dignidad'.
The knowledge possessed by the gaucho 'baqueano' is indispensable for the military enterprise'.
'El Baqueano es un gaucho grave y reservado que conoce a palmos veinte mil leguas cuadradas de llanuras bosques y montañas. Es el topògrafo màs completo, es el ùnico mapa que lleva un general para dirigir los movimientos de su campaña'. (9).
Julio Ramos argues that the gaucho ''cantor'' is the one who holds a superior traditional knowledge. This statement is supported by the following passage in 'Facundo':
'El cantor està haciendo candorosamente el mismo trabajo de crònica, historia, biografìa, que el bardo de la Edad Media, y sus versos orales serìan recogidos màs tarde como los documentos y datos en que habrìa de apoyarse el historiador futuro, si a su laldo no estuviese otra sociedad culta'. (10).
''Facundo'' in chapter 3, entitled 'Asociaciòn', describes the association of estancias. There, Sarmiento describes the pueblos pastores, the 'vulgar' aspects of campesino`s life.
'Salen, pues, los varones sin saber fijamente a donde. Una vuelta a los ganados, una visita a una crìa, o a la querencia de un caballo predilecto, invierte una pequeña parte del dìa; el resto lo absorbe una reuniòn en un venta o pulperìa'. (11).
The pulperìa es the social nucleus of the gaucho. It has been said that the pulperìa is a product of the casual meetings held by the gauchos.
'Todo accidente es inaugural por definiciòn, independiente del pasado; es un presente violentamente separado de la historia, un comienzo, como el que el palelontòlogo espera encontrar en cuevas y excavaciones'. (12).
Sarmiento states that the gauchos from the vicinity meet in the pulperìa. In the pulperìa, gauchos enquire about lost cattle, about the tigre`s predations, etc. The pulperìa is the place of the gaucho cantor, a place to fraternise and drink alcohol.
'En esta vida tan sin emociones, el juego sacude los espiritus enervados, el licor enciende las imaginaciones adormecidas. Esta asociaciòn accidental de todos los dìas viene por su repeticiòn, a formar una sociedad màs estrecha que la de donde partiò cada individuo, y en esta asamblea sin objeto pùblico, sin interès social, empiezan a echarse los rudimentos de las reputaciones que màs tarde, y andando los años, van a aparecer en la escena polìtica'. (13).
The fourth chapter of ''Facundo'', entitled Revoluciòn de 1810, shows Sarmiento's opinion weighted towards the idea that the Revolution for independence was primarily due to the influence of European ideas. This is the case, according to Sarmiento, in all American countries. He writes:
'En toda la Amèrica fueron los mismmos, nacidos del mismo origen, a saber el movimiento de las ideas europeas'. (14).
Sarmiento believes that the revolution for independence was only meaningful for, and in the interests of, the Argentinian cities. He thinks that people in the campañas could only understand the external effect of independence, namely, independence from the king.
'La campaña pastora no podìa mirar la cuestiòn bajo otro aspecto. Libertad, responsabilidad del poder, todas las cuestiones que la revoluciòn se proponìa resolver, eran extrañas a su manera de vivir, a sus necesidades'. (15).
Roberto Gonzales Echevarrìa in his ''Myth and Archive'' writes that 'in Sarmiento, these reports were permeated by a 'scientific racism' that decried the deleterious influence non-European races had on the moral, intellectual, cultural, and material progress in Latin America'.
'Inferior' (my brackets) races could play a role, even if a negative one, in natural history, but not in cultural history. The new republics, as is known, often engaged in campaigns to exterminate the Indians, now under the banner of modernization'. (16). Gonzales ends his paragraph criticizing also Juan Manuel Rosas and mentions that Charles Darwin witnessed Rosas leading a raid against Indians.
What is clear is that rebellions in Latin America were a common feature from the arrival of the Europeans. The Inca resistance in Vilcabamba, for instance, or the struggles by the native Caribbeans narrated by Irwing Wallace are only a few examples of what could be the basis for a different interpretation of American history.
Comment of the romantic version of history as interpreted by Sarmiento`s ''Facundo'' was given by Augusto Tamayo Vargas in his ''Literatura Peruana''. His view o ''Facundo'' is as follows:
Es 'escrita con la fuerza expresiva y la despreocupaciòn formal consiguiente que caracterizan al romanticismo; y donde se plantea la lucha de la ''civilizaciòn y la barbarie'', con acre crìtica a la ùltima, pero con aliento que procede de ella. Y el relato nostàlgico, nutrido de ensoñaciòn y de realidad humilde y tierna que constituye la segunda, con el hogar pobre, la vida del pequeño pueblo y el rumoroso amontonar de los detalles privados de una biografìa novelesca que por antonomasia se llama romàntica. (17).
In ''Facundo'' Sarmiento also criticizes the montoneras and opines that, even when they appeared during the first days of Artigas, these guerrilla units already had characteristics of brutal ferocity and terrorist spirit. In this chapter Sarmiento accuses Rosas of plagiarism, of having invented nothing of his own:
'Rosas no ha inventado nada; su talento ha consistido sòlo en plagiar a sus antecesores, y hacer de los instintos brutales de las masas ignorantes un sistema meditado y coordinado friamente. (18).
This chapter also shows Sarmiento`s concern for the lack of a proper judiciary system in Argentina and particularly the need for an educational system.
- 'Sòlo tres jòvenes se estàn educando fuera de la provincia. Sòlo hay un mèdico San Juanino.
No hay tres jòvenes que sepan inglès, ni cuatro que hablen francès.
Uno sòlo hay que ha cursado matemàticas.
Un sòlo joven hay que posee instrucciòn digna de un pueblo culto.
El Sr. Rawson, distinguido ya por sus talentos extraordinarios. Su padre es norteamericano, y a esto ha debido recibir educaciòn.
No hay diez ciudadanos que sepan màs que leer y escribir.
No hay un militar que haya servido en ejèrcitos de lìnea fuera de la Repùblica'. (19).
Sarmiento considered moral and religious education superior to elementary instruction. Fewer crimes, he asserts, had been committed in San Juan because moral instruction was a priority in the school there. We ought to remember that Don Domingo Faustino Sarmiento worked for many years as a teacher and also as a miner, journalist, clerk among other occupations. I would argue that there is no doubt about his educational knowledge, on the contrary, his theoretical and practical knowledge of life perhaps gave him the authority to deal with the problems of education in Argentina.
The question, however, is what sort of education and for what sort of development. The debate that ''Facundo'' inaugurates, which founded Latin American narrative writing, was essential until the Novela de la Tierra, and it seems is a matter of debate also in our present days.
REFERENCES
1 Gonzales, Echevarrìa Roberto,
''Myth and archive'', p.99, Cambridge, 1990.
2 Sarniento, Domingo Faustino,
''Facundo'', p.56, Càtedra, Madrid, 1993.
3 Idem, p.60.
4 Idem, p.62.
5 Ramos, Julio,
'Escritura y Oralidad en el ''Facundo''.
In Revista Iberoamericana N°142, pp.561-562, 1988.
6 Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino,
''Facundo'', p.76, Càtedra, Madrid, 1993.
7 Gonzales, Roberto Echevarrìa, Revista Iberoamericana, N°142, p.395.
8 Idem, p.395.
9 Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino, ''Facundo'', p.85, Càtedra, Madrid, 1993.
10 Idem, p.91.
11 Idem, p.97.
12 Gonzales, R, Revista Iberoamericana, N°142, p.400, 1988.
13 Idem, pp. 97,98.
14 Idem, p.107.
15 Idem, p.108.
16 Gonzales, Echevarrìa Roberto, ''Myth and archive'', p.149.
17 Tamayo, Vargas Augusto, ''Literatura Peruana'', vol 2. p.568, J. Godard, Lima.
18 Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino, ''Facundo'', p.111.
19 Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino, ''Facundo'', p.119.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario