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C A M B R I D G E H I S T O R Y OF L A T I N A M E R I C A N
LITERATURE
CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF L A T I N A M E R I C A N
LITERATURE
C A M B R I D G E H I S T O R Y OF L A T I N A M E R I C A N
LITERATURE
the first decade of the twentieth century seemed to them to harken back to
that historical moment that could be characterized as the very origin of
Latin A m e r i c a ; that initial m o m e n t of a v o w e d continental and cultural
unity that preceded the fall into a history of fragmentation and fratricidal
dissension k n o w n only t o o well; a moment that had returned - so to
speak - in the apotheosis of its centennial celebration. T h e c o m m e m o r ation of this historical moment - a m o m e n t that w a s reconstructed and
refashioned as much as it w a s celebrated in 1910 - posited also the return
of the possibilities that the event had supposedly afforded w h e n seen as the
beginning of cultural time. T h i s explains the millennial rhetoric that is
typical of the period, and w h i c h found expression in formulas such as
mundonovismo:
a. concept proposed by the Chilean critic Francisco
Contreras to describe the felicitous turn t o w a r d indigenous values jn the
Latin A m e r i c a n literature of the times. T h i s rhetoric is also present in the
many Utopian texts of the period, such as La raza cosmica and Indologia
by the M e x i c a n writer Jose Vasconcelos. Furthermore, it w a s decidedly
not lost on Latin A m e r i c a n intellectuals that, at the precise time w h e n
Latin A m e r i c a w a s celebrating this feast of new beginnings, Europe
appeared to be signaling its historical exhaustion in the First W o r l d W a r ,
the apocalyptic " W a r to end all W a r s . "
Finally, one w o u l d have to mention, as another factor contributing to
the appearance of criollista concerns, the continental impact of the
M e x i c a n R e v o l u t i o n (1910-1920). T h e cultural enterprise engaged in by
the post-revolutionary M e x i c a n intelligentsia (mural art, pedagogical
reform, foundational theories about mestizaje, etc.) provided a model for
the institutionalization of nativist ideology for the rest of the continent.
T h e M e x i c a n R e v o l u t i o n , in conjunction with the events of O c t o b e r 1 9 1 7
in Russia, w a s also responsible for inaugurating the rhetoric of social
denunciation and reform that henceforth became c o m m o n p l a c e in Latin
A m e r i c a n literary circles, and w h i c h is distinctly visible in many of the
novelas de la tierra as well.
Culling all of the a b o v e , and sacrificing nuance for the convenience of
dates, the chronological limits of the novela de la tierra could be
designated as the years of 1910 and 1945. T h e earlier year reflects the
emergence (or reawakening) of a desire to affirm the existence of a
national or continent-wide identity through the vehicle of a literary
creation; the outer limit reflects the ascendance of existentialist philosophy in Latin A m e r i c a , a development that changed the terms in w h i c h
both identity and literature were conceived in such a w a y as to render
inoperative the presuppositions on w h i c h the criollista movement w a s
predicated. F r o m that m o m e n t on, the organic relationship between M a n
and L a n d posited by the indigenous formula w a s displaced by a concep200
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groups, here also that moment coincided with the creation of a work of
art. Poetry laid the differential foundation of the Motherland by
creating a new language for the expression of the new spiritual entity
constituted by the soul of a race as it came into being.
(p. 14)
Similarly, the indigenous Latin A m e r i c a n landscape became a privileged literary category, since it w a s through its constant contact w i th it
that the spiritual essence of the continent's people had been shaped. Here
lies the justification for the myriad w o r k s produced during this period that
aspired to capture the specific geography of a region or country in a cycle
of p o e m s , or in a novel or essay. Perhaps the most succinct rendition of
this concept is the justly famous essay " V i s i o n de A n a h u a c " (1915) by
A l f o n s o Reyes (1889-1959), the source for the following passage:
Regardless of the historical doctrine one may profess . . . we are in
unison with the race of yesteryear not only through our blood, but more
importantly through the common effort to dominate the coarse and
unyielding nature that surrounds us; such an effort is the foundation of
history. W e also share with them the profound emotional unanimity
that arises from the daily encounter with a similar natural object. T h e
confrontation between human sensibility and a common world carves
and engenders a common soul.
(2: 34)
It w o u l d be impossible to summarize the total extent and the multifarious forms that this literary endeavor assumed throughout Latin
A m e r i c a . W h a t is of particular concern to this essay is the reflection in the
novelistic genre of this desire to create an indigenous literary text, a
dynamic that produced that large collection of w o r k s that have c o m e to be
k n o w n as the novela de la tierra.
T h e discourse of the autochthonous in these novels represents a
rhetorical condensation of the paradigm of cultural interpretation just
discussed; that is to say, the discourse of philology provides the essential
concepts and relationships that legitimize the writing of these w o r k s . T h i s
explains w h y , at the most superficial level, the novela de la tierra appears
to be an indiscriminate and uncomplicated collection of philological
c o m m o n p l a c e s : speech as a privileged instance of language; geograph y as
a sempiternal telluric presence; the detailed depiction of a human activity
that has arisen in perfect consonance w i t h the environment. Nevertheless,
although the basic postulates of philological discourse seem to account for
the fundamental characteristics of these texts, that relationship is not as
uncomplicated as it w o u l d seem at first glance; for the seemingly
subordinate relationship between the novela de la tierra and philology
conceals, nonetheless, a precise inversion of philological operations of
interpretation. T h e philologist's overriding purpose w a s the revelation of
the ultimate spiritual structure that w a s assumed to be the underlying
bedrock or foundation for the text under scrutiny. A s a result of this
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arising from the picturesque life of the cowboy and guide, the man of
hard toil always with a ballad on the tip of his tongue.
And while the watchers by the corrals took turns going around . . . in
the cabins, another more boisterous watch was taking place: the guitar
and the maracas, the corrido and the decima. T h e birth of poetry.
(pp. 675-6)
In passages such as this one, the text can be seen to engage in w h a t could
be referred to as an explication of its o w n discursive assumptions. In them,
the novels articulate explicitly, and c o m m e n t on, those relationships that
also a l l o w them to conceive the w o r l d they recreate as an organic w h o l e in
the first place. T h e critical, explanatory purpose of this particular
fragment can be distinguished, for instance, in the causal structure of the
first paragraph; but it is also evinced by the manifest exegetical intention
of the entire passage. T h r o u g h it, the text explicates the spontaneous birth
of popular poetry (speech) from the interaction between M a n ' s activity
and his geographic milieu. T h i s is, of course, a relationship that is
presumed by the indigenous text to be an immanent aspect of the universe
it portrays. Y e t the organic nature of the link that the fragment affirms is
compromised by the fragment's very presence in the text, since in order to
comment critically on its o w n procedures the text must have abandoned
that organicity in the first place. Hence, the passage points to the
problematic rhetorical nature of " a u t o c h t h o n o u s " discourse, that is, to
the w a y in w h i c h its rhetoric undermines the legitimacy of that w h i c h it
affirms.
Sometimes this commentary assumes a less conspicuous form that
nonetheless cannot conceal entirely its interpretive objective. A t certain
moments the narrative acquires an essentially definitory tone: there is a
sudden break in the narrative that allow s for the insertion of a detailed
commentary on a specific element of the indigenous universe. A n o t h e r
expression of it is the v o y a g e or excursion throughout the privileged
landscape that customarily precedes the writing of these novels: an
expedition w h e re the author's roaming throughout the land acquires all
the trappings of the philologist's field research on language and milieu.
Other textual features, such as the glossaries that are appended to the
majority of these w o r k s and the singling out of particular w o r d s or
expressions in the text through the use of quotation marks or italics,
constitute further signs of the existence of this critical dimension within
the text of the novela de la tierra.
Therefore, far from simply having a referential or ontological reality,
the term " a u t o c h t h o n o u s " could be used to describe a rhetorical figure
encompassing three elements: spoken language, geographical location,
and a given human activity. T h e p o w e r of the figure that organizes these
categories derives from the fact that any one of the three elements can be
subsumed under the remaining t w o . T h e three categories are thoroughly
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C A M B R I D G E H I S T O R Y OF L A T I N A M E R I C A N
LITERATURE
C A M B R I D G E H I S T O R Y OF L A T I N A M E R I C A N
LITERATURE