fbpx
Wikipedia

Facundo

Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism (original Spanish title: Facundo: Civilización y Barbarie) is a book written in 1845 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a writer and journalist who became the second president of Argentina. It is a cornerstone of Latin American literature: a work of creative non-fiction that helped to define the parameters for thinking about the region's development, modernization, power, and culture. Subtitled Civilization and Barbarism, Facundo contrasts civilization and barbarism as seen in early 19th-century Argentina. Literary critic Roberto González Echevarría calls the work "the most important book written by a Latin American in any discipline or genre".[1]

Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism
The cover of the original version from 1845.
AuthorDomingo Faustino Sarmiento
Original titleFacundo: Civilización y barbarie
TranslatorMary Mann
Kathleen Ross
Cover artistAlberto Nicasio
CountryChile
LanguageSpanish
PublisherEl Progreso de Chile (first, serial, edition in original Spanish)
Hafner (Mary Mann translation, English)
University of California Press (Kathleen Ross translation, English)
Publication date
1845
Published in English
1868 (Mary Mann translation)
2003 (Kathleen Ross translation)
Media typePrint
ISBN0-520-23980-6
OCLC52312471
981/.04 21
LC ClassF2846 .S247213 2003

Facundo describes the life of Juan Facundo Quiroga, a caudillo who had terrorized provincial Argentina in the 1820s and 1830s. Kathleen Ross, one of Facundo's English translators, points out that the author also published Facundo to "denounce the tyranny of the Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas".[2] Juan Manuel de Rosas ruled Argentina from 1829 to 1832 and again from 1835 to 1852; it was because of Rosas that Sarmiento was in exile in Chile, where he wrote the book. Sarmiento sees Rosas as heir to Facundo: both are caudillos and representatives of a barbarism that derives from the nature of the Argentine countryside.[3] As Ross explains, Sarmiento's book is therefore engaged in describing the "Argentine national character, explaining the effects of Argentina's geographical conditions on personality, the 'barbaric' nature of the countryside versus the 'civilizing' influence of the city, and the great future awaiting Argentina when it opened its doors wide to European immigration".[2]

Throughout the text, Sarmiento explores the dichotomy between civilization and barbarism. As Kimberly Ball observes, "civilization is identified with northern Europe, North America, cities, Unitarians, Paz, and Rivadavia",[4] while "barbarism is identified with Latin America, Spain, Asia, the Middle East, the countryside, Federalists, Facundo, and Rosas".[4] It is in the way that Facundo articulates this opposition that Sarmiento's book has had such a profound influence. In the words of González Echevarría: "in proposing the dialectic between civilization and barbarism as the central conflict in Latin American culture Facundo gave shape to a polemic that began in the colonial period and continues to the present day".[5]

The first edition of Facundo was published in installments in 1845. Sarmiento removed the last two chapters of the second edition (1851), but restored them in the 1874 edition, deciding that they were important to the book's development.

The first translation into English, by Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, was published in 1868. A modern and complete translation by Kathleen Ross appeared in 2003 from the University of California Press.

Background edit

While exiled in Chile, Sarmiento wrote Facundo in 1845 as an attack on Juan Manuel de Rosas, the Argentine dictator at the time. The book was a critical analysis of Argentine culture as he saw it, represented in men such as Rosas and the regional leader Juan Facundo Quiroga, a warlord from La Rioja. For Sarmiento, Rosas and Quiroga were caudillos—strongmen who did not submit to the law.[6] However, if Facundo's portrait is linked to the wild nature of the countryside, Rosas is depicted as an opportunist who exploits the situation to perpetuate himself in power.[7]

Sarmiento's book is a critique and also a symptom of Argentina's cultural conflicts. In 1810, the country had gained independence from the Spanish Empire, but Sarmiento complains that Argentina had yet to cohere as a unified entity. The country's chief political division saw the Unitarists (or Unitarians, with whom Sarmiento sided), who favored centralization, counterposed against the Federalists, who believed that the regions should maintain a good measure of autonomy. This division was in part a split between the city and the countryside. Then as now, Buenos Aires was the country's largest and wealthiest city as a result of its access to river trade routes and the South Atlantic. Buenos Aires was exposed not only to trade but to fresh ideas and European culture. These economic and cultural differences caused tension between Buenos Aires and the land-locked regions of the country.[8] Despite his Unitarian sympathies, Sarmiento himself came from the provinces, a native of the Western town of San Juan.[9]

Argentine civil war edit

Argentina's divisions led to a civil war that began in 1814. A frail agreement was reached in the early 1820s, which led to the unification of the Republic just in time to wage the Cisplatine War against the Empire of Brazil, but the relations between the Provinces reached again the point of breaking-off in 1826, when Unitarist Bernardino Rivadavia was elected president and tried to enforce a newly enacted centralist Constitution. Supporters of decentralized government challenged the Unitarist Party, leading to the outbreak of violence. Federalists Juan Facundo Quiroga and Manuel Dorrego wanted more autonomy for the provinces and were inclined to reject European culture.[10] The Unitarists defended Rivadavia's presidency, as it created educational opportunities for rural inhabitants through a European-staffed university program. However, under Rivadavia's rule, the salaries of common laborers were subjected to government wage ceilings,[11] and the gauchos ("cattle-wrangling horsemen of the pampas")[12] were either imprisoned or forced to work without pay.[11]

A series of governors were installed and replaced beginning in 1828 with the appointment of Federalist Manuel Dorrego as the governor of Buenos Aires.[13] However, Dorrego's government was very soon overthrown and replaced by that of Unitarist Juan Lavalle.[14] Lavalle's rule ended when he was defeated by a militia of gauchos led by Rosas. By the end of 1829, the legislature had appointed Rosas as governor of Buenos Aires.[15] Under Rosas's rule, many intellectuals fled either to Chile, as did Sarmiento, or to Uruguay, as Sarmiento himself notes.[16]

Juan Manuel de Rosas edit

 
Portrait of Rosas by
Raymond Monvoisin

According to Latin American historian John Lynch, Juan Manuel de Rosas was "a landowner, a rural caudillo, and the dictator of Buenos Aires from 1829 to 1852".[17] He was born into a wealthy family of high social status, but Rosas's strict upbringing had a deep psychological influence on him.[18] Sarmiento asserts that because of Rosas's mother, "the spectacle of authority and servitude must have left lasting impressions on him".[19] Shortly after reaching puberty, Rosas was sent to an estancia and stayed there for about thirty years. In time, he learned how to manage the ranch and he established an authoritarian government in the area. While in power, Rosas incarcerated residents for unspecified reasons, acts which Sarmiento argues were similar to Rosas's treatment of cattle. Sarmiento argues that this was one method of making his citizens like the "tamest, most orderly cattle known".[20]

Juan Manuel de Rosas's first term as governor lasted only three years. His rule, assisted by Juan Facundo Quiroga and Estanislao López, was respected and he was praised for his ability to maintain harmony between Buenos Aires and the rural areas.[21] The country fell into disorder after Rosas's resignation in 1832, and in 1835 he was once again called to lead the country. He ruled the country not as he did during his first term as governor, but as a dictator, forcing all citizens to support his Federalist regime.[22] According to Nicolas Shumway, Rosas "forced the citizens to wear the red Federalist insignia, and his picture appeared in all public places...  Rosas's enemies, real and imagined, were increasingly imprisoned, tortured, murdered, or driven into exile by the mazorca, a band of spies and thugs supervised personally by Rosas. Publications were censored, and porteño newspapers became tedious apologizers for the regime".[23]

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento edit

 
Portrait of Sarmiento at the time of his exile in Chile; by Franklin Rawson

In Facundo, Sarmiento is both the narrator and a main character. The book contains autobiographical elements from Sarmiento's life, and he comments on the entire Argentine circumstance. He also expresses and analyzes his own opinion and chronicles some historic events. Within the book's dichotomy between civilization and barbarism, Sarmiento's character represents civilization, steeped as he is in European and North American ideas; he stands for education and development, as opposed to Rosas and Facundo, who symbolize barbarism.

Sarmiento was an educator, a civilized man who was a militant adherent to the Unitarist movement. During the Argentine civil war he fought against Facundo several times, and while in Spain he became a member of the Literary Society of Professors.[24] Exiled to Chile by Rosas when he started to write Facundo, Sarmiento would later return as a politician. He was a member of the Senate after Rosas's fall and president of Argentina for six years (1868–1874). During his presidency, Sarmiento concentrated on migration, sciences, and culture. His ideas were based on European civilization; for him, the development of a country was rooted in education. To this end, he founded Argentina's military and naval colleges.[25]

Synopsis edit

 
The Argentine plains, or pampas. For Sarmiento, this bleak, featureless geography was a key factor in Argentina's 'failure' to achieve civilization by the mid-19th century.

After a lengthy introduction, Facundo's fifteen chapters divide broadly into three sections: chapters one to four outline Argentine geography, anthropology, and history; chapters five to fourteen recount the life of Juan Facundo Quiroga; and the concluding chapter expounds Sarmiento's vision of a future for Argentina under a Unitarist government.[3] In Sarmiento's words, the reason why he chose to provide Argentine context and use Facundo Quiroga to condemn Rosas's dictatorship is that "in Facundo Quiroga I do not only see simply a caudillo, but rather a manifestation of Argentine life as it has been made by colonization and the peculiarities of the land".[26]

Argentine context edit

 
South America, showing the extent of the pampas in Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil

Facundo begins with a geographical description of Argentina, from the Andes in the west to the eastern Atlantic coast, where two main river systems converge at the boundary between Argentina and Uruguay. This river estuary, called the Rio de Plata, is the location of Buenos Aires, the capital. Through his discussion of Argentina's geography, Sarmiento demonstrates Buenos Aires' advantages; the river systems were communications arteries which, by enabling trade, helped the city to achieve civilization. Buenos Aires failed to spread civilization to the rural areas and as a result, much of the rest of Argentina was doomed to barbarism. Sarmiento also argues that the pampas, Argentina's wide and empty plains, provided "no place for people to escape and hide for defense and this prohibits civilization in most parts of Argentina".[27] Despite the barriers to civilization caused by Argentina's geography, Sarmiento argues that many of the country's problems were caused by gauchos like Juan Manuel de Rosas, who were barbaric, uneducated, ignorant, and arrogant; their character prevented Argentine society's progress toward civilization.[28] Sarmiento then describes the four main types of gaucho and these characterizations aid in understanding Argentine leaders, such as Juan Manuel de Rosas.[29] Sarmiento argues that without an understanding of these Argentine character types, "it is impossible to understand our political personages, or the primordial, American character of the bloody struggle that tears apart the Argentine Republic".[30]

Sarmiento then moves on to the Argentine peasants, who are "independent of all need, free of all subjection, with no idea of government".[31] The peasants gather at taverns, where they spend their time drinking and gambling. They display their eagerness to prove their physical strength with horsemanship and knife fights. Rarely these displays led to deaths, and Sarmiento notes that Rosas's residence was sometimes used as a refuge on such occasions, before he became politically powerful.[29]

According to Sarmiento, these elements are crucial to an understanding of the Argentine Revolution, in which Argentina gained independence from Spain. Although Argentina's war of independence was prompted by the influence of European ideas, Buenos Aires was the only city that could achieve civilization. Rural people participated in the war to demonstrate their physical strengths rather than because they wanted to civilize the country. In the end, the revolution was a failure because the barbaric instincts of the rural population led to the loss and dishonor of the civilized city—Buenos Aires.[32]

Life of Juan Facundo Quiroga edit

 
Juan Facundo Quiroga

As the central character of Sarmiento's Facundo, he represents barbarism, the antithesis of civilization. (Portrait by Fernando García del Molino) The second section of Facundo explores the life of its titular character, Juan Facundo Quiroga—the "Tiger of the Plains".[33] Despite being born into a wealthy family, Facundo received only a basic education in reading and writing.[34] He loved gambling, being called el jugador (the player)[35]—in fact, Sarmiento describes his gambling as "an ardent passion burning in his belly".[36] As a youth Facundo was antisocial and rebellious, refusing to mix with other children,[33] and these traits became more pronounced as he matured. Sarmiento describes an incident in which Facundo killed a man, writing that this type of behaviour "marked his passage through the world".[36] Sarmiento gives a physical description of the man he considers to personify the caudillo: "[he had a] short and well built stature; his broad shoulders supported, on a short neck, a well-formed head covered with very thick, black and curly hair", with "eyes ... full of fire".[33]

Facundo's relations with his family eventually broke down, and, taking on the life of a gaucho, he joined the caudillos in the province of Entre Ríos.[37] His killing of two royalist prisoners after a jailbreak saw him acclaimed as a hero among the gauchos, and on relocating to La Rioja, Facundo was appointed to a leadership position in the Llanos Militia. He built his reputation and won his comrades' respect through his fierce battlefield performances, but hated and tried to destroy those who differed from him by being civilized and well-educated.[38]

In 1825, when Unitarist Bernardino Rivadavia became the governor of the Buenos Aires province, he held a meeting with representatives from all provinces in Argentina. Facundo was present as the governor of La Rioja.[39] Rivadavia was soon overthrown, and Manuel Dorrego became the new governor. Sarmiento contends that Dorrego, a Federalist, was interested neither in social progress nor in ending barbaric behaviour in Argentina by improving the level of civilization and education of its rural inhabitants. In the turmoil that characterized Argentine politics at the time, Dorrego was assassinated by Unitarists and Facundo was defeated by Unitarist General José María Paz.[40] Facundo escaped to Buenos Aires and joined the Federalist government of Juan Manuel de Rosas. During the ensuing civil war between the two ideologies, Facundo conquered the provinces of San Luis, Cordoba and Mendoza.[41]

On return to his San Juan home, which Sarmiento says Facundo governed "solely with his terrifying name",[42] he realized that his government lacked support from Rosas. He went to Buenos Aires to confront Rosas, who sent him on another political mission. On his way back, Facundo was shot and killed at Barranca Yaco, Córdoba.[43] According to Sarmiento, the murder was plotted by Rosas: "An impartial history still awaits facts and revelations, in order to point its finger at the instigator of the assassins".[44]

Consequences of Facundo's death edit

 
Assassination of Facundo Quiroga at Barranca Yaco

In the book's final chapters, Sarmiento explores the consequences of Facundo's death for the history and politics of the Argentine Republic.[45] He further analyzes Rosas's government and personality, commenting on dictatorship, tyranny, the role of popular support, and the use of force to maintain order. Sarmiento criticizes Rosas by using the words of the dictator, making sarcastic remarks about Rosas's actions, and describing the "terror" established during the dictatorship, the contradictions of the government, and the situation in the provinces that were ruled by Facundo. Sarmiento writes, "The red ribbon is a materialization of the terror that accompanies you everywhere, in the streets, in the bosom of the family; it must be thought about when dressing, when undressing, and ideas are always engraved upon us by association".[46]

Finally, Sarmiento examines the legacy of Rosas's government by attacking the dictator and widening the civilization–barbarism dichotomy. By setting France against Argentina—representing civilization and barbarism respectively—Sarmiento contrasts culture and savagery:

France's blockade had lasted for two years, and the 'American' government, inspired by 'American' spirit, was facing off with France, European principles, European pretensions. The social results of the French blockade, however, had been fruitful for the Argentine Republic, and served to demonstrate in all their nakedness the current state of mind and the new elements of struggle, which were to ignite a fierce war that can end only with the fall of that monstrous government.[47]

Genre and style edit

Spanish critic and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno comments of the book, "I never took Facundo by Sarmiento as a historical work, nor do I think it can be very valued in that regard. I always thought of it as a literary work, as a historical novel".[48] However, Facundo cannot be classified as a novel or a specific genre of literature. According to González Echevarría, the book is at once an "essay, biography, autobiography, novel, epic, memoir, confession, political pamphlet, diatribe, scientific treatise, [and] travelogue".[5] Sarmiento's style and his exploration of the life of Facundo unify the three distinct parts of his work. Even the first section, describing Argentina's geography, follows this pattern, since Sarmiento contends that Facundo is a natural product of this environment.[49]

The book is partly fictional, as well: Sarmiento draws on his imagination in addition to historical fact in describing Rosas. In Facundo, Sarmiento outlines his argument that Rosas's dictatorship is the main cause of Argentina's problems. The themes of barbarism and savagery that run through the book are, to Sarmiento, consequences of Rosas's dictatorial government.[50] To make his case, Sarmiento often has recourse to strategies drawn from literature.

Themes edit

Civilization and barbarism edit

 
4° edition in Spanish. París, 1874.

Facundo is not only a critique of Rosas's dictatorship, but a broader investigation into Argentine history and culture, which Sarmiento charts through the rise, controversial rule, and downfall of Juan Facundo Quiroga, an archetypical Argentine caudillo. Sarmiento summarizes the book's message in the phrase "That is the point: to be or not to be savages".[51] The dichotomy between civilization and barbarism is the book's central idea; Facundo Quiroga is portrayed as wild, untamed, and standing opposed to true progress through his rejection of European cultural ideals—found at that time in the metropolitan society of Buenos Aires.[52]

The conflict between civilization and barbarism mirrors Latin America's difficulties in the post-Independence era. Literary critic Sorensen Goodrich argues that although Sarmiento was not the first to articulate this dichotomy, he forged it into a powerful and prominent theme that would impact Latin American literature.[53] He explores the issue of civilization versus the cruder aspects of a caudillo culture of brutality and absolute power. Facundo set forth an oppositional message that promoted a more beneficial alternative for society at large. Although Sarmiento advocated various changes, such as honest officials who understood enlightenment ideas of European and Classical origin, for him education was the key. Caudillos like Facundo Quiroga are seen, at the beginning of the book, as the antithesis of education, high culture, and civil stability; barbarism was like a never ending litany of social ills.[54] They are the agents of instability and chaos, destroying societies through their blatant disregard for humanity and social progress.[55]

If Sarmiento viewed himself as civilized, Rosas was barbaric. Historian David Rock argues that "contemporary opponents reviled Rosas as a bloody tyrant and a symbol of barbarism".[56] Sarmiento attacked Rosas through his book by promoting education and "civilized" status, whereas Rosas used political power and brute force to dispose of any kind of hindrance. In linking Europe with civilization, and civilization with education, Sarmiento conveyed an admiration of European culture and civilization which at the same time gave him a sense of dissatisfaction with his own culture, motivating him to drive it towards civilization.[57] Using the wilderness of the pampas to reinforce his social analysis, he characterizes those who were isolated and opposed to political dialogue as ignorant and anarchic—symbolized by Argentina's desolate physical geography.[58] Conversely, Latin America was connected to barbarism, which Sarmiento used mainly to illustrate the way in which Argentina was disconnected from the numerous resources surrounding it, limiting the growth of the country.[55]

American critic Doris Sommer sees a connection between Facundo's ideology and Sarmiento's readings of Fenimore Cooper. She links Sarmiento's remarks on modernization and culture to the American discourse of expansion and progress of the 19th century.[59]

Writing and power edit

In the history of post-independence Latin America, dictatorships have been relatively common—examples range from Paraguay's José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia in the 19th century to Chile's Augusto Pinochet in the 20th. In this context, Latin American literature has been distinguished by the protest novel, or dictator novel; the main story is based around the dictator figure, his behaviour, characteristics and the situation of the people under his regime. Writers such as Sarmiento used the power of the written word in order to criticize government, using literature as a tool, an instance of resistance and as a weapon against repression.[60]

Making use of the connection between writing and power was one of Sarmiento's strategies. For him, writing was intended to be a catalyst for action.[61] While the gauchos fought with physical weapons, Sarmiento used his voice and language.[62] Sorensen states that Sarmiento used "text as [a] weapon".[60] Sarmiento was writing not only for Argentina but for a wider audience too, especially the United States and Europe; in his view, these regions were close to civilization; his purpose was to seduce his readers toward his own political viewpoint.[63] In the numerous translations of Facundo, Sarmiento's association of writing with power and conquest is apparent.[64]

Since his books often serve as vehicles for his political manifesto, Sarmiento's writings commonly mock governments, with Facundo being the most prominent example.[65] He elevates his own status at the expense of the ruling elite, almost portraying himself as invincible due to the power of writing. Toward the end of 1840, Sarmiento was exiled for his political views. Covered with bruises received the day before from unruly soldiers, he wrote in French, "On ne tue point les idees" (misquoted from "on ne tire pas des coups de fusil aux idees", which means "ideas cannot be killed by guns"). The government decided to decipher the message, and on learning the translation, said, "So! What does this mean?".[66] With the failure of his oppressors to understand his meaning, Sarmiento is able to illustrate their ineptitude. His words are presented as a "code" that needs to be "deciphered",[66] and unlike Sarmiento those in power are barbaric and uneducated. Their bafflement not only demonstrates their general ignorance, but also, according to Sorensen, illustrates "the fundamental displacement which any cultural transplantation brings about", since Argentine rural inhabitants and Rosas's associates were unable to accept the civilized culture which Sarmiento believed would lead to progress in Argentina.[67]

Legacy edit

For translator Kathleen Ross, Facundo is "one of the foundational works of Spanish American literary history".[2] It has been enormously influential in setting out a "blueprint for modernization",[68] with its practical message enhanced by a "tremendous beauty and passion".[2] However, according to literary critic González Echevarría it is not only a powerful founding text but "the first Latin American classic, and the most important book written about Latin America by a Latin American in any discipline or genre".[1][2] The book's political influence can be seen in Sarmiento's eventual rise to power. He became president of Argentina in 1868 and was able to apply his theories to ensure that his nation achieved civilization.[69] Although Sarmiento wrote several books, he viewed Facundo as authorizing his political views.[70]

According to Sorensen, "early readers of Facundo were deeply influenced by the struggles that preceded and followed Rosas's dictatorship, and their views sprang from their relationship to the strife for interpretive and political hegemony".[71] González Echevarría notes that Facundo provided the impetus for other writers to examine dictatorship in Latin America, and contends that it is still read today because Sarmiento created "a voice for modern Latin American authors".[5] The reason for this, according to González Echevarría, is that "Latin American authors struggle with its legacy, rewriting Facundo in their works even as they try to untangle themselves from its discourse".[5] Subsequent dictator novels, such as El Señor Presidente by Miguel Ángel Asturias or The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa, drew upon its ideas,[5] and a knowledge of Facundo enhances the reader's understanding of these later books.[72]

One irony of the impact of Sarmiento's essay genre and fictional literature is that, according to González Echevarría, the gaucho has become "an object of nostalgia, a lost origin around which to build a national mythology".[72] While Sarmiento was trying to eliminate the gaucho, he also transformed him into a "national symbol".[72] González Echevarría further argues that Juan Facundo Quiroga also continues to exist, since he represents "our unresolved struggle between good and evil, and our lives' inexorable drive toward death".[72] According to translator Kathleen Ross, "Facundo continues to inspire controversy and debate because it contributes to national myths of modernization, anti-populism, and racist ideology".[73]

Publication and translation history edit

The first edition of Facundo was published in instalments in 1845, in the literary supplement of the Chilean newspaper El Progreso. The second edition, also published in Chile (in 1851), contained significant alterations—Sarmiento removed the last two chapters on the advice of Valentín Alsina, an exiled Argentinian lawyer and politician.[3] However, the missing sections reappeared in 1874 in a later edition, because Sarmiento saw them as crucial to the book's development.[74]

Facundo was first translated in 1868, by Mary Mann, a friend of Sarmiento, with the title Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants; or, Civilization and Barbarism. More recently, Kathleen Ross has undertaken a modern and complete translation, published in 2003 by the University of California Press. In Ross's "Translator's Introduction," she notes that Mann's 19th-century version of the text was influenced by Mann's friendship with Sarmiento and by the fact that he was at the time a candidate in the Argentine presidential election: "Mann wished to further her friend's cause abroad by presenting Sarmiento as an admirer and emulator of United States political and cultural institutions". Hence Mann's translation cut much of what made Sarmiento's work distinctively part of the Hispanic tradition. Ross continues: "Mann's elimination of metaphor, the stylistic device perhaps most characteristic of Sarmiento's prose, is especially striking".[75]

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ a b González Echevarría 2003, p. 1
  2. ^ a b c d e Ross 2003, p. 17
  3. ^ a b c Ross 2003, p. 18
  4. ^ a b Ball 1999, p. 177
  5. ^ a b c d e González Echevarría 2003, p. 2
  6. ^ Ball 1999, p. 171
  7. ^ Chang-Rodríguez 1988, p. 157
  8. ^ Shumway 1993, p. 13
  9. ^ Rockland 2015, p. 7.
  10. ^ Shumway 1993, p. 107
  11. ^ a b Shumway 1993, p. 84
  12. ^ Ball 1999, p. 173
  13. ^ Shumway 1993, p. 114
  14. ^ Shumway 1993, p. 115
  15. ^ Shumway 1993, p. 117
  16. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 229
  17. ^ Lynch 1981, p. 1
  18. ^ Lynch 1981, p. 11
  19. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 213
  20. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 215
  21. ^ Shumway 1993, pp. 117–118
  22. ^ Shumway 1993, p. 118
  23. ^ Shumway 1993, p. 120
  24. ^ Mann 1868, p. 357
  25. ^ González Echevarría 2003, p. 10
  26. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 38
  27. ^ Sarmiento 2003, Chapter 1
  28. ^ Sarmiento 2003, Chapter 2
  29. ^ a b Sarmiento 2003, Chapter 3
  30. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 71
  31. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 72
  32. ^ Sarmiento 2003, Chapter 4
  33. ^ a b c Sarmiento 2003, p. 93
  34. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 94
  35. ^ Newton 1965, p. 11
  36. ^ a b Sarmiento 2003, p. 95
  37. ^ Sarmiento 2003, Chapter 5
  38. ^ Sarmiento 2003, Chapter 6
  39. ^ Sarmiento 2003, Chapter 7 & 8
  40. ^ Sarmiento 2003, Chapter 8 & 9
  41. ^ Sarmiento 2003, Chapter 11 & 12
  42. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 157
  43. ^ Sarmiento 2003, Chapter 13
  44. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 204
  45. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 227
  46. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 210
  47. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 228
  48. ^ Qtd. Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 42
  49. ^ Carilla 1955, p. 12
  50. ^ Ludmer 2002, p. 17
  51. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 35
  52. ^ Sarmiento 2003, p. 99
  53. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 6
  54. ^ Bravo 1990, p. 247
  55. ^ a b Sorensen Goodrich 1996, pp. 10–11
  56. ^ Qtd. Ludmer 2002, p. 7
  57. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 9
  58. ^ Bravo 1990, p. 248
  59. ^ Ross 2003, p. 23
  60. ^ a b Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 33
  61. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 25
  62. ^ Ludmer 2002, p. 9
  63. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 85
  64. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 27
  65. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 100
  66. ^ a b Sarmiento 2003, p. 30
  67. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 84
  68. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 99
  69. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, pp. 99
  70. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, pp. 100–101
  71. ^ Sorensen Goodrich 1996, p. 67
  72. ^ a b c d González Echevarría 2003, p. 15
  73. ^ Ross 2003, p. 21
  74. ^ Carilla 1955, p. 13
  75. ^ Ross 2003, p. 19

References edit

  • Ball, Kimberly (1999), "Facundo by Domingo F. Sarmiento", in Moss, Joyce; Valestuk, Lorraine (eds.), Latin American Literature and Its Times, vol. 1, World Literature and Its Times: Profiles of Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events That Influenced Them, Detroit: Gale Group, pp. 171–180, ISBN 0-7876-3726-2
  • Bravo, Héctor Félix (1990), "Profiles of educators: Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811–88)", Prospects: The Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, 20, number 2 (74), Paris: UNESCO: International Bureau of Education: 247–256, doi:10.1007/BF02196326, S2CID 189873123
  • Carilla, Emilio (1955), Lengua y estilo en el Facundo (in Spanish), Buenos Aires: Universidad nacional de Tucumán, OCLC 2010266
  • Chang-Rodríguez, Raquel (1988), Voces de Hispanoamérica: antología literaria (in Spanish), New York: Heinle & Heinle, ISBN 0-8384-1603-9
  • González Echevarría, Roberto (1985), The Voice of the Masters: Writing and Authority in Modern Latin American Literature, Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, ISBN 0-292-78716-2
  • González Echevarría, Roberto (2003), "Facundo: An Introduction", in Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (ed.), Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 1–16
  • Ludmer, Josefina (2002), The Gaucho Genre: A Treatise on the Motherland, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, ISBN 0-8223-2844-5. Trans. Molly Weigel.
  • Lynch, John (1981), Argentine Dictator: Juan Manuel de Rosas 1829–1852, New York, US: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-821129-5
  • Mann, Horace (1868), "Biographical Sketch of the Author", in Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (ed.), Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants, or, Civilization and Barbarism, New York: Hafner, pp. 276–396. Book is by Domingo Sarmiento.
  • Martínez Estrada, Ezequiel (1969), Sarmiento (in Spanish), Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, ISBN 950-845-107-6
  • Newton, Jorge (1965), Facundo Quiroga: Aventura y leyenda (in Spanish), Buenos Aires: Plus Ultra
  • Rockland, Michael Aaron (2015), Sarmiento's Travels in the U.S. in 1847, Princeton: Princeton University Press, ISBN 9781400870899
  • Ross, Kathleen (2003), "Translator's Introduction", in Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (ed.), Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism, trans. Kathleen Ross, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 17–26
  • Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino (2003), Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press (published 1845), ISBN 0-520-23980-6 The first complete English translation. Trans. Kathleen Ross.
  • Shumway, Nicolas (1993), The Invention of Argentina, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-08284-2
  • Sorensen Goodrich, Diana (1996), Facundo and the Construction of Argentine Culture, Austin: University of Texas Press, ISBN 0-292-72790-9
  • Weiner, Mark S. (2011), Domingo Sarmiento and the Cultural History of Law in the Americas (PDF), Newark, New Jersey: Rutgers Law Review

External links edit

  • Facundo available at gutenberg.org (in Spanish)
  • in the original Spanish

facundo, village, chubut, people, with, name, given, name, civilization, barbarism, original, spanish, title, civilización, barbarie, book, written, 1845, domingo, faustino, sarmiento, writer, journalist, became, second, president, argentina, cornerstone, lati. For the village see Facundo Chubut For people with the name see Facundo given name Facundo Civilization and Barbarism original Spanish title Facundo Civilizacion y Barbarie is a book written in 1845 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento a writer and journalist who became the second president of Argentina It is a cornerstone of Latin American literature a work of creative non fiction that helped to define the parameters for thinking about the region s development modernization power and culture Subtitled Civilization and Barbarism Facundo contrasts civilization and barbarism as seen in early 19th century Argentina Literary critic Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria calls the work the most important book written by a Latin American in any discipline or genre 1 Facundo Civilization and BarbarismThe cover of the original version from 1845 AuthorDomingo Faustino SarmientoOriginal titleFacundo Civilizacion y barbarieTranslatorMary MannKathleen RossCover artistAlberto NicasioCountryChileLanguageSpanishPublisherEl Progreso de Chile first serial edition in original Spanish Hafner Mary Mann translation English University of California Press Kathleen Ross translation English Publication date1845Published in English1868 Mary Mann translation 2003 Kathleen Ross translation Media typePrintISBN0 520 23980 6OCLC52312471Dewey Decimal981 04 21LC ClassF2846 S247213 2003 Facundo describes the life of Juan Facundo Quiroga a caudillo who had terrorized provincial Argentina in the 1820s and 1830s Kathleen Ross one of Facundo s English translators points out that the author also published Facundo to denounce the tyranny of the Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas 2 Juan Manuel de Rosas ruled Argentina from 1829 to 1832 and again from 1835 to 1852 it was because of Rosas that Sarmiento was in exile in Chile where he wrote the book Sarmiento sees Rosas as heir to Facundo both are caudillos and representatives of a barbarism that derives from the nature of the Argentine countryside 3 As Ross explains Sarmiento s book is therefore engaged in describing the Argentine national character explaining the effects of Argentina s geographical conditions on personality the barbaric nature of the countryside versus the civilizing influence of the city and the great future awaiting Argentina when it opened its doors wide to European immigration 2 Throughout the text Sarmiento explores the dichotomy between civilization and barbarism As Kimberly Ball observes civilization is identified with northern Europe North America cities Unitarians Paz and Rivadavia 4 while barbarism is identified with Latin America Spain Asia the Middle East the countryside Federalists Facundo and Rosas 4 It is in the way that Facundo articulates this opposition that Sarmiento s book has had such a profound influence In the words of Gonzalez Echevarria in proposing the dialectic between civilization and barbarism as the central conflict in Latin American culture Facundo gave shape to a polemic that began in the colonial period and continues to the present day 5 The first edition of Facundo was published in installments in 1845 Sarmiento removed the last two chapters of the second edition 1851 but restored them in the 1874 edition deciding that they were important to the book s development The first translation into English by Mary Tyler Peabody Mann was published in 1868 A modern and complete translation by Kathleen Ross appeared in 2003 from the University of California Press Contents 1 Background 1 1 Argentine civil war 1 2 Juan Manuel de Rosas 1 3 Domingo Faustino Sarmiento 2 Synopsis 2 1 Argentine context 2 2 Life of Juan Facundo Quiroga 2 3 Consequences of Facundo s death 3 Genre and style 4 Themes 4 1 Civilization and barbarism 4 2 Writing and power 5 Legacy 6 Publication and translation history 7 Footnotes 8 References 9 External linksBackground editWhile exiled in Chile Sarmiento wrote Facundo in 1845 as an attack on Juan Manuel de Rosas the Argentine dictator at the time The book was a critical analysis of Argentine culture as he saw it represented in men such as Rosas and the regional leader Juan Facundo Quiroga a warlord from La Rioja For Sarmiento Rosas and Quiroga were caudillos strongmen who did not submit to the law 6 However if Facundo s portrait is linked to the wild nature of the countryside Rosas is depicted as an opportunist who exploits the situation to perpetuate himself in power 7 Sarmiento s book is a critique and also a symptom of Argentina s cultural conflicts In 1810 the country had gained independence from the Spanish Empire but Sarmiento complains that Argentina had yet to cohere as a unified entity The country s chief political division saw the Unitarists or Unitarians with whom Sarmiento sided who favored centralization counterposed against the Federalists who believed that the regions should maintain a good measure of autonomy This division was in part a split between the city and the countryside Then as now Buenos Aires was the country s largest and wealthiest city as a result of its access to river trade routes and the South Atlantic Buenos Aires was exposed not only to trade but to fresh ideas and European culture These economic and cultural differences caused tension between Buenos Aires and the land locked regions of the country 8 Despite his Unitarian sympathies Sarmiento himself came from the provinces a native of the Western town of San Juan 9 Argentine civil war edit Main article Argentine Civil War Argentina s divisions led to a civil war that began in 1814 A frail agreement was reached in the early 1820s which led to the unification of the Republic just in time to wage the Cisplatine War against the Empire of Brazil but the relations between the Provinces reached again the point of breaking off in 1826 when Unitarist Bernardino Rivadavia was elected president and tried to enforce a newly enacted centralist Constitution Supporters of decentralized government challenged the Unitarist Party leading to the outbreak of violence Federalists Juan Facundo Quiroga and Manuel Dorrego wanted more autonomy for the provinces and were inclined to reject European culture 10 The Unitarists defended Rivadavia s presidency as it created educational opportunities for rural inhabitants through a European staffed university program However under Rivadavia s rule the salaries of common laborers were subjected to government wage ceilings 11 and the gauchos cattle wrangling horsemen of the pampas 12 were either imprisoned or forced to work without pay 11 A series of governors were installed and replaced beginning in 1828 with the appointment of Federalist Manuel Dorrego as the governor of Buenos Aires 13 However Dorrego s government was very soon overthrown and replaced by that of Unitarist Juan Lavalle 14 Lavalle s rule ended when he was defeated by a militia of gauchos led by Rosas By the end of 1829 the legislature had appointed Rosas as governor of Buenos Aires 15 Under Rosas s rule many intellectuals fled either to Chile as did Sarmiento or to Uruguay as Sarmiento himself notes 16 Juan Manuel de Rosas edit Main articles Juan Manuel de Rosas and Historiography of Juan Manuel de Rosas nbsp Portrait of Rosas by Raymond Monvoisin According to Latin American historian John Lynch Juan Manuel de Rosas was a landowner a rural caudillo and the dictator of Buenos Aires from 1829 to 1852 17 He was born into a wealthy family of high social status but Rosas s strict upbringing had a deep psychological influence on him 18 Sarmiento asserts that because of Rosas s mother the spectacle of authority and servitude must have left lasting impressions on him 19 Shortly after reaching puberty Rosas was sent to an estancia and stayed there for about thirty years In time he learned how to manage the ranch and he established an authoritarian government in the area While in power Rosas incarcerated residents for unspecified reasons acts which Sarmiento argues were similar to Rosas s treatment of cattle Sarmiento argues that this was one method of making his citizens like the tamest most orderly cattle known 20 Juan Manuel de Rosas s first term as governor lasted only three years His rule assisted by Juan Facundo Quiroga and Estanislao Lopez was respected and he was praised for his ability to maintain harmony between Buenos Aires and the rural areas 21 The country fell into disorder after Rosas s resignation in 1832 and in 1835 he was once again called to lead the country He ruled the country not as he did during his first term as governor but as a dictator forcing all citizens to support his Federalist regime 22 According to Nicolas Shumway Rosas forced the citizens to wear the red Federalist insignia and his picture appeared in all public places Rosas s enemies real and imagined were increasingly imprisoned tortured murdered or driven into exile by the mazorca a band of spies and thugs supervised personally by Rosas Publications were censored and porteno newspapers became tedious apologizers for the regime 23 Domingo Faustino Sarmiento edit Main article Domingo Faustino Sarmiento nbsp Portrait of Sarmiento at the time of his exile in Chile by Franklin Rawson In Facundo Sarmiento is both the narrator and a main character The book contains autobiographical elements from Sarmiento s life and he comments on the entire Argentine circumstance He also expresses and analyzes his own opinion and chronicles some historic events Within the book s dichotomy between civilization and barbarism Sarmiento s character represents civilization steeped as he is in European and North American ideas he stands for education and development as opposed to Rosas and Facundo who symbolize barbarism Sarmiento was an educator a civilized man who was a militant adherent to the Unitarist movement During the Argentine civil war he fought against Facundo several times and while in Spain he became a member of the Literary Society of Professors 24 Exiled to Chile by Rosas when he started to write Facundo Sarmiento would later return as a politician He was a member of the Senate after Rosas s fall and president of Argentina for six years 1868 1874 During his presidency Sarmiento concentrated on migration sciences and culture His ideas were based on European civilization for him the development of a country was rooted in education To this end he founded Argentina s military and naval colleges 25 Synopsis edit nbsp The Argentine plains or pampas For Sarmiento this bleak featureless geography was a key factor in Argentina s failure to achieve civilization by the mid 19th century After a lengthy introduction Facundo s fifteen chapters divide broadly into three sections chapters one to four outline Argentine geography anthropology and history chapters five to fourteen recount the life of Juan Facundo Quiroga and the concluding chapter expounds Sarmiento s vision of a future for Argentina under a Unitarist government 3 In Sarmiento s words the reason why he chose to provide Argentine context and use Facundo Quiroga to condemn Rosas s dictatorship is that in Facundo Quiroga I do not only see simply a caudillo but rather a manifestation of Argentine life as it has been made by colonization and the peculiarities of the land 26 Argentine context edit nbsp South America showing the extent of the pampas in Argentina Uruguay and southern Brazil Facundo begins with a geographical description of Argentina from the Andes in the west to the eastern Atlantic coast where two main river systems converge at the boundary between Argentina and Uruguay This river estuary called the Rio de Plata is the location of Buenos Aires the capital Through his discussion of Argentina s geography Sarmiento demonstrates Buenos Aires advantages the river systems were communications arteries which by enabling trade helped the city to achieve civilization Buenos Aires failed to spread civilization to the rural areas and as a result much of the rest of Argentina was doomed to barbarism Sarmiento also argues that the pampas Argentina s wide and empty plains provided no place for people to escape and hide for defense and this prohibits civilization in most parts of Argentina 27 Despite the barriers to civilization caused by Argentina s geography Sarmiento argues that many of the country s problems were caused by gauchos like Juan Manuel de Rosas who were barbaric uneducated ignorant and arrogant their character prevented Argentine society s progress toward civilization 28 Sarmiento then describes the four main types of gaucho and these characterizations aid in understanding Argentine leaders such as Juan Manuel de Rosas 29 Sarmiento argues that without an understanding of these Argentine character types it is impossible to understand our political personages or the primordial American character of the bloody struggle that tears apart the Argentine Republic 30 Sarmiento then moves on to the Argentine peasants who are independent of all need free of all subjection with no idea of government 31 The peasants gather at taverns where they spend their time drinking and gambling They display their eagerness to prove their physical strength with horsemanship and knife fights Rarely these displays led to deaths and Sarmiento notes that Rosas s residence was sometimes used as a refuge on such occasions before he became politically powerful 29 According to Sarmiento these elements are crucial to an understanding of the Argentine Revolution in which Argentina gained independence from Spain Although Argentina s war of independence was prompted by the influence of European ideas Buenos Aires was the only city that could achieve civilization Rural people participated in the war to demonstrate their physical strengths rather than because they wanted to civilize the country In the end the revolution was a failure because the barbaric instincts of the rural population led to the loss and dishonor of the civilized city Buenos Aires 32 Life of Juan Facundo Quiroga edit nbsp Juan Facundo QuirogaAs the central character of Sarmiento s Facundo he represents barbarism the antithesis of civilization Portrait by Fernando Garcia del Molino The second section of Facundo explores the life of its titular character Juan Facundo Quiroga the Tiger of the Plains 33 Despite being born into a wealthy family Facundo received only a basic education in reading and writing 34 He loved gambling being called el jugador the player 35 in fact Sarmiento describes his gambling as an ardent passion burning in his belly 36 As a youth Facundo was antisocial and rebellious refusing to mix with other children 33 and these traits became more pronounced as he matured Sarmiento describes an incident in which Facundo killed a man writing that this type of behaviour marked his passage through the world 36 Sarmiento gives a physical description of the man he considers to personify the caudillo he had a short and well built stature his broad shoulders supported on a short neck a well formed head covered with very thick black and curly hair with eyes full of fire 33 Facundo s relations with his family eventually broke down and taking on the life of a gaucho he joined the caudillos in the province of Entre Rios 37 His killing of two royalist prisoners after a jailbreak saw him acclaimed as a hero among the gauchos and on relocating to La Rioja Facundo was appointed to a leadership position in the Llanos Militia He built his reputation and won his comrades respect through his fierce battlefield performances but hated and tried to destroy those who differed from him by being civilized and well educated 38 In 1825 when Unitarist Bernardino Rivadavia became the governor of the Buenos Aires province he held a meeting with representatives from all provinces in Argentina Facundo was present as the governor of La Rioja 39 Rivadavia was soon overthrown and Manuel Dorrego became the new governor Sarmiento contends that Dorrego a Federalist was interested neither in social progress nor in ending barbaric behaviour in Argentina by improving the level of civilization and education of its rural inhabitants In the turmoil that characterized Argentine politics at the time Dorrego was assassinated by Unitarists and Facundo was defeated by Unitarist General Jose Maria Paz 40 Facundo escaped to Buenos Aires and joined the Federalist government of Juan Manuel de Rosas During the ensuing civil war between the two ideologies Facundo conquered the provinces of San Luis Cordoba and Mendoza 41 On return to his San Juan home which Sarmiento says Facundo governed solely with his terrifying name 42 he realized that his government lacked support from Rosas He went to Buenos Aires to confront Rosas who sent him on another political mission On his way back Facundo was shot and killed at Barranca Yaco Cordoba 43 According to Sarmiento the murder was plotted by Rosas An impartial history still awaits facts and revelations in order to point its finger at the instigator of the assassins 44 Consequences of Facundo s death edit nbsp Assassination of Facundo Quiroga at Barranca Yaco In the book s final chapters Sarmiento explores the consequences of Facundo s death for the history and politics of the Argentine Republic 45 He further analyzes Rosas s government and personality commenting on dictatorship tyranny the role of popular support and the use of force to maintain order Sarmiento criticizes Rosas by using the words of the dictator making sarcastic remarks about Rosas s actions and describing the terror established during the dictatorship the contradictions of the government and the situation in the provinces that were ruled by Facundo Sarmiento writes The red ribbon is a materialization of the terror that accompanies you everywhere in the streets in the bosom of the family it must be thought about when dressing when undressing and ideas are always engraved upon us by association 46 Finally Sarmiento examines the legacy of Rosas s government by attacking the dictator and widening the civilization barbarism dichotomy By setting France against Argentina representing civilization and barbarism respectively Sarmiento contrasts culture and savagery France s blockade had lasted for two years and the American government inspired by American spirit was facing off with France European principles European pretensions The social results of the French blockade however had been fruitful for the Argentine Republic and served to demonstrate in all their nakedness the current state of mind and the new elements of struggle which were to ignite a fierce war that can end only with the fall of that monstrous government 47 Genre and style editSpanish critic and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno comments of the book I never took Facundo by Sarmiento as a historical work nor do I think it can be very valued in that regard I always thought of it as a literary work as a historical novel 48 However Facundo cannot be classified as a novel or a specific genre of literature According to Gonzalez Echevarria the book is at once an essay biography autobiography novel epic memoir confession political pamphlet diatribe scientific treatise and travelogue 5 Sarmiento s style and his exploration of the life of Facundo unify the three distinct parts of his work Even the first section describing Argentina s geography follows this pattern since Sarmiento contends that Facundo is a natural product of this environment 49 The book is partly fictional as well Sarmiento draws on his imagination in addition to historical fact in describing Rosas In Facundo Sarmiento outlines his argument that Rosas s dictatorship is the main cause of Argentina s problems The themes of barbarism and savagery that run through the book are to Sarmiento consequences of Rosas s dictatorial government 50 To make his case Sarmiento often has recourse to strategies drawn from literature Themes editCivilization and barbarism edit nbsp 4 edition in Spanish Paris 1874 Facundo is not only a critique of Rosas s dictatorship but a broader investigation into Argentine history and culture which Sarmiento charts through the rise controversial rule and downfall of Juan Facundo Quiroga an archetypical Argentine caudillo Sarmiento summarizes the book s message in the phrase That is the point to be or not to be savages 51 The dichotomy between civilization and barbarism is the book s central idea Facundo Quiroga is portrayed as wild untamed and standing opposed to true progress through his rejection of European cultural ideals found at that time in the metropolitan society of Buenos Aires 52 The conflict between civilization and barbarism mirrors Latin America s difficulties in the post Independence era Literary critic Sorensen Goodrich argues that although Sarmiento was not the first to articulate this dichotomy he forged it into a powerful and prominent theme that would impact Latin American literature 53 He explores the issue of civilization versus the cruder aspects of a caudillo culture of brutality and absolute power Facundo set forth an oppositional message that promoted a more beneficial alternative for society at large Although Sarmiento advocated various changes such as honest officials who understood enlightenment ideas of European and Classical origin for him education was the key Caudillos like Facundo Quiroga are seen at the beginning of the book as the antithesis of education high culture and civil stability barbarism was like a never ending litany of social ills 54 They are the agents of instability and chaos destroying societies through their blatant disregard for humanity and social progress 55 If Sarmiento viewed himself as civilized Rosas was barbaric Historian David Rock argues that contemporary opponents reviled Rosas as a bloody tyrant and a symbol of barbarism 56 Sarmiento attacked Rosas through his book by promoting education and civilized status whereas Rosas used political power and brute force to dispose of any kind of hindrance In linking Europe with civilization and civilization with education Sarmiento conveyed an admiration of European culture and civilization which at the same time gave him a sense of dissatisfaction with his own culture motivating him to drive it towards civilization 57 Using the wilderness of the pampas to reinforce his social analysis he characterizes those who were isolated and opposed to political dialogue as ignorant and anarchic symbolized by Argentina s desolate physical geography 58 Conversely Latin America was connected to barbarism which Sarmiento used mainly to illustrate the way in which Argentina was disconnected from the numerous resources surrounding it limiting the growth of the country 55 American critic Doris Sommer sees a connection between Facundo s ideology and Sarmiento s readings of Fenimore Cooper She links Sarmiento s remarks on modernization and culture to the American discourse of expansion and progress of the 19th century 59 Writing and power edit In the history of post independence Latin America dictatorships have been relatively common examples range from Paraguay s Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia in the 19th century to Chile s Augusto Pinochet in the 20th In this context Latin American literature has been distinguished by the protest novel or dictator novel the main story is based around the dictator figure his behaviour characteristics and the situation of the people under his regime Writers such as Sarmiento used the power of the written word in order to criticize government using literature as a tool an instance of resistance and as a weapon against repression 60 Making use of the connection between writing and power was one of Sarmiento s strategies For him writing was intended to be a catalyst for action 61 While the gauchos fought with physical weapons Sarmiento used his voice and language 62 Sorensen states that Sarmiento used text as a weapon 60 Sarmiento was writing not only for Argentina but for a wider audience too especially the United States and Europe in his view these regions were close to civilization his purpose was to seduce his readers toward his own political viewpoint 63 In the numerous translations of Facundo Sarmiento s association of writing with power and conquest is apparent 64 Since his books often serve as vehicles for his political manifesto Sarmiento s writings commonly mock governments with Facundo being the most prominent example 65 He elevates his own status at the expense of the ruling elite almost portraying himself as invincible due to the power of writing Toward the end of 1840 Sarmiento was exiled for his political views Covered with bruises received the day before from unruly soldiers he wrote in French On ne tue point les idees misquoted from on ne tire pas des coups de fusil aux idees which means ideas cannot be killed by guns The government decided to decipher the message and on learning the translation said So What does this mean 66 With the failure of his oppressors to understand his meaning Sarmiento is able to illustrate their ineptitude His words are presented as a code that needs to be deciphered 66 and unlike Sarmiento those in power are barbaric and uneducated Their bafflement not only demonstrates their general ignorance but also according to Sorensen illustrates the fundamental displacement which any cultural transplantation brings about since Argentine rural inhabitants and Rosas s associates were unable to accept the civilized culture which Sarmiento believed would lead to progress in Argentina 67 Legacy editFor translator Kathleen Ross Facundo is one of the foundational works of Spanish American literary history 2 It has been enormously influential in setting out a blueprint for modernization 68 with its practical message enhanced by a tremendous beauty and passion 2 However according to literary critic Gonzalez Echevarria it is not only a powerful founding text but the first Latin American classic and the most important book written about Latin America by a Latin American in any discipline or genre 1 2 The book s political influence can be seen in Sarmiento s eventual rise to power He became president of Argentina in 1868 and was able to apply his theories to ensure that his nation achieved civilization 69 Although Sarmiento wrote several books he viewed Facundo as authorizing his political views 70 According to Sorensen early readers of Facundo were deeply influenced by the struggles that preceded and followed Rosas s dictatorship and their views sprang from their relationship to the strife for interpretive and political hegemony 71 Gonzalez Echevarria notes that Facundo provided the impetus for other writers to examine dictatorship in Latin America and contends that it is still read today because Sarmiento created a voice for modern Latin American authors 5 The reason for this according to Gonzalez Echevarria is that Latin American authors struggle with its legacy rewriting Facundo in their works even as they try to untangle themselves from its discourse 5 Subsequent dictator novels such as El Senor Presidente by Miguel Angel Asturias or The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa drew upon its ideas 5 and a knowledge of Facundo enhances the reader s understanding of these later books 72 One irony of the impact of Sarmiento s essay genre and fictional literature is that according to Gonzalez Echevarria the gaucho has become an object of nostalgia a lost origin around which to build a national mythology 72 While Sarmiento was trying to eliminate the gaucho he also transformed him into a national symbol 72 Gonzalez Echevarria further argues that Juan Facundo Quiroga also continues to exist since he represents our unresolved struggle between good and evil and our lives inexorable drive toward death 72 According to translator Kathleen Ross Facundo continues to inspire controversy and debate because it contributes to national myths of modernization anti populism and racist ideology 73 Publication and translation history editThe first edition of Facundo was published in instalments in 1845 in the literary supplement of the Chilean newspaper El Progreso The second edition also published in Chile in 1851 contained significant alterations Sarmiento removed the last two chapters on the advice of Valentin Alsina an exiled Argentinian lawyer and politician 3 However the missing sections reappeared in 1874 in a later edition because Sarmiento saw them as crucial to the book s development 74 Facundo was first translated in 1868 by Mary Mann a friend of Sarmiento with the title Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants or Civilization and Barbarism More recently Kathleen Ross has undertaken a modern and complete translation published in 2003 by the University of California Press In Ross s Translator s Introduction she notes that Mann s 19th century version of the text was influenced by Mann s friendship with Sarmiento and by the fact that he was at the time a candidate in the Argentine presidential election Mann wished to further her friend s cause abroad by presenting Sarmiento as an admirer and emulator of United States political and cultural institutions Hence Mann s translation cut much of what made Sarmiento s work distinctively part of the Hispanic tradition Ross continues Mann s elimination of metaphor the stylistic device perhaps most characteristic of Sarmiento s prose is especially striking 75 Footnotes edit a b Gonzalez Echevarria 2003 p 1 a b c d e Ross 2003 p 17 a b c Ross 2003 p 18 a b Ball 1999 p 177 a b c d e Gonzalez Echevarria 2003 p 2 Ball 1999 p 171 Chang Rodriguez 1988 p 157 Shumway 1993 p 13 Rockland 2015 p 7 Shumway 1993 p 107 a b Shumway 1993 p 84 Ball 1999 p 173 Shumway 1993 p 114 Shumway 1993 p 115 Shumway 1993 p 117 Sarmiento 2003 p 229 Lynch 1981 p 1 Lynch 1981 p 11 Sarmiento 2003 p 213 Sarmiento 2003 p 215 Shumway 1993 pp 117 118 Shumway 1993 p 118 Shumway 1993 p 120 Mann 1868 p 357 Gonzalez Echevarria 2003 p 10 Sarmiento 2003 p 38 Sarmiento 2003 Chapter 1 Sarmiento 2003 Chapter 2 a b Sarmiento 2003 Chapter 3 Sarmiento 2003 p 71 Sarmiento 2003 p 72 Sarmiento 2003 Chapter 4 a b c Sarmiento 2003 p 93 Sarmiento 2003 p 94 Newton 1965 p 11 a b Sarmiento 2003 p 95 Sarmiento 2003 Chapter 5 Sarmiento 2003 Chapter 6 Sarmiento 2003 Chapter 7 amp 8 Sarmiento 2003 Chapter 8 amp 9 Sarmiento 2003 Chapter 11 amp 12 Sarmiento 2003 p 157 Sarmiento 2003 Chapter 13 Sarmiento 2003 p 204 Sarmiento 2003 p 227 Sarmiento 2003 p 210 Sarmiento 2003 p 228 Qtd Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 42 Carilla 1955 p 12 Ludmer 2002 p 17 Sarmiento 2003 p 35 Sarmiento 2003 p 99 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 6 Bravo 1990 p 247 a b Sorensen Goodrich 1996 pp 10 11 Qtd Ludmer 2002 p 7 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 9 Bravo 1990 p 248 Ross 2003 p 23 a b Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 33 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 25 Ludmer 2002 p 9 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 85 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 27 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 100 a b Sarmiento 2003 p 30 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 84 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 99 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 pp 99 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 pp 100 101 Sorensen Goodrich 1996 p 67 a b c d Gonzalez Echevarria 2003 p 15 Ross 2003 p 21 Carilla 1955 p 13 Ross 2003 p 19References editBall Kimberly 1999 Facundo by Domingo F Sarmiento in Moss Joyce Valestuk Lorraine eds Latin American Literature and Its Times vol 1 World Literature and Its Times Profiles of Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events That Influenced Them Detroit Gale Group pp 171 180 ISBN 0 7876 3726 2 Bravo Hector Felix 1990 Profiles of educators Domingo Faustino Sarmiento 1811 88 Prospects The Quarterly Review of Comparative Education 20 number 2 74 Paris UNESCO International Bureau of Education 247 256 doi 10 1007 BF02196326 S2CID 189873123 Carilla Emilio 1955 Lengua y estilo en el Facundo in Spanish Buenos Aires Universidad nacional de Tucuman OCLC 2010266 Chang Rodriguez Raquel 1988 Voces de Hispanoamerica antologia literaria in Spanish New York Heinle amp Heinle ISBN 0 8384 1603 9 Gonzalez Echevarria Roberto 1985 The Voice of the Masters Writing and Authority in Modern Latin American Literature Austin Texas University of Texas Press ISBN 0 292 78716 2 Gonzalez Echevarria Roberto 2003 Facundo An Introduction in Domingo Faustino Sarmiento ed Facundo Civilization and Barbarism Berkeley CA University of California Press pp 1 16 Ludmer Josefina 2002 The Gaucho Genre A Treatise on the Motherland Durham NC Duke University Press ISBN 0 8223 2844 5 Trans Molly Weigel Lynch John 1981 Argentine Dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas 1829 1852 New York US Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 821129 5 Mann Horace 1868 Biographical Sketch of the Author in Domingo Faustino Sarmiento ed Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants or Civilization and Barbarism New York Hafner pp 276 396 Book is by Domingo Sarmiento Martinez Estrada Ezequiel 1969 Sarmiento in Spanish Buenos Aires Editorial Sudamericana ISBN 950 845 107 6 Newton Jorge 1965 Facundo Quiroga Aventura y leyenda in Spanish Buenos Aires Plus Ultra Rockland Michael Aaron 2015 Sarmiento s Travels in the U S in 1847 Princeton Princeton University Press ISBN 9781400870899 Ross Kathleen 2003 Translator s Introduction in Domingo Faustino Sarmiento ed Facundo Civilization and Barbarism trans Kathleen Ross Berkeley CA University of California Press pp 17 26 Sarmiento Domingo Faustino 2003 Facundo Civilization and Barbarism Berkeley CA University of California Press published 1845 ISBN 0 520 23980 6 The first complete English translation Trans Kathleen Ross Shumway Nicolas 1993 The Invention of Argentina Berkeley CA University of California Press ISBN 0 520 08284 2 Sorensen Goodrich Diana 1996 Facundo and the Construction of Argentine Culture Austin University of Texas Press ISBN 0 292 72790 9 Weiner Mark S 2011 Domingo Sarmiento and the Cultural History of Law in the Americas PDF Newark New Jersey Rutgers Law ReviewExternal links editFacundo available at gutenberg org in Spanish Facundo in the original Spanish Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Facundo amp oldid 1220315775, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.