The gaucho in the literature of Argentina

Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic)

Authors Carnighan, Margaret, 1908-

Publisher The University of Arizona.

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Download date 02/10/2021 02:08:43

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/553163 The Ofluoho in the Literature of Argentina

by

Margaret Carnighan

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Master, of Arts

' in the College of Letters, Arts, and Sdienoes, of the

University of Arizona

1933 V ^ 9 7 9 / II /?33 / 2 '/ ' ^ TABLE OF C01fTEHT3

PAGES

Introduction * . • 1 - 2

What the Gaucho Was and Is 3 - 22 A. Description 3

1. 21 Pastreador 6 2. 21 Bequiano 7

3. 21 Gaucho Malo . 8

4. 21 Payador . 8

i a • - a «-i8D^3 a * 10 t) • r,l Onto • • 11

c. El Goto con relacion 11

5. Gaucho Snorts 12 a. The Round-up 12

h. 21 Pato • * e 13

B. Character of the Gaucho 14

1. Spanish Trr.its . 14 2. Religion 16

3. Law • • 16

C. Decline and Present State . 17

Lvrlc Pcetrv Treating the Gaucho 23 - 70

A. Bartolone Hidalgo . • ^ e 24

1. Dialogs / atrioticos 25 - 26 %■ B. Esteban Echeverrla Vs * t 25 1. La Cautiva • 25 - 29 C. Hilario Ascasubi •• 29 - 31 90538 Ill

PAGES

1. Santos Vega # 31 - 38

D. Bartolome Mitre . * * # . . 38

1# 21S&SL * * * * * # # # 38-39 E. Estanisloo del Campo . .. # # « 48 1. Fauato . . . # # * 40 - 44

F. lose Hernandez . . . e 44

1. Martin Fierro . # # # 45 - 63

0. Rafael Obligado . . . e e # 63 #0 #0 to 1. Tradictones Argentines * #* 1

H. Rioardo Gutierrez * # * 67 o 2 1. Lazaro 6 la fibre solve ,1e # # #

The Gauoho in the Novel of Argentina * e 71 - 93

A. Domingo F. Saralento . e # # 71

1. Faoundo # # * 71 - 78

B. Eduardo Gutierrez # 78

1. Juan MoreIra « . # e # 78 - 81

C. Fray Mooho (Jose 3. Alvarez) # * # 81

1. Cuentos de Fray I.!ooho . * * * 82 - 83

D. Manuel Galvez . . . e # 83

1. El Gauoho de nLos CarrillosM # * 83 - 86

2. La Parana y su nasion # * * 0 6 - 8 8

E. Carlos Octavio Bunge . . ## * 88

1. la Novela do lo stmgre # e # 0 8 - 9 0

P. Rioardo Guiroldes e # e 90

I. Don Segundo Sombre 90 - 93 IV

PAGES V. The Qaaoho in the Drama . . • • 9 4 - 9 5

VI. Conclusion ...... 9 6 - 9 7

VII. Notes ...... 98 - 114

VIII. Bibliography ...... 115 - 118 “ 1 —

THE GAT7GH0 IN THE LITERATURE OF ARGENTINA

I. INTRODUCTION

In order to comprehend the vital part played by the

Gauoho in the political and literary life of Argentina, the Gaucho must be considered in his original setting — the Pompa, the milieu that played such an important part in the formation of his character — his individualization.

The resulting traits which arc defined in the ingenuous literary compositions of the Gauchos must needs be consider­ ed as actuating forces not only in the independence of the

country but also in the formation of the Argcntinidad of to­ day.

To determine the place of the Gauoho in the literature of Argentina it has been necessary to examine chronologically

Argentine literature, to discover rzhat authors have written about him or have used him as a character in their works; to

learn what the critics have to say about his worth as a sub­

ject for literature or as an influence on literature.

The sonp of the navador was rich in folklore. It was

interwoven into his eric end lyric narratives. The poetry

of the Gauoho changed in theme during the political struggle

and dealt with his decline, all the while becoming richer in

esthetic value. Later the pa^ador no longer filled the Pampa with his son? for the native muse was stilled by the voice 2

of romanticism and a more cultured genre. Oauoho verse, through Its composite charnoter, became the source of two other literary forms: the novel and the drama. These vari­ ous literary manifestations will be examined in this study. II. WHAT THE (Ur~CHO WA3 AMD IS

The Pampa, sloping fron the Andes toward La Plato and

the Atlantic is the stage on which v;os enacted the drone of the glory and extinction of a people whose story is on epi­ tome of the struggle of any race against being submerged by a greater and invading culture. The Pa'ip a was the crucible where the adventurous Andalusian, taking to himself as bride all that comprised the virginity of the new land, with its freedom from traditional passions, gave birth to the non of the ^ampa, the seoi-nomadie Qauoho.

The Spaniard could not have survived the struggle for subsistence In the new world if the Gaucho. the son of his

Indian spouse had not formed the link between the civilized and uncultured land.

A. DESCRIPTION

His appearance is quite picturesque: not very tall in stature, bronzed by the sun, with rather long hair and dreamy eyes, he presents a striking cloture. His characteristic dress consists of a bombadn or nether garment which is very wide and baggy over which is worn a shawl tucked into the belt and cover ng the waist and hips, and known ns n chiripn. The broad leather belt is studded with silver coins, end into it

is tucked the knife or faoojn. The baggy trousers are buttoned at the ankles and sometimes tucked into boots of untanned horsehide 4

"He was strong and handsome; tanned by the Inclemency of the weather; medium and not very erect in stoture; lean of face like m mystic, of vigorous strength on account of continuous exorcise; eyes of penetrating sight, accustomed to pierce the immensities of the desert. His system v?es nervous and irritable on account of his carnivorous diet 1 and node of life.

There is not a Oauoho without a nonoho. This is a sort of blanket with n hole In the center so that It may be slip­ ped over the head. The poncho is a necessity to these men who sleep wherever night overtakes them, in which case it is gnread on the ground so ns to perform the services of a blanket. |It is used to ward off the rain, for a good poncho is impermeable. It has saved many lives, wrapped around the left arm to ward off the blows while the right hand wields the knife. The Oauoho will cone nut unharmed and the poncho with holes which are never mended and always exhibited.

To think of a Oauoho without his horse, is to conceive a Don Quixote without his "Roeinante" and Sancho Dana# minus his "Ruolo". His horse, usually a bay courser is a part of himself. Undemonstrative with his family, the Oauoho felt

in the company of his horse an expansion of feelings and emotions which he seldom nhoied in the company of human beings, like vermin Contreras In la Rampa y >u Paalon. he believed that all horses were noble and loyal. His.horse was the confidant of his whispered confessions of love when tfaf Paapa •» 5 **

wps still uninvaded by ofinishing European culture; end he was still more the confidant of the despairing confessions of a proud soul who fights a losing battle knowing his star is on the decline, but refusing to accept defeat.

The Gaueho holds in contempt anyone who does not ride, and to him it is a disgrace to admit that he has to walk.

Don Segundo Sorabra soys, "A gaueho on foot is good enough to 2 be thrown in the rubbish heap". His dexterity in horseman­ ship has contributed to the progressive Argentina of today.

. "Tissona" and "Colada" are as inseparable from the story of the Old on is the faoon of the Gaueho. It is his horse, and this, his "Durendal" that made the creole the centaur of the desert.

The picture of the Gaueho is incomplete without his china who ages quickly and who in her submissiveness toward her duty at home, and self-abnegation in all that concerned her man was reminiscent of the traditional Spanish woman, left alone, for weeks at a tine, perhaps with only a mumbled hint, and sometimes no explanation at all for the sudden absences, she was always ready to receive him. Owing to the treatment of women by a certain type of Gaueho it might be supposed that Gauchos were incapable of consideration for them. In Martin Fierro, a lyric poem on Gaueho life, the singer mourns repeatedly the absence of his wife, commending her fine qualities. After he has mode statements showing his own tender feelings for Margarita’s fate in the opera Foust, Anastaelo el Folio dares Anlceto to confess that he 6

has never been deeply touched by a woman's tears.

Very little mention has been node of the children who for the most part are left to grow with no fear for their survival. The Parana is their cradle, and all the elements of nature foster a child who turns out to be a man worthy of them.

The Gauoho lad asserts his independence early, leaving his home to school himself in the art of living. His edu­ cation begins early with the use of the boles* in rounding up ostriches, sheep, and wild horses. The boles consist of three stones covered by woven'leather; a large one attached to a horsehlde cord and two smaller ones at the other end.

To take aim, and whirl them at the legs of the animals re­ quires more dexterity than may be supposed. He also had to be initiated into riding a horse, and soon he was seen traversing the Parape with the most experienced.

An investigation into the life of these people has re­ sulted in classifying them under four types, which, however, ovarian somewhat. Still the classification clarifies some erroneous conceptions about the predecessors of the Argentine of today.

1. El Hastreedor. The majority of Gauchos are trailers.

They are respected and feared because their evidence when cattle or other things are stolen is always final. Through a labyrinth of paths he finds the incriminating evidence. ?

"The rnstrooflor is a personage, grove, oiroumspeot whose assertions are accepted os evidence in the lower courts. The consciousness of the knowledge which he possesses gives him a certain reserved and mysterious dignity. All treat him

with consideration; the poor man, because he (the rsstreedor) can harm him, by calumniating him or dennounoing him; the proprietor, because his testimony may be the deciding factor

in s law suit. A theft has been committed during the night;

scarcely is it noticed when they hurry to seek a foot print

of the thief; and when it has been found It is covered with

somethin#? so that the rinds may not obliterate it. Immediate­ ly they call the restreador. who looks at the track, tmd follows it, looking only from time to time at the ground as

though his eyes saw in relief this track which for any other

is imperceptible. He follows the course of She streets, crosses the gardens, enters into a house and pointing to a man whom he finds, soys coldly, "This is he!* The crime is 5 proven, and rare is the criminal who resists this 'accusation."

2. 151 Baqulano. His brother the baqulano is a first rote tonogranher, who knows the plains like the palm of his hand, and when he acts as guide the success of battles generally depends on him. By tasting the straw of various places he knows if there are any streams near by. On his way to a designated Place, the beouleno ^Jfcops for a moment, looks at the horizon, examines tke rround, fixes his glance on * certain point and begins to gallop as straight as on arrow,

< ' - 0 -

until he ohenges direction for reason- known only to him, 4 and galloping night end day arrives at his destination".

3» 11 Qeuoho ?*aIo. The C?ouoho aelo bos been likened by inrmlento to the Hawk-Eye and the Trapper, in bis know­ ledge of the desert and in his attitude toward the people of the towns. He is feared by his own people as much as by the Europeans who strove for o footlnr in Argentina. His fame as en outlaw has spread so widely that all Cauchos ere believed to be of his csllbre. He Is like the outlaw of the early vest who was pursued by justice and whose nano wns feared every where. The great fault of denigrating the lauoho is due to the Argentine poets themselves, who have

"added to the deeds of the Pen oho ran lo the biography of the heroes of the desert". r>

4. 11 Payador. To mention the payador is to touch upon xvhat little there res of Cnucho social life. Every nuloerfa had its guitar hanging just Inside the doofT^no a sign of welcome to the pavedor or singer of songs. He was the prototype of the minstrels who carried the dythiraab from Sicily to Italy and of the troubadour of the. Hltidle

Ages who catered to kings, but with this difference — the

Omioho spurned a society which, in hie attitude of self- sufficiency end arrogance, he considered beneath him. He is the bnrd who idealizes "this life of resistance, civilization, 6 barbarism, and danger". H® weaves into his song a thread of his own adventures and escapade; for, being n Canoho, he must needs flee before the encroaching low. - 9 -

The pnyfidor smfiR his son^s -- the clclitos and vldalites

— t:; the accompaniment of the Ipanish pulton, prolonging the

low vibrant cords, giving the songs a haunting melody, which

sounded the soul of this enigmatic people. The music played

havoc with their emotions and was lost in the melancholy

silence of the T'ampa of which it was a part. / "He sings with

the characteristic gestures, spasmodic intonation, sometimes with eyes closed, as if he were recalling memories — he 7 awakens in all hearts the rough sentimentality of the land?.

He furnished the music and singing for the social gather­

ings which are very interesting to note because the entertain­ ment and dance contain folk qualities identical with those which gave birth to several arts in other countries *

In class ion 1 antiquity we reed of Theseis leading the moving end ohantinc Creek chorus of dancers, before the alter of Dynolsius. ?ater the chorus no longer dances, but receives his son? end gives back the answer. These very elementnry sprigs of literature and drama are found in the Argentine folk dances.

prom miles around, the Onuohoa arrive at the puloerfa.

^here is nn nlr of restrained expectancy in the room, for it is not every day that a Onuoho can approach a woman with such

intimacy as is remitted in these donees.

The singer begins his videlitas or improvised verse which always have a refrain that gives the dances their name:

el ^ericon, el Ciellto, la Tiariquits, la Huelle, la llaoba, 10

el Oeto, and many others, which were characterized by panto­ mimes, sonp;, and dance — often presenting a little drama, with veiled insinuating gestures, terminating in a happy denoument of surrender.

A picture of three of these "profane" dances will give and idea of their composite character.

La Zambe. "The Zamba is an elegant pantomime of courteous gallantry. Although it has no words, the movement of the music end the gestures of the protagonists, suffice to express the 'drams’ of its veiled sentiments. It is danc­ ed by a man and a woman and the silence of the audience and of the dancers, seems to bring out better the reciprocal relation of the solitary couple. In that silence of discre­ tion and expectancy, the choreographic drama unfolds its action without nreestablished figures, leaving free to the

Imagination of the moment the interpretation of the subject and the grace of the movements. The subject consists of a courteous siege of the lady by the gallant, and in a calcula­ ted reluctance by the former, who at the same time seems to attract and reject the pursuer. The gallant then traces graceful designs with his feet and whirls in the nlr a hand­ kerchief which is his conquering banner, accentuating in his expression and bearing his determination to subdue the lady; but the latter flees in a circle with enticing inconstancy, all of .it to languishing, slow, and graceful rhythm of the music. The alternatives of the ’action’ originate in that 11

sometimes the man goes as If In pursuit of the women, and

at others, she v?ho feigned to desert him, again confronts

him delicately picking up her skirt, to show from time to 8 time, the restless tips of her provocative shoes". The

pioturesqueness is accentuated by the woman’s dress end the

colored handkerchiefs.

b. El Gato. The Gato, another of these native dances;

is described in Don Segundo Sombre. It also consists of

much tapping and stamping by the men, and oourt^sylng by the

women, with their skirts held out like a fan, while the Oauoho

who plays the guitar is performing almost the some footwork.

The faces of the older women show signs of boredom at the danc­

es, while the young find in them the interpretation of their own emotions.

Q. El Gato con relaclon. In El Goto con releclon two

couples danced and engaged in an interchange of words which •

were improvised couplets in rime. These improvised couplets

were each followed by calls and sarcastic remarks from the

spectators. It required more than a little self-possession

for a man to be the cynosure of oil eyes as ho sauntered

back end forth In the hall, amid the expectant silence of all who waited for his improvised answer. Often this exchange of

words ended in scenes which were not so pleasant.

In this improvisation and in the subject natter, these

dialogues, which were an integral part of the dances, resem­ 12

bled the payadae de oontrapunto or ’’songs of. dounterpolnt”.

The Oauoho who entertained those who gathered at the store or meeting place was challenged by another who claimed to be just ns expert in singing. In the lyric poetry of Argentina these neyadae hold a major place, especially in legendary stories such as that of Santos Vega, the most famous oayador, who is said to have been challenged and beaten by the Devil in disguise.

Primitive elements having their roots in liturgical tradi­ tions of the Oeuoho's Indian ancestry, find their place in

Oauoho civilization. Most prominent are those in celebrations attending the burial of little children. There is singing and denolnff, and the chanting takes the form of pleas of the mother that the dead child will intercede for the family, while other mothers ask the angelito (little angel) to intercede for their little ones who have gone before him. The whole neighborhood is concerned with the funeral, and this state of affairs brings to mind the funeral scene in la Berraoa.

5. Oauoho Sports. The Oauoho did not fail to impress those who were critical of his conduct end morals, when he swept over the T,anpa in the annual round-up which was usually near a lake or water hole. The boles were In constant action, and the endurance of the rider could not but call forth tribute even from their own kind, who expected such feats of every

Oauoho.

a . The Round-up. The roping and branding of wild horses was a battle of life end death. The animals which escaped being — 13 —

wounded by the bolas, were branded. The blazing of the sun finally set on n group of dusty, exhausted Gauehos who were ready for the feast, consisting of a beef roasted whole In the ground. This became the national dish. Drinks flowed freely and Inspired the muse of the troubadour. The feasting- which was prolonged Into the following day gave all an oppor­ tunity to show their strength of muscle and sinew.

6. El Poto. One of the sports, which is said to have been prohibited later was El Pato, or the duck. A duck is put Into a bag with four strings. Four Gauehos spur their horses and grab one of the strings. At a signal they all pull until one by one the participants drop out leaving the winner, who still is only half victorious for as he runs to deposit the duck in a designated yard, he may be attacked again by his opponents, and if caught, he has to fight again for posses­ sion of the bag. The family, into whose yard the prize is thrown has to furnish the next duck, and treat the whole com­ pany to roasted meat. The duck is then cooked and the victor presents it to his "Duloinea".

Most of the old sports of the Oauohoa have changed or fallen into disuse. Beta were exchanged on all races. One of the most characteristic of these was the race run in couples: two horses and two men, who were obliged to stay together.

Another favorite sport was hunting' ostriches and fallow deer with the bolas. The Gauche showedQ the same delight in cook fiphts as does the Spaniard. B. character of the cupchd

He have seen the outward appearance of the Spaniard as he was gradually changed by his constant union with the aborigines of la Plata, an" we have seen also how, on account of their isolation in the uncultivated Pampa, his sons under­ went a retrogressive change to n semi-barbaric state. It is by sounding the Gauoho mind that we come more to see the in­ herent characteristics of the mother country. The workings of the Gauoho mind, the key to his dominant but temporary existence, yes, the key even to his decline are to be found in the racial characteristics of Spanish America, which Bunge 10 hos named as indolence, sadness, and arrogance.

1,/Spanish Traits. - To indolence and arrogance Bunge attributed the Gauoho*s rejection of progress and his self- centeredness — his arrogance could not -conceive of being overcome by any outside influences, so wrapt up was he in his own world. Even when he finally recognized the irresistible ■ . advance of progress,, he succumbed to fatalism.

The Oancho *3 penetrating gaze has looked out over the

Pampa, he has sighted his little mud hut under the shade of an onbu. the•ondulnting Pampa o ’errun with game and food in abundance; he has forged his whole "patria ohioa" alone, dis­ daining the influence of the onoient world and dally fighting the bands of Indians in territory where "el mas Gauoho" be­ comes the leader. Is it surprising that he" should flaunt his self-sufficiency? He has probed the heart of mankind and has ' • , 15

found it wanting. Does his sadness tinged with fatalism seem, unfounded? 1 He is very fatalistic. ?o insult society, steal, wound, and kill are not voluntary transgressions of the law; they 11 are involuntary acts forced on one, by critical circumstances.

If a Ganoho "so degrade" by killing his antagonist, and he does it in fair combat, something like the duel in Spain, his companions accept hin as a victim of his unlucky star; and he is protected from the law by his own fellow-men.

In his stoicism and disregard for death, he is like characters in leneoen tragedies, and in his determination, to face the consequences of his obstinacy, he is like Homeric heroes who transgressed the will of the Gods and unflinchingly faced retribution.

What better example of stoicism and resignation than , / that voiced by Martin Fierro?

"Vamos suerte, vamos Juntos

Dende que Juntos nacimos,

Y ya que Juntos vivimos , •

Sin podernos dlvidir....

Yo abrlre con ml cuohillo 12 El oami no pa seguir." # ' n His philosophy of life is voiced by Don Segundo sombre when referring to a man who travelled much to find a monster who had spirited his girl owny. He soys the traveller is like the man who pursues whet is in view not knowing of the 16

aiofortune thnt cvrolta hln beyond the hill. His every step is protected by a hope, even though he be on his way to the

Grove, and he adds the ohareoteristic finishing touch of 13 fatalism: "But why speak of things that cannot be helped?"

?he Omuoho wos fierce nnd impetuous yot tempered with genteel qualities of chivalry and open-handed hospitality.

The stranger is gladly received os he brings news from the outside world. The Gteuoho thinks it an Insult for anyone to mention payment for a night's lodging.

JLi Religion. Mo mention of any churches Is made in works

treating the louoho. but the authors hint at the idolatry that

is a nmrt of the Onuoho's life. The Christianity which forms

m rart of his religion is corrupted by a conglomeration of idolatry nnd indigenous minerstitiono. In beliefs "he is

a monotheist nnd a Christian, ho believes in the existence of

the soul, in the power of oroyer; he hns reverence for tombs

end the sign of the cross; he heeds the voice of conscience

and the nofnl tic of a pledged word; and not having had priests

or tommies in the desert of his adventurous life, he hod made

of the infinite Tampa, which wos his country and his homo, the

basilica of immensity end of silence, under whose mysterious

dome, Cod offered him in the nzure orient, before the golden

candelabrum of its oonateletions the enoheristio elevation of 14 the moon."

3. r.auobo Law. The tribes of serai-nomadic shepherds

that peonled the T’amna did not know the right of property - 17

except in regard to their hut and domestic belongings. Aside from this the expanse of Pmapa, with its wild gome of every kind, wos for oil. The fight to hereditary claims seems to follow the general principle of customary rights, that of being able to claim and keep. In connection with something lost, the Qauchos used a term which even today survives in

Argentina and Mexico. The finder asked, and still ask for

"Albrloima", which means a reword for the good news of having found the lost object.

The ftauoho law concerning the killing of one’s fellow beings has already been treated under the topic "Spanish

Traits" q.v., p. 15.

0. DECLINE AND PRESENT STATE

The beginning o^f Gauche decline is coincident with the administration of Sarmlbqto, 1867-74, due to his unfriendly attitude toward the Gouohog — considering them more as the cause of Argentina’s misfortune than as the makers of history in helming their country sever oil ties with Spain.

The Gnuoho followed dan Martin in repulsing the English invasions, and when the Internal conflict between the races began, when the "Indianized criollos"' of the plains showed hostility toward the "Europeanized Criollos" of the city, who had displaced the Ipenlerd, the Ooucho was there to hold the standard and to quell the heaving passions that brought as much disnster to his well-ueing as did the law of the white man. The rural semi-Indian Gaechos fought against the nodi-

- #. 18

fylng forces of civilization: first in the fora of the

Spaniard, then in the form of the Europeanized flauoho. and not even when victory was won did the racial conflict cease.

The forces which brought about the decline of the f?auoho were born with the emancipation from the mother country, gain­ ing momentum in the provincial and interprovincial wars in which the blood of the orlollo was the sacrificial element.

Even when the slaughter ceased, his unthinking vote served through long years for the vegetative experiment of official­ 15 ized elections in which he continued to be the dooil element.

He was irresponsibly used to exploit his own downfall. He gave Argentina its Independence but did not earn it for himself, for he experienced a double downfall:. he was wounded in pride by encounters with the law, end he was stripped by a legal system which he did not understand. ~hen he conceded dynas­ tic powers to the white men, he unconsciously contributed to the extinction of the ’’sub-race". From lord and master of the

Parana, he earae to be o mere salaried peon in the hands of the 16 feudal owners of the estanclas.

When the a m of the low lengthened, the size of the

Geuoho's knife blade was curtailed in proportion. He sew steadily the panpa being peopled with white settlers, many of which bore the insignia of the law which questioned rights that hod never been disputed. When he was ©ailed to fight the war of independence (1810-16) he enlisted in order to protest against the Spanish commercial monopoly, which he saw depriving him of what was his by precedence and conquest.

Bunge states, "The new immigrant continued dislodging the

Geuoho, and acquiring the use of modern methods and at the same time the immigrant was picking up gauohesque character­

istics , until it can be said that the Europeanized Gouchos are the Argentines of the future and almost the.Argentines 17 i of today”. I His virtues have been ignored by a group of imitators, generally outlaws and men of the suburbs, who have adopted T his n^me and who have taken advantage of his decadence and have caused people to think of the later descendants of the real Gauohos as meriting social ostracism. In spite of this, there ere many who admire the real Gauchos of today for the very qualities which were sung to the world by the paysdor of the "ampa. ’"'he spirit of the age has exerted its in­ fluence on this imperturbable people, who still continue to stand Independently in so far as it is possible. Koebel would not have him confounded with nny other branch of soci­ ety, not for reasons of social differences or contempt, but - 20 -

beonuse of his individuality, for which he should obtain all

the respect that is due his virile and excellent qualities*

It is his inborn contempt for townsmen and their ways that

has kept the wiry breed of centaurs apart from the other strata of the 'Republic's inhabitants; a contempt which,

though perhaps loss marked than in former tines, is apparent­ ly as ineradicable as ever. "The Gancho will extend his full sympathy to his master, the estanolero; but of this his "camp* follow the immigrant agriculturist obtains not e particle.

The society of the first is as remote from him as the stars from the earth; into that of the second, he would not enter if he could. Therefore the true son of the ’camp’ remains alone. Intermarriage on the part of some — of a more liber­ al and, from the camp point of view, degenerate stock, though it has reduced the number of stalwarts, has left the residue 18 as intact as ever." .

His dress consisting of the characteristic wide trousers known as borabachoa. the boots, poncho, and sombrero still lend a colorful and impressive note to festival days. As with his nredeoessor, it is the feats of strength and endur­ ance, which he displays in his doily work of cobtile-raising, that arouse admiration for his person.

He ia still a little superstitious especially in regard to the effectiveness of certain cures which have been handed down through generations, and kept secret. Some of the cures are reasonable to us because they are practical, but this the 21

Ofiuoho does not see, end rould rather not see for then they would/lose mioh of ''.heir interest. When a foel is afflicted with meningitis, n cross is burned behind the eur on the opposite side to the direction in which he Is turning in a circle, '’’his acts ns a counter-irritant to the brain trouble.

Internal ills nre very baffling to the Caucho but neverthe­ less he attempts to cure then by the some methods that he uses for external hurts. Koebel states that one of these cures is performed by cutting hair in the sign of the cross on a horse suffering from Internal disease. This mysticism, which considered ridiculous in the light of modern science, has, nevertheless, enriched Oauoho character. He is ’*for­ tunate in two of his possessions -•— the passions of © nan, 19 end the faith of a child."

Seeing whet the Hauoho was, and what he is today, there arc evident signs of improvement from the point of view of progress, but from that of picturesqueness and literature, there.is a falling away from the past.

Ipeaking of the disappearance of the Haucho, LeopoIdo

T.ugones, says, '’His disappearance is of good to the country, because he contained an inferior element in his share of indigenous blood; but his definition as a national type, accentuated In irrevocable form, (I pi.een ethnleally and social­ ly) our separation from ipaln, constituting for us a person- 20 allty of our own". Proof enough is there of his influence in the formation of Argentine nati nallty when v/e see how the Argentine of today differs from the Spaniard. ;>'e find that everything; that is properly of national origin has come from him. The war of independence which emancipated Argen­ tina; the civil war, which made the Argentines; the frontier war, whieh scoured for civilization the totality of th® terri­ tory; the fount of our literature, the good qualities and fundamental defects of the notional character; the most charac­ teristic institutions, like the ooudllla.le. the basis of the federation, and the estoncla. which has civilized the deserts 21 in everything we find him as the genuine type". 23

III. LYRIC POETRY TOEATINO THE OaPCHD

The payador not only cove o summary of the spiritual life of the Qaucho but he instilled life into native tra­ ditions in the dispersed lyrics and ballads of Argentina until goucheaque writers put th«a into lasting molds. Into his oral epios the payndor interwove folklore which would have greatly enriched the culture of Argentina if more of the native Caucho poetry had been preserved. Unfortunately these later were drowned by a rausn fed up with politics, and the

Romantic influence introduced by Echeverrfa. The verse form used by the Qaucho was termed by him a vldallta, which adapted itself to different forms of couplets.

This measure was later cultivated by the more cultured class­ es. .

The Oaueho's inspiration undoubtedly came from the

"social" contacts at dances, where the Qauchos danced to the tunes that were very often the remnants of se^uidillas brought from Spain. But, this music, impregnated with another spirit, on entering a new climate end on coming into contact with new men, and with the contribution of the melancholy of the Indian, 22 wns no longer Spanish but Argentine.

’.Then the Payador. with his Andalusian guitar song his vldalltas. he wan unconsciously giving impetus to the epic narratives which were often dldootio and written in octosyl­ labic lines to resemble conversation, as was Martin Fierro.

# - 84 -

His song wns lyric as well as dramatic, for it abounded In dialogues, mainly, originating in navadas de oontrapunto.

The Qaucho muse was very prolific during the wars of

Argentina. "The figure of the Paneho appears for the first time in 1776 during the war with the Portuguese; it reappears on the scene fightine against the English in 1807, when

Buenos Aires called for her defense; defined already in his literary and historic traits, he reappears in 1810 singing the. clclltos and concludes finally that ’geste* chatting over 23 memories and common griefs in the popular Dialogos of Hidalgo."

From this date his figure is no longer the undecided one of the colonial Oaucho who was called guaso (orphan), nor the secon­ dary figure of the emancipation, blind with patriotism.

After this the Oaneha tyne reaches its plenltud — every one in Argentina becomes gauoheeque — his dress Is the poncho, and his sneech that of the nmyador. The liberated spirit of the Argentine Pampas and mountains, feels itself free, at lost, and paws, and neighs, and prances, like its own coursers 24 over its native plains. The Oauoho atmosphere invades the cit­ ies where it succeeds In exterminating oolonnial civilization.

Oauoho literature was coincident with this gauehesque

Argentine snirit, and chansons de reote of epic character began to be nenned about 1810.

A. b a r t o i o m b 'h i d a l o o

The first clelitoa on patriotic themes were attributed to Bortolome Hidalgo although there is little proof of his — 25 «•

authorship.

1. Dlalogoa oatrlotlcos# His true works are M e

Dlalogos potrlotloos (1880-1822), which aooordlng to Rojas, are three dialogues between Chano, an overseer, and Ramon

Contreras, a Gauoho. The dialogues consist of oonfidenoes exchanged between these two pevadores who had been soldiers during the beginning of the conflict. Rojas stresses the fact that we have here a protest, which makes this on important document for the political history of Argentina as well as for literary history, since it gives rise to a new, popular poetry. These dialogues influenced end changed the "epic" songs of the Qaueho into songs on civil .themes, which culmi­ nated in Martfn Fierro. When Contreras relates what he has seen in the city, he becomes the antecedent of Anastosio el

Polio in Fansto by del Caapo, written half a century later.

Although Bartolome Hidalgo (1788-1825) is given credit for being the father of Gauoho poetry, there are proofs to the contrary given by Ricardo Rojas in Los Gaueheseo*. In

1778, ten years before the birth of Hidalgo, there appeared a lyrio poem with a long title: Canta un guaso en estilo eampestre log triunfos del Exemo. Sr. Don Pedro de Ceballos.

The author, a priest of Santa Fe by the name of Jose Balta- snr Maziel (1727-1788), is said So have exerted much influ­ ence in Argentine letters at that time.

This work, together with the Romances of Rivarola, presents the Gauoho speaking in his own dialect, long before £6 -

the works of Hidalgo. Rlvaroln introduced a character which is generally present in Inter poyedos: the negro, found in

Martin Fierro. It is not surprising that he should partici­ pate in this poetry, since at that time he made up pert of the population of Buenos Aires.

It was the increased newspaper activity which made pos­ sible the dissemination of this flourishing poetry. Juan

Oodoy (b. 1793), who was the inlciator of the newspaper movement through founding El eeo de loa Andes (1824-1894) and who was one of those exiled by Rosas from Buenos Airtis for his oolitiofil Ideas, gave himself to complete contact with Gnuoho life, end paved the way for Eoheverria by being the first to describe the Pampa. "Echevarria described the

Pampa from the standpoint of intellectual aesthetics and

Oodoy from that of personal contact... they have the same spirit. He was the first to write of the land of the 25 Gaucho. not only of the soul".

3. ESTEBAN ECHEVERRtA •

In the midst of the newspaper melee, Esteban Eoheverria

(1805-1851) came from Europe full of the influence of Romantl- clanand.at once gained popularity with his volume of Rinas

(1^37). . 1. La Cautlva. In this poem, Eoheverria gives certain phases of the poetic phlsiognony of the desert. He thought

Gaucho language was unpoetioal, and he conceded to the Pampa the power to stir the emotions with its beauty, so he wrote

La Cautlva included in his volume of Rimes in cultured - 27 -

ipnnish, denlinr mainly with the physical aspect of the

Tampo. ^he thread of the story deals, vrith Marfa who, with

Brian, la a captive of the Indians. In the darkness she murders the Indian ooclque and frees Brian, who wasted In body hinders hurried progress through the desert. Luck would hnve it that a band of white men attacked the Indians

Just after they had left, and carried the other captives with then. Marfa again shows heroism when she fords a river with Brian on her back in order to escape a prairie fire. Overcome with fever, Brian dies the next day end

Marfa soon follows him, after she hears from a detachment of soldiers which she Meets that her son has been killed.

The greatness of l_n Coutlva lies in its unsurpassed descriptions, tinged with melancholy.

The description of the fensting of the Indians after they have made a raid is one never to be forgotten. Their booty consists of white women, horses, etc. The glowing fires add an erie effect to the seething mass of Indians, some of whom are drinking and yelling, others have attached ■ their mouths to the open wounds of horses in order to suck the blood. This revel continues until their drunkenness stirs up fights, gnd the dawn finds a mass of dead end living

Indians strewn on the Pampa. EoheverrCa undoubtedly exerted a profound influence on the descriptions of Indians- made by

Hernandez in his Mnrtfn Fierro.

With masterly pen he describes the desert. - 29 -

Era la tarda, y In hora

In quo el sol 1q create flora De loa Andes. — 11 Dealerto

Inoonnensurable, abierto,

\ J mlsterloso a sus plea

3e extiende; trlste el semblante

golltarlo y taclturno

Gono el mar, ouanflo an Instante

Al erepuaoulo nooturno 26 Pone slenda Q su altlvez.

As a preface to La Csutiva, Echeverrfa wrote: "The main purpose of the author has been to paint a few

outlines of the poetical character of the desert; and In order

not to reduce hia work to a mere description, he has placed .

in the vast solitude of the Pampa two ideal beings, or two

souls united by the double bond of love and misfortune. The

desert is our richest patrimony and we ought to try and draw % from its breast not only wealth for our well-being, but also

poetry for our moral pleasure end encouragement of our lltera- 27 ture."

Rojas would compare La Coutiva with Santos Yegg, not

trying to lower the greatness of the former but rather to

raise to its level the work of Ascasubl on account of several passages which he considered just os good. By doing this he

places it in the same spiritual and esthetic current of nation­

al literature.

"The glory of Echevarria consists not only in having - 29

creator this new current, more progressive, fertile and

universal than the other, hut else in being the first poet

who composed e no era of the Petnpa in cultured verse. His

glory consists In the priority of his attenot, n laurel 28 which no one can deny bin*. C. HIIAHIO ASCASUSI

Newspaper activity gained impetus with the Desengehador

Gauchl-Politico (1830) by Padre Ccstoneda, who t?os accused

of entering to the followers of Borrego by using its pages

for the purpose of derrogating la Valle and of popularizing

Rosas. Newspaper activity reached its peak with Paulino

Lucero and Anlceto el Gallo, which appeared as articles

between 1039-1859 and were collected by the author in 1372.

The first is n collection of nil traditional forms of popu­

lar poetry, but presented more vigorously, renovated and

vivified h' the Implacable passions of the period. Geneho

poetry shows signs of decadence in Anlceto cl Gallo, a col­

lection of dialogues, cielltos. and romances. There is in

this poetry a moral element of historic truth. They are

not notable for their dialect nor their regional beauty, but

for being inseparable from political and social history.

Hllario Ascasubi wrote the first part of Santos Vega

J2 los mellizos do la flor. in 1851, and while in Paris in

1870 he undertook to finish it. Ascasubi was well fitted

to write about the Ramps, having been born on it in 1007, but in the open between Bttenos Aires and Cordoba. A navi- — 3 0 •

gator (1819)# a printer (1824), and a soldier (1826), he was

exiled to Montevideo for helping the Unitarians led by Lavalle.

For Santos Tega. Asoasubl took his character from

legendary history. The legend had been tresmittod orally

for years. It deals v:!th the most elevated personification

of the Qa no ho. He is the true son of the Tampa, whos-i his­

tory is reduced to a payada with Juan 3in Bopa, the devil,

who later is colled by Obligado the symbol of the destiny

of the race and the synthesis of his epic story. The guitar

in the hands of Santos Vega was something alive. In his

payadas de contrapunto he was always the victor. Once when

he was surrounded by an admiring crowd, over the Pampa came

a stranger, who audaciously challenged him to a pa.vada.

daringly interrupting what Santos Vega was singing. Enraged

at the insult, Santos Vega accepted the challenge, and tun­

ing his guitar with flashing eyes, he song as never before, and laying down his guitar, with lofty attitude he dared the stranger to equal his art. The song of the stranger was vibrant with nride, with ambition, with hidden desires, and with the quest for the ideal. On the faces of all and on his own was written his defeat. Broken-hearted he disap­ peared forever, being now only a shadow, that passes over the

Pampa with his guitar. Obligado, whose works will be treated later, compares the devil to modern civilization, which de­ prived the Gaucho of his vast domains — and although he was overcome, by this implacable demon, his shadow still 31

hovers over the Pampa, and his spirit still lives In the souls of the Argentina of today.

1. Santos Vega. Asoaaubl took this character and presented him as the bard who, in relating the adventures of on outlaw, gives a cross section of life on the Pampa.

Santos Vega meets Rufo Toloss, who recognizing him nt once by the brand on his horse, invites him to eat with him and Juana, his wife. After the meal, Santos Vega is asked to favor them with one of his narratives and seated on o rude bench, he begins to relate the story of the Andalusian

Faustlno Bejarano and his two adopted sons. On the occasion of his own son’s birth, he gave all the Gauohos who worked with him a day of feasting, inviting all his friends, who came from miles around. Santos Vega mokes quite humorous comments on the apparel of city women who come to the .bap­ tism. These comments revive the Gaucho attitude toward society. The baptism celebration lasted for four days.

A Gaucho. favorite of Don Bejarano died, and left two children whom the patron took with him end brought up as his own.

ToIpsa and Santos Vega have been drinking from time to time, so thfit Rufo joins in the noyada which becomes more animated.

Don Faustlno has a daughter, Azuoena, who marries Ber- dien another rich estanolero. Luis, one of the proteges took a great dislike to Berdien because once he brought him - 3B -

back from one of his escapades. later he is oslled on to quell an uprising of outlaws headed by Luis.

imntoa Ve^a breaks off his narrative for the evening and accents Rufo’s invitation to str-y with them that eve­ ning. Next morning, after enjoying a breakfast of cheese and mutton on the spit, the story is continued.

He tells of Anselmo, a rastreador whose type is so faithfully described by Sanalento in Faoundo. as going out to aid Berdun in tracing the outlaws. He has all the charac­ teristics for which a res treador was admired t h e n -- he tells time by the stars, he kneels and placing his ear on the ground announces that a man on horseback is approaching thelp hiding place. The Gauoho malo turns out to be Luis from

Fstanoia de la 7lor. Berdun has him treated with considera­ tion and put in prison., The Indians, make an attack on the estanola and Berdun engages in mortal combat with a young

Rampa (Indian) who turns out to be his nephew, the son of

Lunareja who had been captured by the Indians years before.

Juana is so moved by the touching meeting between these two as described by lantoe Vega, that she faints..

Next day the story is continued. Luis was sentenced for life but Don Faustina and Dona Estrella, his wife, -exert their influence to have the sentence changed to two years. Rafael,

Don Faustino’s son, who has been sent to school and has taken the road of the church, proours him the privilege of working with the prisoners instead of collecting alms. The prisoners are taken out twice a week. Luis makes the acquaintance of - 33 ~

Cruz MearaBon, a ^uard, and both plan to escape when Meoramon

goes on duty at an appointed day. They finally are allowed

to go out until three o'clock, and at once they rush to a

Pulperia where they get drunk, and every now and then as his

intoxication increases, Maaramon hints that it is nearly tine

to go back and luis, fearing he will carry out his intentions, kills him. The inn-keeper loses consciousness when he returns to find the deed man on the floor.

Fleeing from the law, Luis follows the borders of the

Parana, and at the home of Heron, a rnstrendor. he steals a saddle.

Tragedy overwhelms the home of Berdun and Azuoena. Cne # evening when Berdun tried to anger Azuoena by insinuating that she liked someone else, she was so hurt that she took a poncho and went to sleep in e corner of the hut, oblivious

to Berdan's apologies. That night, she was awakened by an unaccustomed sound coming from her husband's bed. The moon was streaming through the door and Berdun was clearly discern­

ible, lying there, with the hilt of a knife protruding from his chest. The treacherous Luis had come back and killed him, but before he ©soared, Azuoena picked up a red hot poker from the still glowing coals and branded him on his chest. She ran out cellini? for help and was taken Into custody when she told her story to the officers. . Soon after she left, the Pampa Indians invaded the eotrmcla and the bouse was burned down. Azuoena is so cruelly treated at the trial that 1

* 34 «* |

, |

| she goes Insone, end is acquitted on these grounds. After two years she recovered# She was always mentioning the man whom she branded, but they believed it part of her darranged thoughts.

Santos Vega tells thet in 1804 a peace wns signed with the Indians, and that an unforgettable incident occurred when

Lunareja, Manuel the young cacique, and Berdun reappeared.

On the night of the raid, Manuel, hod not seen Berdan’s house fired but when he found it blazing and realized whose it was,:, he had discovered Berdun near death, and had borne him away, saving his life.

The neyodor's attention is then focoaed on the fate of the other brother Jacinto who has been but slightly mentioned so far. He was Just recovering from an injury when he hurt himself again in a fall which left him unconscious, and Rita, his wife, thought he was dead. She was trying to lift him when a stranger appeared who behoved very oddly at his bedside, oaring for him for gome reason unknown to the heartbroken Rita.

The next day, he helped her watch him and with his own arms bore him to the cart on which he was to be taken to the sepul­ chre. "'.’hile excavating the tomb, the stranger saw the dead man rise and the horses begin to run, end being unable to draw aside, the stronger was run dorn and fatally Injured.

Jacinto, who had recovered from his spell, took him to the home of Don Bejafano, where he was given every care but to no avail. He confessed his sins, and turned out to be Luis, who 35

certifies to the truth of Azuoenn’s story.

The story ends haprily and pleeses Juena so much that

she Fives Santos Vegn a suit of underveer which-she has em­

broidered.

To us the interest of the story, which centers mainly

around Luis end the tragedies he caused, lies mainly in the pictures of flauohoa in their native setting. The nayada not only mokes n rood story, but it gives the life of the Penpa, the jealousiesrevenge, misfortunes, and aptitudes of reel

Gauchos. These, however, are related in the spirit of a spectator rather then of one who was deeply imbued with the gauchesque.

Divested of its story there still stand out in the work distinctive types and features of the Tampa, which are also

treated by later writers. There is the Oauoho malo. There are the Indians, which have such prominence in La Cautlva and Martin Fierro because of stealing white people, whose children afterwards cane back on raids as caciques and un­ knowingly kill their own relatives. All this was actual reality in Oauoho life.

Santos Vega typifies the Gauchos when four priests in an argument try to convince him that the earth revolves around the sun, and that this end other inexplicable phenom­ ena are controlled by Ood. Santos Vege laughs at she Euro­ pean who knows so much about eclipses, end who would help­

lessly lost by a few turns in the Tampa, and not able to tell — 36 —

where the sun rose. In contempt he says "quo vengen de

TTropa esos leldos y enorebidos” to compete with him in . practical knowledge.

There is the picture of morning dawning clear and bright and in a few hours changing as a terrible hurricane sweeps over the plains, receding in just as short n time; and if it were not for the signs of devastation, its momentaneous duration could be doubted. After the storm the Gauehog go about repairing the damages. Berdun plasters some holes on the wall while Azuoene makes a new cotton mattress.

In the description of the yerra or branding, where

Oauohos displayed their agility, he contributed a realistic setting. There is a glimpse of the faulty judicial system in the statements of she prisoners that judges forget they are there. Charles Darwin in his Naturalists Voyage Around the Torlfl states that the police and justice are quite in­ efficient, the poor non is punished and the rich goes free, that being the reason for the Couohos helping each other to escape, thinking that they sin ag Inst the government and not against the people.

The custom mentioned of the prisoners begging elms is an old one, cominr from Spain and repeatedly alluded to in the romances of roguery.

The different classes of society described, the domestic scenes, and the view into the Cauoho's knowledge of the uni­ verse, and his ability to hold his own against the elements - 37

hnve earned for Aaonnubi o plooe with the best yauohesque writers, although his work written away from the Pampa,

completed in Paris, is more of an Intellectuni introspection on Oncho life.

His writing Santos Ve^a in Paris serves as on explana­

tion for the spirit of meditation in which Ascesubi evokes memories of his country.

Tho poen is Iona; and drawn out and contains lonp des­ cription passarcs, especially those dealing with the Indians, where the gauchesque element is found only in the vocabulary.

In ohoalng the mythical Santos Vega for the payndor of his social "romance" Asoasubi*s only fault lay in not making him the protagonist, the actor instead of the narrator, who is entirely foreign to the action of the story. However, he contributed to incorporate the character of Santos Vega in literature, whom Mitre had formerly ennobled In verse. Asonau bt was the first to write on lantos Vega in Gaucho language.

"The work presents suggestions of all the territory, end describes the life of the city and the estnnola, the clergy and the militia, the Indians and the Christians, com­ prising nil the orders of social life. 3o many elements has

Asoasubi wished to enclose in it, that in order to enlarge the frame he has disregarded the canvas. The figures are at times confused, the scenery blurred, perpectires false.' This is due"to the feet that he bases the composition on the dialogues and not on the dramatic dialogue, but in simple conversation 38

susceptible to Interruptions, narenthesla, and deviations 29 from the main story. Rlcsrdo Rojas has criticized Asoasubl for lacking an outstanding, vigorous character which should have stood out from the rest. He sees no reason for the ttriviality of the plot *”htoh was put in just as an excuse for the descriptions of the regional customs. He believes its merit lies in that it is a lasting document for sociology, because of the many and exact observations of Oauoho life, end as an important document for local philology on account of the many idioms 30 handled with such mastery.

D. BARTClOltll MITRE

Among writers like Dominguez, Gutierrez, and Obliged©,

Bartolome Mitre (1821-1906) is one who, with Echevarria, represents sn augural moment in the literary act of Argentina.

As in the work of Echevarria, so in that of Mitre there is a fusion of romantic sentiment end patriotism. That he believ­ ed poetry was a synthetic art is evident in his works. He was not only a civil poet who sang and profesled the military glories of his country, but he was also an apostle of liberty, with his pen ns well as in his military career in opposition to Rosen. In 1862-1060 he was president of the Republic of

Argentina. . 1. . Rinas. First published in 1854 his Rimas show him as a poet of art and temperament. in Rimas is preserved a page of the revolutionary history of Argentina end consequent­ ly also of the national literature. The different divisions of his work show thn t he sought inspiration In nature and in

national customs. The only two divisions that Interest us in

this study ere first, Poeofos oatrlotlcas and second, Arnonles

de la Pacipa ♦ The Poealas ontrloticas were written during the

firht for liberty, when, like Caesar, he found tine for his

lyre while using the sword. Of essentially national character

are Armonins de la Patapa. In which is included the legend of

Santos Vega, written in verse for the first time (1845)« It

is a eulogy to the nayador orpentlno. whose songs will live

in tradition. Santos Vega will rest in peace.

A sketch from everyday life is given in El Pato (1839)

in which the famous name already mentioned is described. In

El Oiabu, (1842) he praises this tree of the Pomps for being a

spectator of the prosperity and the decline of the Geneho *

He has witnessed the ranch extending everywhere and later

he has seen the plains dotted with cities. The enduring

Ombu will fall like on exhausted corpse under the secular 31 pine. The deep companionship between the Concho and his

horse in El Caballo del Gaucho has been sung by many, but

Mitre imbues his poem with the same emotion which characterized

the song of the oayador. The horse is the Qauoho’s shade in summer, his compass in the vnstness of the Pampa end his friend V in solitude. '’Pare es ml sombre cn vera no

Y ml brujula cn ol llano, 32 Mi amigo en la soleded.n 40

E. E3TANI3LA0 DEL CAMPO

One of Aeoaeubl's nost Intimate friends was Estanlalao del Oaapo. Aeoesubl was known by the pen name of "Anioeto el Gallo";;del Campo imitated his friend (with the letter’s approval) by using "Anastasio el Polio" as his own pen-name.

Del Campo (1834-1880) was a poet and a soldier. He occupied various public positions, and as a poet he had a prominent piece on the Buenos Aires dailies Los Debates and El Naoional.

His work was admired by such writers as Jose Marmol,

Hilario Ascasubi, Rieardo Gutierrez,, and Jose Hernandez. His work is not voluminous, since it is comprised almost wholly in a small volume of Poeslas (1870). The contents of this volume may be divided into several groups: Aoentos de ml muiterra (dealing more with political affairs), Compos1clones festlvaa (epigrams and ditties) and Oompoaleiones varies (on oivil and erotic themes). Fausto. which he,composed at the suggestion of his friend Ricardo Gutierrez, and published in

1886, is his best work and has over-shadowed all the others. ^

1. Fausto. Estanislao del Campo put out his Fausto in

1866. This poem is a transitional woik between the poetry of gauchesque form and that of cultured theme, thus occupying a place between Santos Vega and La Cautlva. Fausto written in Gaucho language, begins with greetings exchanged between

Anastasio el Polio and Laguna, which are followed by offering each other tobacco, eaeh praising the other’s horse, speaking about war etc. Finally, Anastasio el Polio, who had gone to 41

Buenoa Aires to collect for some wool he sold, tells Laguna that he saw an opera, and at the rcnenbranoe he crosses him­ self, for there he saw the very devil in person. He gives an Insight into his supersition -vhen he says,

"jPues no me he do Santlguarl 33 Con esas coses no juego."

He then tells the story of GounodTs Faust which is exceedingly humorous as seen through the eyes of a Gauoho. who was seeing an opera for the first time. He expresses his sorrow for Margarita's fate, and is decidedly against the Doctor whose motives.he does not quite grasp, and he is very much afraid of the Devil. The narrative, like that in

Santos Vega, is punctuated by a drink now and then and brief comments on other things, before Anastaslo el Polio sufficient­ ly recovers from the memories of his terrible experience and is able to continue his story. The poem has beautiful descriptions of nature.

iSabe que es linda la mar?

La mere de mafianlta

Cuando q gatns la puntita

Del sol oomienza a asomarl

Date ve venir a esa bora

Ronoando la marejada

Y ve en la espuma enoreapada Los oolores de la aurora. 42

Y no se quo da el mirar

Cuando barrosa y bramando,

Sierras de ague vine alzando

Eabraveolda la nar —

Y es ooaa de bendecir

Cuando el SeHor la serene,

Sobre ancha came de arena 34 Obllgandola a doralr — "

With masterly pen he describes nightfall on the Pampa as brought about by night's spreading its poncho over the earth.

"El sol ya se iba poniendo

La claridad sc ahuyentaba,

Y la noohe se aoercabo 35 3u negro poncho•tendiendo."

Anastasio el Polio gives an insight into a Gaucho's conception of women. He is not only deeply moved by Margari­ ta’s misfortune but pictures her as a delicate flower wilted by the sun. "Sus tiernas hojes depllega

Sin la manor desconflanza,

Y el gusano ya la elcartza...

Y el sol de las dooe llega... 43 -

3e va el sol abrasador

?aaa a otra plants el guaano,

Y la tarde...enouentra, herasno, 36 SI cadaver do la flop."

This Gauoho does not think of vonen as Just a household

possesion, as some one to keep his mate ready when he cornea

from his round-ups. In fact, he states that he considers women's lot pretty hard.

"Las hembras en mi opinion 37 Train un destine mas fiero..

There are touches here and there of Gauoho fatalism,

and melancholy, which of course contribute to the true charao

terlzatlon. .

— Ansi es el mundo amigaso:

Nada dura, Don Laguna,

Hoy nos rie la fortune, 38 Mafiana nos de un guaeoaao,n Of the two poems, Santos Vega and Feusto written in

Gauoho speech, the later comes closer to better interpreting

the rusticity of these people. Del Carapo has revealed the

psychology of the Gauoho with a freshness, spontaneity, and

naturalness which show that he well knew the intrinsic

Castilian elements of his character. SI Polio has in his

own mind made himself the chivalrlo defender of the heroine,

Margarita. Gounod would undoubtedly have turned over in his grave to have heard the ingenuous account of his opera given - 44

by the Geucho, who interpreted it in the light of his native beliefs. El Polio made the opera realistic to the Gauohos by giving them the reflection of it in his own soul, and by telling it with a breezy sense of humor. He interpreted the whole thing nr. witchcraft, repeatedly crossing himself and getting so over wrought that from tine•to time he stopped to comment on the horses, the lakes, etc. in order to continue the story and be able to tell it without experiencing again what he went through during the performance. For so real had the scene been to him that he felt like the Gaucho who went to see a stage performance of Juan Moreira and who became so incensed at the injustice of the police toward the hero that he jumped upon the boards with focon in hand, ready to defend the hero as any Gaucho would defend any brave 39 ; rann.

P. JO3& HERKiNDEZ

Geucho poetry is closely allied to political controver­ sies, and the tyrannical treatment of these people. The changes in industry, culture, etc. which were wrought in

Argentina, bringing about the decadence of the Gaucho. also stirred poets like Hernandez to picture the criollo under the light of a setting sun. Jose Hernandez identified himself with the Gauohos and in his Martin Fierro: Ida % Vuelta, the Gaucho muse reached its zenith. Everything that had been written by former poets Hidalgo, Ascasubi, Echevarria and del Campo, culminated in - 45

Martin Fierro. Gaucho dialogue, had been Introduced and per­ fected In Hidalgo's Paulino Lucero. Gaucho language and customs and the Indians had been faithfully presented by Ascasubl In

Santos Vega, physical aspects of the Pampa had been sublimated by Echevarria, In La Cautlva. while del Campo gave an inter­ pretation of a Gaucho's conception of an opera to let his own views and ideas stand out by contrast, to what the reader thinks a European's opinion of the opera would be. There is here an example of how Gaucho intellect reacts outside of its natural setting.

1. Martin Fierro. The stage was, in other words, already set for Martin Fierro. His nayada is not only autobiographic, because it is related by the payador himself, but it is bio­ graphic as well in the sense that it embodies the history of any Gaucho after the ascendancy of Rosas -— when Argentina became a chaos of cruelty and bloodshed.

Hernandez was born near Buenos Aires in 1834. In 1872 he published La Ida de Martin Fierro, and La Vuelta de Martin

Fierro, in 1878.

Rojas points out that the poem begins, as do those of many other epic bards, by invoking the divine powers. "Pido a los santos del Cielo

Que ayuden mi pensamiento,

Les pido en este momento,

Que voy a center ml historia

Me refresquen la memoria, 40 Y aclaren mi entendiraiento.n 46

He vows that as other Qauohoa have sung so xvilL he sing, until he dies. He realizes he is not a cultured singer but rather one of unstudied art; end he can well soy —

"las conies ne van brotando * 41 Como ague de manantlal." The Oaucho lived unconcinus of the future— his sphere being filled wholly by his daily tasks. He never cemented his ties, and was always oblivious of whet the morrow night hold for him. .

"Mi gloria es vivir tnn libre

Corao pa.laro del cielo. No hago nido en este suelo

And® hay tanto qua sufrlr;

Y naldes rae ha de seguir 42 Cuando yo remonto cl vuelo."

Of the belief that a Qauoho's misfortune was brought about by his fate or unlucky star there are several examples in Martin Fierro.

"Y sepen ouantos escuohan

Be mis penes el relate

Que nunca peleo ni mate

3ino nor necesida;

Y que a tents alverslda 43 Solo me arrojo el nal trato."

He sings of the-changes wrought by time on the happy little dwellings of the Gauoho, where morning came early, 47

with the chickens getting down from their roosts, the horses neighing, end the Oauchos entering the corral to tame wild horses, while others went out into the fields. Martin re­ calls the time when every Gauoho exibited his mount and horsemanship et the brandings. He then compares that to the present —

"Estaba el gaucho en au page •

Con toda segurida;

Pera aura... barbarida!

La cosa anda tan fruncida,

Que gasta el pobre la vida 44 En juir de la autorlda."

-- when the mayor and the low is ready to take him if he approaches his ranch, end then believes him bad, if he shov.s signs of rebelling. He is taken into custody and sent to the frontier. This, he continues, was exactly what happened to him.

Once he had aona, a wife, and an hacienda, where he lived henny, spending much of hia time at the pulperia,where he entertained with his songs until one day, out of a clear sky, the officers arrived and made a clean-up. There were in the group, an American and an Englishman, who, he says, came from ’’Tnea-la-perra" (Inglaterra) and who fled like cowards.

These officers forced the Ceuchos to become soldiers of the Government ready to fight the Indiana. They did not even 48

have quarters for these soldiers, whom they nevertheless worked without pay nlrht end day on the hacienda of the commandant. When the Indians made an invasion, the sol­ diers were given lances and useless guns, since the muni­ tions had been used by the officers in killing ostriches.

The Gaucho soldiers were obliged to endure even at the fort incredible privations end discomforts: poverty, dirt, rats, end so on, waiting for a salary that never came, until one day a few coins were distributed. Martin Fierro himself received none, as the judge told hire that for the two years he had been serving he had not been on their lists. He got a beating for claiming a salary that was not due him.

An incident with an American centinel gives Martin

Fierro the opportunity to say of the "gringos’*:

"Si hay color, ye no son gente,

3i yele, todos tlritan,

3i uste no les da, no pitan

^or no gastor en tabaoo,

Y cunndo peocan un uaoo 45 Uno al otro se lo qultan."

After three years of suffering he deserted and arriving at hone, he found his family gone, and he was told that they had been deprived of their property, and that his sons had been hired as peons, while his "ife left with another nan.

Martin Fierro does not blame her for accepting some one who can give her what she needs. He mourns the trials his sons — 49

must he suffering, end whereas he had previously always been good, he now vows that having schooled himself in the artifices and deceits of the world he will proceed accordingly.

"Aunque mucho3 cren que cl gaucho

Tlene una alma de reytino,

TTo se cncontrara nlnguno

Que no le dueblen las penes--

Mas no debc aflojor uno 46 Ilientraa hay sangrc en Iss venae .M

Wandering about, one evening he arrived at a dance, where, on account of certain remarks he made to a negro *s woman companion the negro insulted him; and the episode ended in Mertfn Fierro's killing the negro. There follows 1 a hint of Gaucho superstition when he states that the soul of the negro wonders in penance because he was not buried in the "oarapo sento." (churchyard).

Another time at a saloon, a braggart stirred up his anger and after fighting, Martin Fierro killed him, end it was necessary for him to keep on fleeing f r m justice. With regard to being a Gaucho, he says:

"11 ends siempre juyendo,

Siempre pobro y perseguido,

No tlene cuevn ni nido

Como si juera naldito--

Porque el ser gaucho ...jbarajol 47 El ser gaucho es un delito." 50

When Martin Fierro alludes to the Gauche oa being only used for vmr and for voting, he is stating true conditions during the political wrnnglings of the tine of Dorrego, Lavalle, and Rosas.

”31 nnda g-na en In paz

Y ©s el prlnero en la guerra— -

Mo le pordonan si yorra

Que no saben pardoner,--

Torque el gaucho en esta tierra 48 3olo sirve pa voter.

While Sleeping under the stars one night, he was over­ taken by officers, whom he fought so bravely, even though against odds, that one of them Jumped to his side and fought for Martin Fierro against those whom but a moment before he had upheld.

Cruz tells Fierro his story which almost parallels that of Martin in its misfortunes. His wife had played him false with a co nr tender and W e n Cruz sought reddress another sol­ dier near by interferred in the quarrel and was killed by

Cruz, who thus was forced to flee. Cruz gives his attitude toward life in quite the seme way ns Martin has expressed his. They both decide to find refuge with the Indians.

Martin finishes his payeda end breaks the guitar so that no one should sin# whr.t he hod sung. His statement — —

”Pues naides ha de canter 49 Cuanto est© gaucho canto -- " - 51

haa been taken to ayaoblize that after the aim set for the

Oauoho, the invocation by Martin Fierro was the last of the gaucheaque muse. Later other writers wrote on the Oauoho but they mere not true sons of the Letipa, like Jose Hernandez.

T?o one before or after hita equaled Hernandez, and well may he 3 ay that he song of

‘'Males que oonoeen todos 50 Hero que naides oanto•"

As formerly stated, the Yuelte de Martin Fierro (Return of Martin "•’lerro) was published in 1876. This second pert neves at e decidedly slower pece, end whereas the first part give3 the adventures of Martin Fierro, the second continues his adventures in e different setting and accoapenied by more attention to reflection and philosophy.

Hernandez seems to have been quite confident of himself as a writer, for in one instance he states that whoever will understand him fully will have to ponder what he says.

’Tiene zauoho que ruralar 51 HI que ne quiera entender".

In the second part, Martin Fierro cones back, belling of his adventures in Indian territory, where they were not very enthusiastically received.

Hernandez*s account of the Indians is not in ray opinion so vivid and impressive as that by Mchevcrrln in la Ceutiva.

In Martin Fierro wo ugain find the episode of the captive woman. Martin Fierro relates how a great sickness overcame 58

the Indian on run end how the 7?hite v/onon, v?ho had but recently been captured, was accused of bewitching then. For this, an

Indian killed her child and tied her hands with his entrials. After having Just buried his friend Cruz, who had also con­ tracted the disease, Martin Fierro came on the scene at this point and fought the Indian, with whom he was equally matched.

The Indian's last hour had come, and he was loft stretched on the turf, while Martin took two horses end sped away with the captive woman. Back in civilization after ten.years, he finds that the officer who had dogged his footsteps and harassed him, no longer lived and that his record, as far as the law was con­ cerned, is forgotten. He also finds his two sons. The young­ er son Joins the nayada and tells of his adventures in the penitentiary, where he landed after being unfairly accused of robbery. One of the things that has given this Argentine

"epic" its great Importance is the psychology with which it is imbued, as well as the penetrative insight into human emotions.

There is much of this in the story of MartIs*s son. He says that when man is looked up with nothing but his own faults, there is born within him a struggle which gives birth to, and impresses in his mind, the idea of perfection.

"Adentro mesmo del hombre

Se haee una revoluoion

MetIdo an un prlslon De tanto no mirar nada, 53 -

Le nace 7 queda crabeda 52 La idea de la perfeooion."

Byron did not describe more effectively the Prisoner of Ohlllon'a brother, who was not formed

n...... In chains to cine: 53 His spirit withered with their clank.” • than Martin Fierro's younger son describes the day that has no son and the ni.^ht that has no stars, breaking the spirit of the stoutest hearts: •

"Alla el die no tlene sol

La noche no tiene estrellas....

Sin que le valgan querellas

Fncerrao lo purifioan;

Y sus lagriraes salpican 54 Er. las paredes aquellas."

Here Hernandez points out the cruelty of a man in de­ priving his fellowmen of their gifts of speech and friend­ ship. This is quite significant, as it infers that the

Oeucho thinks theie two things to be essential to his happi­ ness desolte his being so generally considered a morose, introspective individual. The elder son of Martin Fierro takes up the guitar and narrates his trials suffered after the death of an aunt who has taken him In.- . The judge promised him a guardian as he was

too young to care for the inheritance. He was so ill-treated

by the tutor that he fled and became implicated in a love 54

affair which ended in his being sent to the frontier.

The happy reunion of Mart£n and his sons was inter­ rupted by a stranger, Ploardla, who turns out to be the son of Martin's old friend Cruz. His story contains certain remarks which are sharp truths, -- for, speaking of the system of government which permits mis treatment of the Qauoho. he says: "....Y he de deoir as! alamo,

Porque do adentro me brota

qu® no tieae patriotismo 55 Quien no qulda al oompstrlotm".... and in regard to the Qeueho having been used only as a means to an end: Y es neoesario aguantar

El rigor de sii destine; El gauoho no es argentine 56 Slno pa haoerlo matar."

A cross section of Qauoho environment is incomplete without inclusion of the minor element which rounds out the list of the ethnological divisions of Argentina. That minor element is the negro, who was first introduced in literature

in the Romances of Rivarola and who is (1807) now represented

in Martin Fierro by El Moreno. The colored payador shows as much Ingenuity in his answers to Martin Fierro's questions

as the protagonist himself. There are clever touches of humor when he says: — 55 -»

MYo tamblen tengo algo blanoo,

Puea tengo blanooa los flicntes

"Tamblen es negra la noohe

Y tlene eatrellaa que brlllan.

"Pints el blanoo negro al dlablo, 57 Y el negro blanoo lo pints...."

Hernandez uses his oharacters as mouthpieces once more when 31 Moreno speaks about the law, which he says, he believes in his ignorance to be like a spider’s web, torn to shreds by large animals, and in which the small are ensnared:

"la ley es tela de arafia...

En ml inoranoia la explleo,

No la tema el horabre rioo...

Nunoa la tema el que mande...

Pues la ruerape el bioho grande 58 Y solo enrieda e los ohlooa."

Again he states that the law is like a knife which does not offend the one who wields it.

"la ley es oono el ouehlllo

No ofende a quien lo maneja." '

From the story as told by El Moreno, the reader reaches the conclusion that it was one of his brothers whom Fierro killed at a dance * 56 *

Martin decides it Is beat for him and his two sons, as well as for the son of Cruz, to go their different ways to look for a living. Then follows the advice which in no way surpassed that given by Polonies to Laertes, in Hamlet or that given by Crespo to his son Juan in 31 Alcalde de Zala- mea. In his advice he interpolates the Geueho ideal of bet- / taring conditions — his consciousness of a want that must ) ! be supplied by means which he does not fully comprehend. He j tells them that the Gaucho has been over-looked by Fate, that | no one seems concerned about defending his race. He not only : points out why the Geueho has become an object buffeted by circumstance, but he also points out that what he needs is a home, schools, religion, and rights.

Es el pobre cn su orfenda

De la fortune cl dosecho ...

Porque nsides tome a peeho

El defender a su raza ...

Debe el gaucho tener case, 60 Escuela, iglesia y derechos.

What better advice could be offered those who wield the

intricate machinery of a government than that stated by Mar­

tin Fierro, when he expresses hopes of improved conditions, which can be brought about only through consideration and betterment of the humble classes• Mas Dios ha de peraitir

Que esto llegue a raejorar see 57

Pero se ha de rooordar

Para haoer bten el trabajo,

Que el fuego pa ealenSar 61 Debe ir slempre por abajo.

The oonoluslon of the poem, Martin Fierro, voices the eonviotlon that, since his misfortunes are those of his brothers, his memory is bound to live in their hearts; hop­

ing to have offended no one, he concludes that his payada

is for the harm of none and the good of all. The couplet which expresses this thought is almost a challenge to a

closer examination of the documentary evidence as to which were Argentina’s faults, for they are stated right there, in

this "epic of the Argentine". It is likewise almost a chal­

lenge to those of the cultured classes, who merely tolerate

the Gauoho and who ignore the part he played in the evolution of the republic which ho made possible. Martin Fierro is the

prototype of his race in his protest against the organization of Argentina at that time and his dream of a better organiza­

tion. The poem is written in octosyllabic lines, and consists

of dialogues, ravadas. and autobiographic confidences.

When Martin Fierro broke his guitar, he silenced the

native Oaucho muse of the Pempa, which later was reborn in more artificial forms, which later, in their turn, were re­ shaped by romantic influences. After 1880 no Gauoho poetry was written equal to Martin Fierro, for with the decline of

the Gauohos their literary art declined. - 58

Martin Fierro, which admittedly gives a cross-section of the entire Gauoho world, has been the object of much dis­ cussion, mainly as to whether It can be considered a true epic of Argentina, end whether It has Influenced succeeding and even recent literature. In 1913, Ifosotros put out a question­ naire In which every prominent writer of Argentine was asked to give his opinion on the value of Martin Fierro. The main question sent out was whether Martin Fierro should be consi­ dered the cornerstone of Argentine literature -- the Argentine

Chanson de Roland and the Argentine Gesta del Ilio Old, as had been stated In lectures given by Leopoldo lugones and Ricardo

Rojas in an endeavor to create a revival of Gauoho literature.

Hoaotros inquired as to whether or not there was a national poem which contained the elements of the race. "/hen Dr. Marttniano Legulzamon answered that in his opin­ ion Martin FIerro was the national poem because it draws a painful picture of a period of their national life, as well as because in it Hernandez condensed the most noble aspirations, the highest Ideals of the strenge, unhappy breed, who had lent 62 a hand for the freedom of Argentina, he did not prove that the poem was an epic nor that it deserved to be called the corner­ stone of Argentine literature. Snrique de Vedia definitely denies this claim for Martin

Fierro, rather does he call it a "cronies rinada", made with profound philosophic sense of an epoch in the social evolution of the country, but not to be compared to the Poema del Old, - 59

the Chanson de Roland or the Nlbelnngenllad.

Vedia has seen the absurdity of calling Hernandez an epic poet, for even though he has behind him tradition of matter and of style, his material has not undergone the oral transmission of the folk epic. Few real folk epics have been written on a fictional character however emotional and spiri­ tual his appeal may have been. Of course Bernardo del Carpio is one of the outstanding examples of such epics. Martin

Fierro is the biography of a temporary phase of Argentine life, but the fictional character Martin Fierro cannot be called an epic character.

When Hernandez wrote Martin FIerro his purpose was far from that of writing a literary epic. He meant simply to give the adventures of a Gaucho and in some way the experi­ ences of the people as a whole.

Manuel Galvez, the novelist, believes that Martin Fierro is an epic poem, because no other poet has been as realistic 63 as Hernandez in his character delineation; Don Juan Mas y

Pi, on the other hand, is not so enthusiastic in saying that the poem is comparable to the French and Spanish epics. In his answer to the question put up by Noaotros. he says,

"Martin Fierro is a poem of a moment of Argentine life, in­ genuous, simple, without complications unauited to the soul of the people, a true creation of the spirit of the land, but

Martin Fierro cannot be compared, in spite of all, to the Gesta del Mlo Old for a reason to me Irrefutable: the language. We are dealing with a work which contributes nothing funda­ mentally new to the literature ... Martin Fierro is a region­ al poera .w. because it synthesizes transient circumstances 64 of the Gauoho land itself.” Rlvarola introduces a new thought when he says that

Martfn ?1erro would have been a national poem if the "raza criolla" had developed and grown instead of having been com­ pletely replaced by another, so that if Hernandez has written 65 the poem of the race, it is of a race no longer extant. With

Rlvarola sides Hugo Achaval in saying that modern Argentina has resulted, not from a social evolution but from a social substitution. "Dialectal literatures have never produced

true epics, nor classic poems of epic character ... Qeuoho literature is not even dialectal, nor does it translate the spirit of ithmioal elements: but it does translate that of a certain kind of people who were swept away by a precarious 66 life and lasting only fifty years of our history.M

lugones has been judged overenthuslastio when in his lectures, he compares this "epic” to the classes, but this criticism of him arises from misconception of his statements, and Rlvarola tries to clarify this when he says that Lugones makes such an assumption only in so far as he believes the poem to be an epic element representative of that class which 67 he believes to exist fundamentally in the race.

Manuel Ugarte would side with all who believe the poem to be a luminous source of what begins to be and will become More and more "our literature". Reflective art of classic, romantic, Parnassian, decadent mold, according to epochs,— of foreign subject matter, archaic, exotic, and universal according to temperaments, — had to be replaced here by an art born of our history, our customs end atmosphere." Ugarte- also claims Martin Fierro to be the first piece of art to take root, classifying former and later efforts os ephemeral flowers, and that although his technique nos rudimentary, he is Indisputably the father of Argentine literature, and 68 should be hailed as such.

To this symposium of opinions we should add Henry Holmes’ analysis of Martin Fierro in his book: An Sole of the Argen­ tine. The poem written in effective declmas. and comparable to Homer in descriptive tags, forceful and luminous phrases, he terms as a lyric gem in epic setting, a lyric poem of realities imbued with the spirit of the epics and having a dramatic and satirical quality.

Salayerrla, in El Poema de In Tampa, has shown wherein the poem Martin Fierro belongs not only to Argentine litera­ ture but also to Spanish literature, because when it was written Spain was still closely bound to Argentine. He says the Gauoho is a Spanish element and contains the character­ istics of the Spaniard: religious sense, sobriety, stoicism, valor, fidelity, a mixture of wit end melancholy, love for 69 his horse and his knife.

Salaverrla then states that the Gaucho has more right 62 -

to call himself n Spaniard than many people who Inhabit

Spain. Throughout the book he makes comparisons until he reaches the conclusion that Martin Fierro is a prolongation 70 of the literature and soul of Spain across the ocean. He spoaks of the Gouoho Errant and the Pampa as being the same as the knight-errant Don Quixote and the plains of Andaluola, of the Oauoho song ns Andaluolan; and he even declares that the adventures of Martin Fierro's sons give the poem a picaresque element which makes it possible to consider Martin

Fierro ns the last of the picaresque works of Spain.

With all due respect to Salaverrla these lost two com­

parisons seem to be rather far fetched. All these opinions,

t in fact, hove been expressed under the heat of an enthusiasm

which in some instances has overreached Itself.

Martin Fierro is the "epic" of the Pampa, as the classic

epics are of their respective countries; but it should not

be placed on a level with these. It is the "Yoleunga Sega" of Argentina in so far as it presents a hero struggling with

Destiny, nature and man. The hero, however, is a charscter

of fiction even though as a personification of his race, he

has been made by the author to partake of all the realities

of Gquoho life. Martin Fierro is also the lyrio poem, written

in Oa'ucho dialect, in which the technique and innovations of

proceeding writers on the Oauoho are summerizled. Herein lies

its literary value. It may. be considered as the national poem

of Argentina of the period when the whole nation was moved by - 63

the some spirit that elves the poem life; but in the modern non-Gaueho Argentina, this reglonel song of Hernandez, which wes inspired alongside of works of a more cultured vein, can hardly be colled the cornerstone of Argentine literature, for

if it werev literary productions which follow it chronologi­ cally would show the perfect evolution of its art and its epoch. Its documentary value is evident, since it is an extract from the history of Argentina. It has sociological value, since it includes oil the peoples that inhabited the

Paapa: the European, the Qaucho the Indian, and the Negro.

Hernandez, writing under a spontaneous impulse and ignorant of Castilian metrics has not written the national epic but he has given literature a poem in which will always be perpetuated the Inspiring memory;.of the Gauoho.

G. RAFAEL OBLIQJUX) '

Mitre prepared the way for poets of the yolinger genera­

tion, like Rafael Obligado and Ricardo Gutierrez. Obliged©

(1851-1920), considered to have been the unofficial poet

laureate of Argentina, is a poet of the varied moods of

nature, which he treats with the art of the romanticist. The

total number of his poems is small but show that he wrote

and polished them with care.

1. Trafllotones Argentines. In Tradlclones Argentines,

Obligado has shown himself an apt pupil of the school of

Echevarria and of the artistry of Mitre. In the edition of

1906, the legend of Santos Vega is divided into four parts: — 64 —

first, the Soul of the Bard (El Almo del payador). second,

the Love-tryst of the Bard (la Brenda del payador), third,

the Death of the Bard (La muerte del pevador), and fourth,

the Hymn of Santos Vega, (El jiimno de Santos Vega), the last

of which did not appear in the edition of 1885.

21 Alma del payador treats Santos Vega as he appeared

on the Pampa, In the native, traditional legend, which pre­ sented him as beln? the son of the Pampa re-ineamated in

the wind and In the spirit of the shadows. la prenda del

payador tells of the ghost of Santos Vega meeting his love

at twilight and singing to her of his everlasting presence. la muerte del payador depicts Santos Vegn as lying asleep

under an pmbu, with his guitar hanging from one of its

branches. A stranger comes and shakes him challenging his

art. As previously mentioned, the stranger is Juan Sin Ropa

(the Devil) who turned out to be the victor. Despite his

defeat, Santos Vega’s compatriots applauded him; but the

Bard of the Pampa knew that his end had come, since he ad­

mired his enemy. The song of the Devil was the mighty shout

of progress given to the wind, the solemn call to glorious

combat. It was, In the"midst of the repose of the Pampa,

yesterday asleep, the ennobled vision of work never before

honored; it was the promise of the plow which opens furrows

to life. Like a magic mirage, the desert raised out of it­

self thousands of cities, and as one age crumbled Into the abyss, Europe poured itself over the vast spaces, for without 71 doubt Juan Sin Ropa was Science person!fled.El hlmno de Santos 65

Vega deals with Santos Vega as he appears to the Qeuehos while they are enjoying their sports. He tells then that

Buenos Aires has declared war and that she needs them. Santos

Vega is lost in the shadows, but his spirit leads them to war* Obllgado has enriched Argentine literature by collecting this and other legends of Argentina which are deeply rooted, in the folklore of the country. La Solananca describes a cavern where dwelt witches and a devil. The devil dared a Gaucho who ventured by to scorn Christ and promised that he would be granted anything. The Gqucho faces the Christ, and a great explosion is heard which demolishes the cavern -- it is the charge of dynamite which opens way for the locomotive.

La Hula Anlma is another legend. A Gaucho goes out in search of La Mule Anlma, end he offers the Vlrgen his only treasure, his poncho, if she .vlll help hira find her. For two years he had been away to war, and his wife had been unfaith­ ful to him, bestowing her affections on e priest. Realizing her sin, she takes to the hills end is never heard of again.

The Caneho finally catches the mule and finds that it is his beloved wife in her last hour. While he holds her, the Virgin comes down with her crown of stars. He spreads his poncho for her to tread on. After acknowledging his tribute, she returns to heaven bearing with her an undeserving soul, who had sinned but who had also loved.

The Parana river possesses the secret of a mysterious presence, sheltered in her waves. In B1 Yaguaron. Obllgado ' relates how Juana Marla went to the river to wash. She did not notice that the usually placid waters were beginning to surge and become convulsed os if stirred by some mysterious presence. Juana Marfa finally became aware of the waves rolling toward her and of two enormous eyes which took shape in the water. She turned to run, but the earth caved in, and she was carried away. The.river became calm, and nature a- gain shed her blessings on the landscape. In El Caoul the story Is given a realistic setting. At

Salta e group of Oauchos et a pulperfa hear one of their number confess his love for a beautiful woman whom he has not seen but whom he loves because being a payador. a poet by nature, he was born clairvoyant. He is told that she is a -1 woman who was an evil sister, making the only brother who provided for her very unhappy, until his patience was exhaust­ ed, and he made her climb a tree and left her there. After days of terror she became a bird whose cry is always heard.

While suffering invades the country and the poor are oppressed, and as long as the Argentines do not learn how to be brothers, that clamorous cry will be heard!

Obllgado gives a characteristic ending to almost all of the poems. Practically every one of the legends ends with an application to the situation of the country. He Interprets these as he old that of Santos Vega, reading in them a symbol­ ism applicable to Argentina. The little volume of Leyendas Argentines has a very - 67

appropriate concluding selection: la Loz Mala (The evil light).

A large group of carts crosses the plains burying their heavy wheels in the soft earth. The drivers while away the hours of nightfall singing. V/ith darkness comes "La luz mala", which is said to be the soul of some brother who has been denied help and mercy. The light vaciletes now over the sky end now over the Pampa, making all the shadows flee, end inundating all. As the driver covers his face with his hands, the locomotive thunders by. In the line of progress the evil light is the good light.

"%al haceis vuestro camino

Peso a paso y lenteaentc,

Al aloanoe del torrents,

Antlguo pueblo Argentine!

i Canted himnos al destine,

Y cuando en nochc ocrenn

Brille ese luz, no os de pena.

No teaais, criollos, por ©so,

Q,ue en las v£os del orogreso 72 La luz male es la luz buena!"

Less realistic then Mitre, Obligado has scenes of beau­ tiful intimacy with the moods of nature. The innortence of Obligado in literature lies in his

dealing with Gaucho folklore and gathering it for the first

tine into n permanent form. H.-RICARDO GUTlfiRRBZ

%hen Mitre condemned Oaucho jargon he prepared the way for Ricardo Gutierrez. Although J. a . ArgerlQh states that

Gutierrez failed in his effort to introduce into the national . 73 art the Ganoho type which he believes unworth of poctization, it remains nevertheless true that Gutierrez probed the Geuoho sentiments until he understood them so well that their very ' melancholy invades his poems. In the workings of the Geuoho mind Gutierrez interprets the motivation of the deeds for which the Oaucho is generally misjudged. . .

1. Lazaro <5 la flbra salve,1e. In lazaro, Gutierrez pre­ sents the Gaucho outside of his setting, dispossessed of all he formerly had. He is treated as if he were a dangerous character. Protesting against this unfair treatment, from the . depths of his arrogance, Lazaro exclaims that if there, is no other God on earth beside man, then he will be his own God and justice.

"31 no hay mas Dios que el bombre sobre el suelo, 74 Ml Dios yo mlsmo y ml justicia soy."

He falls in love with Dolores, the daughter of a Viceroy, who spurns him and prohibits him to pass by for the purpose of seelnr her. lazaro mourns the fate that made him a man with feelings like the rest, proud and arrogant, yet chained by circumstance. Here again we see the Gaucho thinking himself the victim of his unlucky star. Unafraid of threats, he re­ turns to get a glimpse of Dolores end he is token by Rocas * men. While on a boot with other proscripts, he is freed by another Gaucho; there is mutiny in the ship which results in his killing Booas and taking Dolores with him. She loses her mind, and daily fades until she dies. The poetry of the parting is excellent and gives a dramatic ending to his idyll of love. They are soon all pursued by Justice, and when a bullet tears away the cross he has planted over her grave, at the risk of his life he replaces it, and evades his pursuers by plunging into the river, and finally losing himself in the thicket.

The whole atmosphere of the poem is one of melancholy.

Although not strictly a gauchesque poem, it probes the senti­ ments and emotions of a soul that is ’’tameless, swift, and proud”. To say that the poem deals with a Geucho disappolnt- in love is but to give the nucleus of the struggle of races and castes that it suggests, in which the Geucho is considered subordinate. la fibra salveje shows great intensity of emotion as suggested by the title. Ezequlel, separated from Lucia, be­ comes a monk when she marries another. After many years the husband, Bon Julio, comes to the monks cell, and confesses that he has sold his wife for gold to satisfy his passion for gambling. Primitive instincts surge up in Szequiel, he kills Bon Julio, flees, and finds refuge by joining the army of Gan Martin. Aside from the poems of Asoasubl, del Carapo, and Hernan­ dez (after 1800), Geucho literature belongs to a species of master de gauoheria. more or less artistic and literary, it is f r ..,

- 70 -

the work of suburban payadorea or cultured men of the last third of the XIX. century, who knew how to describe his 75 habits and attitudes, although without idealizing the Gauche.

Echeverr£a, nitre, Obliged©, and Gutierrez have written in the poetic language of American romanticism, the only form in which Gaucho verse could survive. 17. THE QAUCHO IN THE IIOTELA OF ARGENTIHA

With the changes in the general conditions of the Repub­ lic after Rosas, there were coincident changes in the litera­ ture as well. One of the literary forms that were engendered was the novel, which left its mark on the esthetic conscious­ ness of Argentine literature.

A. DOMINGO F. SARMIEOTO.

Rufino Blanco Fombona states that Saraiento is the fore­ most writer of the republic of Argentina. He was a romanti­ cist tempered by the tremendous realities of the life of

Argentina at that time. His interest in the education and culture of the country earns him a place among its men of letters. 1. Faoundo. In Oeuoho prose works Foeundo (1845) of

Don Domingo Sarmlento holds as important a place as Martin

Fierro in lyric verse. Faoundo is a book of political ha­ treds, written by Sarmlento with the purpose of condemning the Gaucho in the name of progress and civilization. The book is divided into three parts, the physical aspect of the

Pampa, Faoundo Quirbga end Rosas and his government. In the last two parts, which should supposedly deal with Faoundo

Qulroea, the writer continues the story after its protagonist has been killed, and n faulty biographical sketch of Rosas comprises the long drawn out conclusion.

In the first part, Sarmlento gives some valuable infer- nation on the topography and inhabitants of the Pampa. He describes the plains as constituting one of the most notice­ able features of the physiognomy of the republic, and as be in rr very much like the Asiatic solitudes, both crossed by caravans of carts. In case of an Indian assault, the carts formed a corral, as was done by the early pioneers when settling our West.

He comments, later, on the qualities and characteristics of the Gauchos as being: superiority, a high conception of themselves as a nation, and arrogance, which has contributed to the independence of a part of America.

He restates what others have said as to the poetic tendencis of the Argentine nation. The Argentine is a poet by nature, because he lives in the midst of a spectacle of 76 beauty. The sudden change of the elements gives color to the palette . of phantasy.

So far the only musical instrument ascribed to the

Gaucho has been the guitar, but Sarmiento says that those who devote themselves exclusively to music use the violin and the flute. This undoubtedly refers to the Europeanized eriollo.

Sarmiento was probably the first one who tried segre­ gating the Gauohos into four different types: the rastreedor, the baqulano, the gaucho malo, and the payndor, which have already been fully described in Chapter II.

After building the background for the narrative, Sarmiento begins with the story proper -— the story of the most finish­ ed type of Paneho raelo found in the literery annals of Argen­ tina .. In invoking the terrible memory of Facundo, ten years after his death, not only has he called to mind the passions engendered between civilization end barbarity, but he also built a monument of abomination abounding in diatribes against 1 the Gauoho who left his stnran on the politics and revolutions 77 of Argentina.

He speaks with the voice of a Rabelais who blames igno­ rance for the evils attending a tottering government.

The drama of Facundo (The Tiger of the Plains) begins with the first shot of the revolution of 1810, which v/as a struggle against European culture and civil sujeetion. The problem of the moment was to organize a unitary government, and in this biography of Tne Tiger of the Plains, 3armiento shows how this organization was brought about by two forces— one from Buenos Aires, the seat of centralized power, end the other from the plains, made up of caudillos who had dominated different parts of Argentina; one was civilized, constitutlonal- the other barbaric, arbitrary. When the controversy began, the

Gauchos chose the name of federales not fully comprehending its meaning and implying opposition to unltarianism. The very force which onrosed unity inadvertently brought It about.

Unification of the republic reached maturity with the barbarism of Rosas. The disseminated barbaric forces needed such an arm as Facundo to unite them. r 74

The infancy of Faoundo was spent in la Riojo, where he

wns sent to be educated, (1799). He early gave signs of his

rebelliousness and future conduct. Several instances of

cruelty toward his father are mentioned by the writer. He

was imprisoned in Buenos Aires for misconduct and he won the

favor of the officials in o riot of Spanish prisoners which

he quelled. For this he was given a position of minor impor­

tance in the array. The repertoire of anecdotes attatched to

his name still survives in the minds of the people. Once a

theft was committed during the night and Faoundo, now the

leader of a group of ftauohos made then file before him one by

one. His countenance was dark and menacing as he gave to each

a amt11 stick with the remark that whoever was the culprit

would find the following day that his stick had grown. He

then called then again and looked at each stick, suddenly in

a thundering voice he pointed at the thief. The superstitious

Gaucho, thinking that his s$lck would really grow, had out off

a piece. The day when the public career of Faoundo began was a

solemn end critical moment for all the pastoral towns of the 78 Republic of Argentina. Just os he had risen from being a

Gaucho malo to being commander, then general and conqueror,

others followed suit.

The first town taken by Faoundo was La Rioja, and soon

after he took San Juan under the pretext of granting it reli­

gious freedom. This was followed by the defeat of Mendoza, 75

governor of 1 r Paz. Since he hod no interest in an organized government, Pr o undo left the reins of government of every town he took, in inexperienced hands. Ench city became just o machinery of war, destroying and abolishing the city.

In 1025, along with other provincial ceudllloe. he re­ ceived on invitation from Buenos Aires to o cession of congress with the purpose of creating a general government. Facundo welcomed the invitation and started out with his black banner on which was stamped o skull end cross bones. Nothing resulted of the effort to make a program for unifying the country.

While he was in Buenos Aires, he led on uneventful life for several days; among the ftaaohoa no one recognized him as the feared Facundo. One person, Roses, was quite conscious of his presence and commissioned him to restore the local authorities in Tuouman, which authorities had been ousted with pretexts by La Madrid. It is not yet proven whether Rosas had a hand in the assassination of Facundo as he was on his way to

Cordoba. From this point, Barmiento apostrophizes Rosas and his olnto colored# (red ribbon), which caused many men to be shot for failing to wear it as the emblem of his terrorism.

The final note of the book is a hone that La Paz nay succeed in destroying Rosas.

Facundo Qulroga 6 civllizaclon % barbaric, is one of. the most important books that have been written in America. All the life of Argentina of that epoch, the clash of indigenous races with the Spanish, is comprised in it. 76

Paoundo la the most perfect type of Goucho male found

In this literature of Argentina’s early days, when like him, many rose against social conventionalism to re-vindioate the rights of the humbled race.

Snrmiento, like Echevarria and Hernandez, describes the

Parapa, but he does not stop here, his picture includes the whole republic. •

The popularity of this "epic" in prose is great. It has been translated into French by M. A. Olroud, into German by

Juan Eduardo Wapoens, into English by Horace Mnnn and into

Italian by Fontana de Philipps. It was Sarmiento’s letter of Introduction when he went to Paris in 1847.

"Sarmlento not only wrote the biography of Fooundo but

created his legend. He composed the epic poem of the guerrilla,

that civil war of the Gauchos; and if from 1845 the said book

served as a pragmatic evidence against Rosas, ... after 1860 we should tend to utilize it only as pragmatic truth in favor

of our intellectual culture, because of profound emotion of

native land, of popular tradition, of Spanish-American language

and Argentine ideal, which that book represents in admirable 79 ' synthesis." Sarmlento himself considers his book as the fruit of the

Inspiration of the moment and as a sort of review of his own 80 ideas. Thus is revealed the subjective character of the book.

Those who attribute excessive sociological and historical

importance to the book, should be interested to know that - 77

Sarmlento places it more in the realm of the "epic".

As a literary work, his descriptions of charaeteristic types are unequaled. As on historical work, it is too pic­ turesque and passionate and lacks basic documentation, as a biography, it.is absurd, since the story.of Foeundo ends in the first half of the book and he continues with Rosas.

As an educator, Sarmlento blamed the Gaucho for the lack of progress. The last pert of the title: Clvllizaclon jr barbaric on la Republlco Argentine might imply that he traces

the steps taken by the Gaucho from barbarity to civilization; but the author does not trace any progress or cultural develop­ ment . He gives a picture of the republic when the "barbaric" forces were accomplishing the unity which the "civilized"

forces failed to achieve.

. Faoundo and Martin Fierro, one in prose, the other in verse, both present life in Argentina, both are an evocation • of the past. Sarmlento*s Introduction begins: "Terrible

shade of Feeundo, I am going to evoke you, so that shaking off the blood-drenched dust that covers your ashes, you may

arise to explain to us the secret life and internal oonvul- 81 sions which tear the heart of a noble people! Even ten years

after Faoundo *a death, the Geuehos believed he was alive.

Sarmlento adds ironically that indeed he has not died but

lives in the popular traditions of Argentina, in Argentine

politics and revolutions, in Roses his complement; what in

him was only an initiation, a tendency, became a system in

Rosas. In evoking Facundo, S a m i en to does in some res poets the some ns Hernandez in Martin Fierro. He recalls the past, regrets existent conditions and the state of the Gaooho; but he fails to point out the need of a better system, to give any hints of an ideal which may be before him, although not quite clearly defined, as does Hernandez In Martin Fierro. B. EDUARDO GOTlSRRlZ

The popular muse had by no means been silenced after

Martin Fierro. Rather had it evolved the novel, and later the theatre. Eduardo Gutierrez (1853-1890) may be considered the link between Ganoho verse and these two later forms. He la important because he gathered into narrative form the most characteristic elements of the popular tradition. His works show that he was influenced by Aseasubi, Eoheverrla, Hernandez and Gsrmiento. The original spirit of Gauoho "epics" was transmitted to his novels. His literary career began when realistic fiction was coming into vogue. In his work enter elements of history and the novel. He wrote much but his main theme in all his works seems to be that of the persecuted

Gauoho, for whom he shows great sympathy. 1. Juan Morelra. Of the Gauoho period, an important character with "picaresque” touches was Juan Moreira. There are differences *nd similarities between him and the Spanish rogue. The ancestry of the Spanish nlcaro was always doubtful and of shady past; Juan Moreira was of noble ancestry. The

Spanish rogue preys upon society for a living; Juan Moreira is Injustly persecuted by society, which has destroyed all good instincts that were his by birth and breeding. His wanderings,? es a result of his unfortunate encounters with the law are the cause of his violsitudes. The whole keynote of the story of

Juan Moreira is in the lines: "It is necessary to be convinced once for all, that the Gauoho is not an outcast on the earth, that he has no rights of any kind, not even that of possessing 82 a good looking woman against the wishes of some petty major.

The dramatic story of Juan Moreira began with the Justice of the peace, Francisco, who had loved the woman who became

Moreira*s wife, and rho, to avenge himself because she had preferred another, did all In his power to exhaust Moreira*s endurance by fining him heavily for trivial and sometimes unfounded reasons. Sardetti borrowed money from Moreira and when Moreira asked for it Sardetti in conspiracy with Franci­ sco, denied the loan and Moreira was put on the rack. When he came out, he killed Sardetti "en buena ley" (in fair combat) and initiated the misfortunes of his wife and child, by fleeing and leaving them to face the consequences. His family was put in jell to see if he would return. Moreira heard about his family from Julian, a friend whom he has sent to investigate.

Moreira returned and killed Francisco and two others who had been stationed in his house awaiting his return. Moreira was now on the downgrade of crime, although he never killed with­ out reason. Hi. had formerly been sergeant in Navarro and now that he was pursued, he was accused by a leader of one pollti- 80 -

cal party, Leguisaraon, of exerting his Influence in routing the followers of his party. A fight ensued in which Koreira spared his life once, but took it later when provoked for the second time.

Julian brings him news that Vicente, his wife, forced by the necessity of feeding her son, since oil doors had been closed against her under threat of complicity, has accepted

the advances of a friend of his, Oimenez.

Morelra’s one thought from then on is to take care of himself so that he nay accomplish his revenge. Like Martin •

Fierro, he seeks refuge with the Indians, and for three months

he lives with them, until he is forced to leave by a card game

quarrel with the lender.

He returns to Matanza, but his prey gets wind of his

presence nnd flees. He wanders through CaRuelas, Saldlllo,

Lobes, Salta, Las Heras, etoi and wherever he goes his sword

drips with boold; his very presence presages a calamity, nevertheless, whenever he fights with a man of equal valor,

he always spares his life. At Navarro he uses his fane as a terrorist in the elec­ tions of the nationalists against Avellanede, refusing to be

bribed by the latter for the benefit of his party. Only once is HoreIra able to sight Gimenex, but a troup

of soldiers prevents him from carrying out his plan. Moreira

is finally killed by one, Chirino, at La Estrella after all

the police forces' from Buenos Aires have been cooperated in

his capture. - 81 -

According to the writer the story of Moreira is a true biography. His sword is still kept in remembrance of his extraordinary feats of daring.

The language used by OutiArres Is hot Onrucho Jargon but

Spanish tinged with certain regional accents. All.through : the story the author is always present apoetrophylng justice non-existent and praising Qaucho Characteristics.

Guti'etrez, holds a place in Gaucho literature and. has influenced later trends In being the first.to adapt one of bis works,-Juan Moreira, to a pantomimic representation on the stage opening a path in literature and drama which has become representative of the manners and speech of the lower classes.

C. FRAY MOCHO (JOSE'S. ALVAREZ)

Fray Mocho (1858-1903) had the gift of speech and of story telling. His works prove bis power of observation and his unfailing good humor. He wrote in the dialect of Buenos

Aires and faithfully depicted the char&cterisitc gestures

of Gauchos. His articles were published in a Buenos Aires

weekly paper, which dealt with all the picturesque mob of

inhabitants of Buenos Aires, -- thus including the Gauchos»

Estanislao del Campo, in Fausto. is the only other writer who

shows the tendency to use native material as does Fray Mocho.

He gives renewed impulse to the realistic novel of "criollo"

customs. ,?E1 Mocho is one of tue greatest writers of Argentina,... - 82 -

he has reproduced the life of Argentine with marvelous 83 fidelity, brilliant color, nnd inimitable good humor."

JLi Guentos de Fray ifoeho. In Cuentoa. de Fray Hoc ho, Alvarez does not try to interpret "criollisrao" but to

reproduce the results of his observations. As a spectator

he describes people of all walks of life. Whether it is a

monologue like that of Justo Perez, who exposes his own

pettiness while criticizing a friend, or a dialogue, like

la desnedida (leave taking), wherein a young tanner, who has

been nromoted to be a Vigilante, tries to convince his

woman that she is no longer worthy of being his wife. Fray

Hocho*a technique is very much like that of Browning in his

monologues, although not so polished.

In Fllosofando (philosophizing) a Gaucho learns a lesson

from his horse. He rants about horses wanting to have their

own way, and all of a sudden he realizes that he is like them,

having his own way through a love affair with a woman who is

his wife’s inferior. Horses are horses, but men should know

better. A dialogue Fntre Amigos is worked out very much like

* del Oampo’s Fausto. A Gaucho tells a friend of witnessing

the wedding of another friend and describes the festivities:

the dancing on the ring, the refreshments that were served,

the guests, etc. Finally he ends up by laughing at the priest’s

latin. This is a little gem in Its pictorial quality. A Gaucho

mourns the old life of the soldier in Quartelera and how the

true orlollo has disappeared, leaving only objects of misery of - 83 -

whom he says:. nIf there is anyone Mho is left like myself,

he goes around.visiting the barraoka, hungry, in rags, and

waiting for a hone ... if there is one by ehanoe, because 84 even bones are getting scarce. n

A humorous little sketch is that of the Gaucho who takes

his son to school to be taught how to be a man, the son of an

**estanciero", and not to learn poetry, science, and how to do

housework. t D. MANUEL GALVEZ

The first proof of literary ability of Manuel Galvez is

shown in articles published in a review. Ideas, which he

founded when only twenty-one years of age. When he published

El solar do la raza. he was at once acclaimed as one of the jiost eminent of Spanish American .writers. Many editions of

bis works have been made, end some of his novels have been

translated into English. He is rich In observation; his style

is forceful and his presentation realistic• 1, El Gauoho de "Los Carrillos". In this work, Galvez

gives a picture of the disastrous results of the rule of Rosas

on family life. The title of the book is also the name given

■to Rosas — Cerrlllos being the location of his hacienda. Throughout the story runs the thread of politics. The

incidents befalling the Montellano and Hinojosa families during

this turbulent tine (1828) make up the plot of the story. Dis­

sension between those two families is onused by the wounding of Jose Rafael Hinojosa by Jullanoito Montellano in a dispute - 84

over politics. Montellano, the father, asks Dorrego, who is . then in power in Buenos Aires, for the release of Julianolto.

. Dorrego frees him even though he is o federal of the opposing

party. Tomas Hinojosa and Remedies Montellano see their

long hoped for marriage destroyed by this breach, which daily

widens -- with the Montellanos on the sido of the imltarlos

and the Hinojosa standing firm for the fcdcrales. Rafael

gives vent to his patriotic fervor by imitating the Gauehoa

in dress and habits, and by spending much time at the phlperla

trying to raise insurrections against the Unitarians. The Oauoho has been repeatedly mentioned e® being "herded"

to the electoral booth. Such an instance is demonstrated here

bv the description of election day In Buenos Aires. When

Dorrego defeated lavalle, his followers accused the federales

: . * of boosting the votes by using the most crude type of Gauofaos

and negroes to vote for them.

Don Juan Manuel Roses is mentioned several times by

Hinojosa as a man of growing influence, and one who could

straighten out the political turmoil. He had already been in

the public eye in 1820 when with the Gauehoa employed on his hacienda he had saved Buenos Aires from an Indian invasion.

Dissatisfaction arose against Dorrego and even his own

followers deserted him for Lavalle, who in a daring attempt

defeated the over-confident Dorrego.

Galvez draws the picture of Lavalle as a nan of justice, whOt seeing that the destruction of one party or the other 85 -

wns imminent;, decided to out off the heed cf the other perty by executing Dorr ego. This notion elvznys haunted him. Galvez exhonemtcs him by saying that his purpose m s that or apply­

ing a counter irritant to the internal struggle. This action

rang his death knell in the people’s admiration for him.

Boses was gradually gathering an army of Oeuohoa. and

Lavalle, foreseeing in this a verification in himself of what

he had planned for another, held n private conference with

Bosns. They agreed on peaoe, with a secret clause which gave

Boses the reins of the government. Thus, without n revolution,

Bosas stole Into the seat of government of Buenos Aires, dis­ placing Lavalle, who was too honest to break his word to an

unprincipled man made In a crucial moment.

The political situation continued, heaping trouble on

the two families concerned in the story. Julian Uontelleno, while out in search for Gauoho rebels, heard q Gauoho singing

a clellto tie la montonero, a ballad in praise of the Gauoho

hordes. Julian rushed into the pulperfa and killed him not

knowing that it was Rafael Hinojosa. Another blow was added,

when the father of Hinojosa beoene implicated in a plot to

oust Lavalle and was imprisoned. To avoid complications, Julian Montellano is sent away

to join a commander whose business Is to be always on the go

from one town to another looking for rebels. He treats his

soldiers unmercifully, and one day in a fit of madness he

wounds Montellano, crippling him for life. 86 -

The story shows that unltarloa and faderales suffered alike in the political upheaval which finally culminated in the dictatorship of Rosas.

2. La Parana % su paslon. In this novel by Galvez,.the life of Argentina has taken on a slower pace. The story presuapoge­ es n ranch later date than that of the affairs related in 11

Gaucho do "Los Cerrlllos". The story deals with the race­ track, which grips not only Gauchoa but foreigners alike.

Gnuchesque writers, in their lyric poems, ehd included the Indian as an important factor in the evolution of the country. Galvez treats the Indian, but in his story the

Indian is no longer the savage who swept over the plains with a captive white woman, he is aimply Caupa, a stable-boy in the service of Federico Wilkinson.

Fermln, the Jockey, is no longer the Gaucho tamer of horses, trailer, or bard, but an instrument of gain in the stud of Wilkinson. F o m i n has the sene love for horses as his nomadic brothers, and the same characteristics. He did not believe in man* and his book knowledge began and ended with Martin Fierro, from which he had learned several passages believing that they expressed his own ideas. The Gaucho had declined, but Martin Fierro still shed his spirit over the remnants of his race. The life of the city could never obliterate the innate characteristics of the "criollo of former days. The thread of the story is the age old question of rivalry 8? -

and unfnir play between Jockeys to win for their masters. The part that concerns us the most is that dealing with the charac­

ter of Feraln, who like his Gaucho predecessors, is staunch in

the face of trouble, and .obdurate in refusing to admit defeat.

Fenafn is accused of infidelity to Wilkinson* Later he

Is told that his wife is guilty of Illicit relations with

Wilkinson, and ho realizes the reason for being suspected of unfair play. H® is, however, redeemed in the public eye by saving Wilkinson’s prize horse from being impaired for the races.

Galvez includes in the story a eulogy to a passing tradi­ tion — the cult of the horse. He says: "Without him (el caballo criollo) the epic poetry of our fields would not exist, nor the rudeiments of drama and lyric poetry. He could not be omitted in the elementary dramas of the rac6 involving faoon

and poncho, for the presence of the horse tied to the paling,

ready for the flight, was the only hope of denouement... He carried liberty to the towns, and knew the privations of the

desert, he fled with the historic Moreira and the legendary

Martin Fierro, he witnessed under the secular orabu the payada

between the devil and Santos Vega... What was he not in our

land! Soldier and "moatonero", (guerrilla), letter-carrier

and farmer, and even a "perejero" in Gaucho races which he 85 knew how to win obediently..." Speaking of the Gaucho being in full possession of all his faculties when on horseback, Galvez repeats a statement made by General Mans111a during the French blockade, "Those - 88 -

Europeans, who do not know hor to gallop throughout a night, 86 what can they do to ue?w

He oonoludea voicing regret that the Argentine boy- eoursers are gradually disappearing. ITo one loved horses more than did the Gaucho and no one showed greater interest

in them then the Argentines, in by gone days. But with the

disappearance of the (rancho. Interest in his horse declined. B. CARLOS CC7AVI0 BD1GE

Bunge (1875-1918) Immediately won literary recognition when in 1903 he published Nuestra America, whleh was later

considered as his best work. In it he gives a pessimistic

picture of Spanish America. Bunge stands out as a thinker.

For that reason his soeiologloel and pedagogical works are of

more value than hie novels, stories and dramas• His books

show mainly imaginative as well as didactic qualities.

1. La Novels de la Sangre. Bunge, like Galvez, deals

with the disastrous effects the rule of Rosas had on the

estonclns. Blanca Arellanos had just celebrated her marriage

to Regis Valcena. Just after they arrived home, Rosas, dis­

pleased because the marriage had been private and he had not

been invited, sent general Pantucci after him. Roses accused

Regis of being a "unltario", and he sent him on a secret mis­

sion to Santa Fe, which was then under Lopez. While his

family and bride went frantic about his mysterious disappear­

ance, Regis was kept prisoner until his brother Silvio and a friend of his, Chiraldi, helped him to escape. Instead of 89

Joining his bride and family he enlisted with Lavalie and fought the federnlea. His brother became much implicated in an uprising and Rosas had hln beheaded. One of the instances of Roses* disregard for human suffering is that of torturing Don Valentin for the supposed faults of his son. He was locked in a room for hours tied to a chain with the head of his son before him until horror gave piece to apathy, dispair, and finally a merciful liberation. His heart had burst under the strain. Lavalle was killed by unitarlos, and a remnant of his -army carried him to Potosi where he was buried by that people. Since then they ere highly commended for their deed by the Argentines for honor­ ing a man whom they did not then fully appreciate. During the absence of Regis, Pantucol, who had always admired Blanca, did his best to keep Blanca uninformed as to her husband’s whereabouts, and it is he who reports his death. After ten years Regis returns to find Blanca the wife of Pantuccl, whom she had been persuaded to marry. He found his bride the mother of the child of his treacherous friend, who was punished sufficiently when he saw the woman whose affection he had never won reconciled to her husband of ten years before. The conclusion is marred by the drowning of the little child, thus the writer very conveniently turns over a new leaf for Regis and Blanca. This work would be of interest to a biographer on Rosas, for Rosas makes up the background of the story. There are - 90 -

sufficient Instances of his delight to play with his victim just as a cat does with a mouse -- even more heartlessly so.

On his wife’s death he had the entire condederetion wear mourn­ ing and a red hand with the inscription: "Viva la federacion

— *ueran loa salvn.les inmuados unitarlos." There are numer­ ous episodes of his cruelty toward the Indians. They were

Imprisoned and every day two were taken out, and dragged by two horsemen over the rooks and then cast, into the sea as an exemplary punishment to those who dared diatrub his dictator- shin.

Feats in horsemanship abound and the over recurrent voic­ ing of disgust for the cityfled man who could not endure the saddle. Regis, on his way to Santo Fe is escorted by Gauohos who expect him to drop from his saddle after riding for a whole night -— but by will power, he stays on and deprives them of this satisfaction.

Bunge has the pictorial quality of Sormiento, but not his bitterness.

F. RICARDO GttIRALDES

As a writer of excellent descriptions of country life,

Giiiraldes (1806-1927) has excelled former writers in his convincing reality. He writes in the common speech of the

Gaucho. Like Obligedo, he shows interest in Argentine legends, and includes them in his works.

1. Don Segundo Sombre. Giiiraldes has included all these qualities in his book Don Segundo Sombre. Fabio Caoeres leaves - 91 -

the home of his aunts In La Blanqueada to Imitate Don Segundo

Sombre, a typical Gnuoho for whom be has conceived a great admiration. He leads the rough life of a herdsman until

Don Segundo sombre has taught him life in the Parana. Mot until he knew how to be a cattleman, and had learned the tricks of a horse-breaker, the use of the lazo and boles, how to train a horse, how to prepare leather, and the art of a trailer, did Don Segundo Sombra pronounce him eligible for survival in the Pampa. In regard to his character, he was taught to have faith in friends, distrust in women, and prudence with strangers. The story, like HartIn Fierro contains elements of folk­ lore. A little story is told by Don Segundo Sombra of the son of a woman and a devil, who was born without skin. In the form of e flamingo he, the skinless son, steals a girl while she Is bathing in the river. Dolores, a youth who witnessed this occurence, is advised by a witch how to find her. After six days he was able to find an insect, which he killed and from which he took o tuft of feathers, which he hung around his neck. The heart he put in a bottle, as .he witch had told him. ‘Text day he saw the flominro by a river facing the . sunrise. Suddenly Dolores saw him changed into a dwarf, and then killed him. At once he saw a tower and coming from it

Consuelo. with others who had"been-imprisoned with her.

This little story is c gem of Argentine folklore. Pablo learns that he has been left an unexpected inheri- - 9 8

tanoe; and against his will, but following the advice of

Don 3®gundo, be returns to La Blanqueeda where he stays only under the agreement that his friend stay with him. After three years of city life, Don Segundo ean no longer disre­ gard the call of the plains and he tears himself away from

Fabio whom he has learned to love like a son.

The parting may /be taken symbolically os that of the whole dauoho race. Fabio says. T h e diminishing silhouette of my godfather apneared on the hill. I thought that it was too soon. Nevertheless it was he, I felt him because in spite of the distance he was not far. My sight fixed itself determinedly upon that small movement over the somnolent

Tampa. It was just about to reach the top of the road and disappear. It went on growing smaller as if it were out off at the bottom by repeated slices. On the dark point of his hat, my eyen were fixed; in the effort to make that last glimpse last. It was useless, something clouded my sirht, perhaps the effort, and a light full of small vibrations extended itself over the plains. I know not what strange suggestion

I felt of the boundless presence of a soul. ♦Shadow (sombre)’, 87 « I said do myself.” The Gaucho Is gone, but his spirit lingers on. In treating his material Ouiraldes equals the gauchesque poets in the descriptions of the Pampa, where impressions are rapid and spasmodic. The account of the roundups, the sports,

dances, and songs, all show that Ouiraldes erne nearer the - 95 -

art of Hernandez than any writer who aueeeeded him. However, he has not the melancholy of Hernandez. 94

V. THE CMTOHD IN THE DRAMA

The rudiments of Gauoho drama originated from Qaaeho dances and dialogues. The dramatized dances, already des­ cribed, gave the gauoheaque stage its local color. Some of the liturgical traditions of the Indians find a plae® in Gaucho civilization. The dancing and gesticulating that accompanied the burial of an Indian finds its equal in the singing and dancing at the"death of a lit Lie child, a cus­ tom still followed in some parts of Santiago.

The nayada was epic in theme, didactic and narrative; it was lyric because it was sung So the guitar, and dramatic because of the dialogue in the poyadns de contrapunto. which generally ended tragically. All this found a place in the

Gaucho melodramatic circus performances, from which evolved the national theatre. •

The first circus performances consisted of short impromp­ tu-plays accompanied by songs. The Gauoho would ride around the ring strumming his guitar and singing -— with interpre­

tative gestures. This was supplemented by short episodes which had as the central figure the pursued Gauoho. Between

conflicts with the authorities, he sang while others danced.

Thus the drama began to consist of the biography of some hero

like Santos Vega or Martin Fierro. The presentations were very realistic and exaggerated;

not until 1396 did Martlniano Leguizamon create a reaction

against this exaggeration by converting the rebellious - w -

Gaucho Into an induatrioos person — one T?ho abandoned the old quarrels resulting In bloodshed and became a worker In 88 the fields. The performances were improving their mold.

The plays were performed by travelling circuses, and the group was not increased but repeated over end over until the characters became types. The small body of historical drama has remained unchanged, fixed, classic.

The staging of these plays was very much like that of early Elizabethan dramas. The stage was portable, and was placed inside of a ring. Crude back cloths, oil lamps, and boxes for the audience to sit on made up the ”theatre”.

In 1804, Juan MoreIra, the novel by Eduardo Gutierrez was adapted for dramatization in this circus theatre. The four greatest eriollo dramas are: Juan MoreIra. Santos Vega,

Pastor Luna and Musollno. but they have become so convention­ alized that the characters are now mere stock characters like those in Latin drama.

The transformation of Gaucho drama to modern realism is due to such dramatists as Julio Sanches Cordell, Roberto Fayro and Alberto Ghlraldo. #*

VI. CONCLUSION

The Gaueho was a product of the adaptation of the

Spaniard to the conditions in the nev? lond^/ His fight with the elements resulted in making him a man of physical endur­ ance end individuality. The Gaueho was a historic and spiri­ tual type forged in the crucible of heterogeneous ethnical influences. He followed the standards of Belgrano and Sen

Martin. His blood ren in torrents that the Argentine of to­ day might have freedom, end it is as a protagonist of liberty that he has become a national character.

When the unjust nation no longer needed him, he accepted his defeat with haughty pessimism. Sentos Vega, who typifies the Qaucho race, had been defeated, and, unable to face life without all that hed made un his patrio chlca. he drowned his sorrow in songs, and, heartbroken, disappeared. The Gaueho is-just beyond the hill, disappearing slowly so that one nay not think it is for fear.

In literature the Gaueho can claim to have been the first to weave into lyric verse and dramatic dialogues the two threads of Argentine life, the foreign and the native. Gaueho; payadores and later Gaueho writers gathered all the essence of

the virgin land in molds, which any be crude but which are the

first forms, of Argentine literature. It is regretable that

more collections of lyric verse were not made, es they would

be a nine of information to those interested in the folklore

of the country. - 97 -

The first reflection of the soul of Argentina is found in the works of early gauohesque writers. Ingenuous in composition, and crude in langttejj*, this literature has the emotion and the psychological baste on which may be built a national literature. It contains esthetic possibilities, because it treats everything that tended toward modeling the

Gaucho's conception of life.

The evolution of Gaueho literature is clearly marked.

Beginning with improvised narratives of epic character, and

lyric "ballads* which were followed by dramatic verse, it

contained the elements of both the novel and the drama.

If Argentina is to perpetuate the history and traditions

of the country, revealing the mystery of life in Argentine

atmosphere, future poets, novelists, and dramatists must say

in sunerior form what these primitives said in their ingenuous 89 way about love, sorrow and glory. NOTES

K 1. Bunge, Introd. to Hnrtfn Fierro, p. 9: ’’Era fuertc y

henaoeo por su complexion ffslcaj cetrlno de piel, tostado por la intemperie; nediano y pooo erguldo

de eataturn; enjuto de nuaculoa, por log rudos

ejeroleioa; agudo en la nirada de sus ojos negros,

habltuadoa a aondar las perspectives del dealerto.

Su temperamento sc habia hecho nervioeo-bllioeo

por la alimentnelon carnivora y el gencro de vide.

2. Gulraldes, Don Scgundo Sombre, p. 261: "Un gauoho de a pie

es buena eose p a ra eer tirade al zanjon de las

baattraa.

3. Sarmiento, Feeundo, p. 49: ”E1 rastreedor es un personaje grave, cireunspecto, cuyos aseveraciones haeen fe

en los tribunnles inferiores. La eonolenoia del

saber qua posee le da cicrta dignldad reservada y mlstoriosn. Todos lo tratan eon eonsideraoion: El

pobre, porque puede hocerle mol, oalumnlandolo 6 / denunclaiidolo; el propietario, porque su testinonio

puede fallarle. Un robo se ha ejecutado durante

la noohe; no bleu se note, aorren a busoar una pi-

aada del ladron, y cnoontrada, se oubre con algo

para que el viento no la disipe. Se llama ensegul-

da ol rastreador, que vc el rastro, y lo sigue sin mirar sino da tarda an tarda el suelo, oooo sus ojos vieran de relieve esto pisada, que para otro es imperceptible. Sigue el curso de los calles,

atravieaa log huertoa, entro en una case, y sefla-

lando an fcombre que eneaentra, dice frlonente, ,Este

• esl1 El delito esta probado, y rpro es el delin­

quent* que restate a esta acusaoion.**

4y Sarmiento, Faeundo. p. 53: "Se pare an momento, reconocc el

horlzonte, ezamina el suclo, clnva la vista en an

panto y se eeha a galopar con la rectitud de ana

fleoha, haste que Gambia de rumbo per motives que

el sabe, y galopando d£a y noohe, llega al lugar

designado.”

5. Sarmiento, Faeundo. p. 55:

6. ^Coaster, Literary History of Spanish America, p. 134.

7. YUgarto, The Qauoho and the Pamna. Living Age, p. 269.

8. Rojas, Hlatorla de la Literatura Argentina. Vol. I, p. 230:

"Es la zambo elegante pantomime de la galanter£a

oortea. Aunque no tlene letra, el mo viral ento de la

radslea y el gesto de los protcgenistas, bests a ezr

preaar el "drama" de sus veledoe aentlmientos. Se

baila entre an hombre y una raujer, y el silcnoio del

ooro y de los bailantes pareoe destaoar raejor la

posicldn reefproea de la pareja soliterla. Bn aquel silencio de discreeion y ©xpeetaeidn el drama

eoreograftoo dwenvuelve su aceidn sin figures

prees tabled das, dejando librada a la inspiraeidn

del momento. la interpretaolon del as unto y la grade

de los moviralentosi El asunto consists en un asedio - 1 0 0 -

oortes do la dome nor cl galan, y on una oalcalada

esqulrez de aquella, quo a im tlempo misrao parece

atraer y rehulr a so peraegaldor. El gelan traza

entonoea prlmorosoa dlbujoa con los pies y ondea

en el aire un pafluelo qua hace el oonfalon de sa

eonqulsta, ooentuando en el gesto y el ademan el

proposito de rendir a la dams; pero esto hay# en

un olrculo, eon aoartelado vaiven, todo ello ol

ritrao languldo, lento, y gcntil de la musica. Las

alternatives de la ..aoolon.. prorienen de que anas

veees el hoabre va c o m en perseoucion de la nujer,

y en otras, ella, que Simulaha huirle, vuelvese a

enfrehterlo, reoogiendo delicadamente la falda, para

moatrar, de rato en rato, la punta inquieta de sua

zapatoa provocatives."

9. Bunge, Introd. to Martin Fierro, p. 13: "Los antiguoa de­

port es del gauoho se han tranaforaado 6 caido en

desuso. Las oarreraa, en las ouales se oruzaban

spuestea, lo eran de "cabellos parejeros" ... Otro

de los deportee favorites del gauoho era bolenr

avestruccs y ganos ... era apasionado por las rifias

de gallos."

10. Bunge, TTuestra America, p. 169. "Tres rasgos componen el

genio de la raza, la pereza, la trlsteza y la

arroganola. 11. Bunge, Nuestra America, p. 170: "Insultar a la socledad,

robar, herlr, matar, no son delltos volunterlos; son aotos Involunterloa a que obllgan clrounstancias

orftlcna.w

12. ^Hernandez, Martin Fierro, p. 76.

13. Oulraldes, Don Senundo Sombras.p. 135: f,Y asf va el hombre

peraiguiendo lo que aleanzo con su vista, sin penaar

en el desnmparo que lo agualta atrns de coda Ionia da.

Tranoo por trance lo ampere un espernnza, que es la

cuarta que lo nyuda en repechoe para ir cenlnando

rumbo a su osamenta. Pero ipera cue hsblar de coeas

qua no.Xlpncn renedlo?"

14. Rojas, Hlatorlo de la Literntura Argentina. Yol. I, p. 139:

‘ ... es monoteista y crlstlnno; oree en la

extatencin del alna y en el podcr de la oradon, ...;

reverend a las tumbcs y la sef.al de la cruz; aoate

In voz de la conclencla y el lazo moral de la palm-

bra empefmda; y no hablendo tenldo clerlgos ni

temples en el deslerto de so vide eventurere, hlzo

de la pempa Infinite, que era su patrio y su hogar,

1® basilica do inmonsldad y de silendo, bn jo cuya

boveda alaterlosn, Dios le ofrecia en el oriente

azul, ante el oandclobro de oro de stia oonstelaciones,

la olcvacidn enoarietica de la luna.M

15. Lugones, A Oanpo y Olelo, Nosotros. &49, (1913). p. 232.

"Todovla oaando ©ezo la matanzn, su voto - 102 - •

Inooncicntc sirvio durante largos aEnos para la

; experlencia vegetntivn de las eleoclones oficiali- zndas, en las ouales oontlnuo siendo cl eleaento dooll."

16. Bunge, Nuestra America, p. 166: "De Hidalgo y sefior ha

ventdo a oaer en aero peon asalariado de los feuda-

les eatancleros

17. Bunge, Martin Fierro, p. 18: "SI nuevo innlgrente fue

desnlojando ol Gauoho — adquirlendo el uso de la

moderns teenies y ol nismo tienpo el inalgrante

eojla earacterlstloos gsuoheeeos haste qyc.se puede

deoir que los gauehos europelzados son los futures

crgentlnos y oasl los argentInos de hoy.

18. Koehel, Argont1no: Post and Present. p. 169.

19. Koebel, Argentina: Past ond Present, p. 219.

20. Lugones, A Canpo y Glclo, Noaotroa. Mo. 49, (1915), p. 225.

3u dessparlclon es un bleu para el pals, por-

que contenla un elemento Inferior en su parte de

sangre Indigene; pero su defInloion oomo tipo naoIo­

na 1 ooentuo en forma irrevocable, que es decir etales

y aoclalmente, nuestra separaolon de Espafia oonati-

tuyendonos una personalidad proplo.

21. lugones, A Comno y Clelo, Mosotroe. No. 49, (1913), p. 233.

"Enoontremos que todo euanto es origan propia-

mente naelonal, vlene de el. La guerra de la

independenola que nos eonstituyo; la guerra de la - 105

frontera que cseguro para la civilizeIon la totali-

dad del territories la fuente de nnestra literature,

las prendas y defectoc fundementales de nustro oardo-

ter; las instltucidnea mas peeullarcs coao el

daudtllF!je, que ha clxrllizedo el desierto; en todo

lo hallamos eomo tlpo genuine.”

22. Rojas, Hlstoria de la Llteratura Argentina. Vol. I, p. 221.

"Clertamente, muchos tlpos de nuestre llrloe

provlenen de la Peninsula,...: aqu£ se les Imprlald

otro esplrltu, el entrar en nuevo cllno, al ponerse

en contaoto eon nuevoa horabres. Los Indies dleron su

aporte de melaneolfa; ... Y todo eso, para qulen sabe

cseuoharlo con los oldoe del esplritu, ya no fue

espeEol, nl qulohue,..., aunque lo hublera side antes

de oer argentine.

23. Rojas, Hlstoria de la literature: Argentina. Vol.I. p. 356:

"La figure del Geueho se present# por primera

vez en 1776 cuendo la guerre con los portugueses;

vuelve nuevaMcnte a la esoena luohando contra el

ingles en 1807, cuendo Buenos Aires los convooo

para su aefensa; definido ya en sus rasgos llterarios

e histofioos, reapareee en 1810 eantando los cielitos

de lo libertad y concluye por fin aquella gesta

platioando menorics en los Dialogos de Hidalgo.

24. Rojas, Hlstoria de Lo Literature Argentina. Vol. I, p. 356: "Despues de esto, el tipo gaueho llega a su 104 -

plenltud — toio el mundo so agouoha — el troje

es el poncho — el hebls peyadoresoa. El osplrltu

libre del molde extrsnjero, aclta, relinohs de ^usto oomo un oorool,

25. P.ojaa, Hlstorla de In Literature Argent Inn. Vol. I, p. 350:

nEcheverrfa desorlblo la pampa beJo ana

esteiica Inteleetual y Codoy bajo oonteoto personal

...tienen el misno esplrltu. Fuo el primero que

esorlbld de la tlerra gauoha — no del alma gaueho

nomas ...”

26. Eoheverrfa, la Oatitlva. p. 15.

27. Coester, Literary History of Spanish America, p. 105.

28. Rojas, Hlstorla de la Iltercturn Argentina. Vol. I, p. 423:

"La gloria de L'cheverrfa consiste no solo en

haber oreado estn nueva corriente, mas. progreslva,

feeunde y universol que la otra, sino en ser el

primer poeta que oompusiera un poeaa oon argumento

pampeano en verso oulto ... 3u gloria consiste en

la prlorldnd de la tentative, ... leuro que nadie

podra dlsputarle." .

29. Rojas, Historiu de la Literature Argentine. Vol. I, p. 443:

"As £ la obre presenta sugestlones de todo

nuestro terrltorlo, y describe la vide de la ouldad

y la estanoia, del clero y las millcias, de los indlos y log orIs tinnos, nbnracando todos los ordenee

de la vida social. Tantos elementos ha querldo Asoasubl encerrar en ella, que por dilator el marco r

105 -

ha dc3Cu£dado la tela, las figures son a voces

confuses, borrosos lo@ paisajes, faloes las

perspectives, Esto provlene &# quo estate

la composicion en el dialog©, y no en el dialogo

dramatico, sino en la simple conversaoion suscep­

tible de interrapeiones, parentesis y desvios.

30. Rojas, Hlstoria de la Literature Argentina. Vbl. I, p. 446.

31. Mitre, Rlmos. p. 140.

32. Mitre, Rimes, p. 146.

33. J. Hernandez, ..., E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 308.

34. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto.

pp. 316-318.

35. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Fierro - Fausto. p. 336.

36. J . Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Fierro - Fausto. p. 338.

37. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Fierro - Fausto. p. 339.

38. J . Hernandez, ..., E . del Campo: Fierro - Fausto. p. 339.

39. Bunge, Introd. to Martin Fierro'.

40. J. Hernandez, ..., E . del Campo: Fierro - Fausto. p. 41.

41. J. Hernandez, ..., E. del Campo: Fierro - Fausto. p. 42.

42. J. Hernandez, ..., _E. del Campo: Fierro - Fausto. p. 44.

43. J . Hernandez, ...» E . del Campo: Fierro - Fausto. n. 43.

44. J . Hernandez, . S. del Campo: Fierro - Fausto. p. 49.

45. J. Hernandez, ...» E . del Campo: Fierro - Fausto. p. 69.

46. J. Hernandez, ..., E. del Campo: ______Fierro - Fausto. p. 75.

47. J. Hernandez, ..., E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 82. 48. J. Hernandez, ..., E . del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 83. «* 106 —

49 . J. Hernandez, E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto, p. 112.

50. J. Hernandez, E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 113.

51. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 120.

52. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 175.

53. Byron, Works. Vol. IV, p. 17.

54. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 175.

55. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 231.

56. J. Hernandez, ..., E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 236.

57. J. Hernandez, ..., E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. pp.

239, 241, 842.

58. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 248.

59. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 248.

60. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo; Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 266.

* 61. J. Hernandez, ...» E. del Campo: Martin Fierro - Fausto. p. 266.

62. legulzamon. Cuol es el valor de Martin Fierro? Nosotros, Vol. X.

(1913) p. 428: "Martin Fierro es en ml sentir,

nuastro poena naolonal, no solo porque pints eon

oolores no Igualados, todo un doloroto periodo de la

vida naolonal sino porque en sus tosoos oefcosilaboa...

se oondensan las mas hobles aspiraoiones, los ideales

mas hondos y generosog, como si en sus estrofas

reaonara la voz de la extrafia prole desventurada que

: ayudo a libertar y construir la tierra natal eon la

pujanza de su brazo y la prodlga immolacion de su

sangrebravia.” 107 -

63. Galvez, £Cunl es el valor de Mertfn Plerro? Hoeotroa. Vol. X. (1913), p. 431.

64. Mas y Pf, Don Juan de, ACual es el valor de Martin Fierro?

Hosotros, Vol. X. (1913), pp. 431, 432: "Martin

Fierro es un poenia de an nonento de la vide Argentina, ingenuo, senoillo, sin oomplioaoiones iapropias del

alma popular, verdadera creacion del espirltu de la.

tierra, Martin Fierro no puede equlpararse, a poser

. de todo, a la Gesta de Hio'Old por una razon a mi

entender irrefutable: el lemguaje. So trata de

ana obra quo no aporta nada fundamentsImente nuevo

a la literature... Martin Fierro es un poema regional

.... por sintetizar birounetanoias passjeros de la

misna tierra Gauoha.' .

65. Rivarola, AOual es el valor de Martin Fierro? Hosotros,

Vol. X. (1913), p. 423. . 66. Rivarola, lOual es el valor de Martin Fierro? Hosotros. Vol. XI. (1913), p. 83: "Las literatures

dialeetales no ban produeido nunca verdaderas epo-

peyas, nl poenas olbsloos de earaoter epioo ...

La literature gauchesca no es ni siquiera dialectal

nl traduee el espirltu de elenentos etnieos; mos si

el de eierta close de gent©a quo arrastro una vide

preoaria y durante solo cinouenta aflos de nuestra

hlstoria. Y en lo relative de que entre nosotros

no se ha operado una evoluoion sino mas bien una

substituoion de la raza, algo la sable y ooncisa

opinion del Dr. Rivarola." 108

67. lugones, ^Cuales el.valor de-Martin Fierro? Hosotros. Vol. XI. (1913), p. 84.

68. Ugartc, &Cual es el valor de Martin Fierro? Hosotro*#

Vol. XI. (1913), pp. 81, 82: "Creo que la obra de Hernandez es un gran poems naolonal ... se trata de un alto antecedents, de un lualnoso origen de lo

que enpleza a ser y sera cede vez mas dlreetaaente

wnueetra literature", a ! arte de reflejo - de oorte

claslco, romantloo, parnasiono, deoadente, segun las

epooQs,-— de asunto extrenjero, aroalco, exotloo, v

' universal, segun los temperementos,— tenia que

substltulrse.aqu£ un arte nacido de nuestra hlstorla,

nuestres costimbres, y nuestro anblente... Martin Fierro

fue, en realldad, la prlaera senllla de arte que echo

raloes on nuestro terrltorlo. Lo anterior, coao casl

todo lo que vino despue®, eabe en un titulo: effaeras

flores...En lo que se reflere a la teenies, fue

• rudiaentarlo. Pero es el padre Indlsoutlble de la

naolente literature. Y es a titulo de precursor

c que debemos saludarlo los que venlmos luohando en el

favor del arte naolonal desde los tlempos en que esa fi . oorrlente levantaba las reslstenclos de algunos de

los misraos que hoy la oultivan. **

69. Salaverria, El Poema de la Pampa. p. 29: "Kn cuanto a sentIdo religiose y fllosofloo, au sobrledad, su

estololsmo, su soearroneria, su valor, su eapaque. - im

su ftdelldad, su desprendtelento, *u mezola de

graoejo y de melanoolfa, su amor al eaballo y al

ouehlllo todos estoa atributos corresponden

a la nataraleza del espaRol.

70. Salaverr£a, SI Poeraa de la Panpa.p. 27: MY para los

espafioles qua heraog haWitado aquel pals, y senti-

raos que an la llanura del Plata se reproduce y

continue el tipo espafiol con todos sus lunares y

todas sus bellezas, este llbro de Martin Fierro

nos sorprende al principle, nos entusiasoa despues,

y al final lo considers*)# coao una simple prolon-

gaoion de la literature y del alma espafiola a

traves del Oceano.

71. Obligado, Tradlolones Argentina*, p. 31.

"Era el grito poderoso

Del progreso dado al viento;

21 solemn# llamamiento

Al oombate mas glorioso.

Bra, en medio del repose

De la Paapa oyer dormida.

La Vision ennobleoida Del trebajo, antes no honrado;

La promesa del arodo

Que obre oouces a la vida.

Como magleo espejisno - 110 -

Al coupes do eoe conelerto.

Mil oladades el dcsierto

Levantaba do s£ alsno.

Y a la par que en el ablsrao

Una edad se desmorona,

Al conjuro, en la anoha zona

Derraaabase la Europa,

Que sin dude Juan Sin Ropa

Era la oiencla en persona.n

72. Obllgado, Tradloionea Argentines, p. 59.

73. Argerieh, Introd. to Lazaro 6 la flbrq selvaje. pp. 18, 19. "Gutierrez fraoaso en su tentative de intro-

ducir en el arte naeional ... el tlpo del gauoho."

"La poetiznclon de los instintos robeldes

del gaucho es la apoteosls de la borbarie y es

injusto deoir que el porvenlr argentine se cifrara

nunca en el fatalists y holgazan toaador de mate

y tooador de guiterra."

74. Gutierrez, Lazaro 6 la fibre salvage, p. 1.

75. Bunge, Introd. to Martin Fierro, p. 21: "Exists, en eaablo,

una espeoie de mester de ^aucherla: tods una litera­

ture artistioa gauohesea, por cierto mas o menos

gauohesoa, mas o menos artistioa y hastn mas o

menos literature. Es obra, en el ultimo teroio del

siglo XIX de payadores suburbanos o de bombres

oultos que supieron, aunque no Interpreter ni

Ideallzar al gauoho, siquiers desoribir sus - Ill

aoWtudes y faabltos, ya imltondo m longuaje,

genulno, ya expresendose en an jerga popular

acmejante. 76. 3armlento, yeoundo. p. 45.

77. Blanoo-Foobone, Introd. to Faoundo. p. 17.

78. Sarmlento, yeoundo. p. 113: "Este ea un moment© aoleane y

eritloo en la hlstorla de todoe lorn pueblos pastores

X de la Republloa Argentina...”

^9. Rojas, Hlstorla do la Literature Argentina* Tol. III. p. 318:

"Serialonto no esoribio la biograffa de Faoundo, sino ored su leyenda. Gompuso el poema epic© de la

montonera, eso guerre civil de los gauchoa; y si

desde 1845 sirvio tal libro como verdad pragmatica

contra Rosas, ... despties de 1860 deberaos tender

a utilizarlo sonamente como verdad pragmatica en

favor de nuestra culture intelectunl, por la enocidn

profunds de tlerra native, de tradlolon popular, de lengua hispano-amerioano y de ideal argentine, que

eae libro treduce ea slatesIs admirable,”

80. Rojas, Hlstorla de In Literature Argentina. Vol. III. p. 320:

nEs el propio Sarmlento quien la considers,

segun se ha vlsto; primero como "un fruto de la

insplraetdn del monento"; segundo como un "ensayo

y revelaoidn para s£ raismo de sue propias ideas".

81. Seraiento, Faoundo. p. 43: Sombra terrible de Faoundo,

voy a evoearte, p a re que, sacudiendo el ensangrentedo - 112 -

polvo que cubre to# eenizaa, te levantea a

explloarno# la vifla scoreta y las oonvuletones

Internes que desgarran las eatrelas de an noble pueblo.

82. Gutierrez. Juan Morelra. p. 216: nEs preoiso conrenoerse

una vez para todas que el gauoho no es un paria

sobre la tierra, que no tiene dereohos de ninguna

close, ni aun el de poseer una mujer buena moza en

oontra de la voluntad de un teniente alcalde."

83. Llorente, Introd. to Sablo Crlollo. p. IS: "Porque era y

es qun el moobo uno de los grandes esorttoree

argentine# no solo por au estilo, slno porque ha

retratado lo vida argentine con maravilloaa fldel-

ided, brillante oolorldo, e inimitable buen humor."

84. Fray Mo oho. Cuentoa de Fray IZooho. p. 57: "Si queda alguno

and# oomo yo, dnndo giieltas alrededor de los

buartcles, muerto de hambre y heoho un endrajo,

esperando un gtieao... si hay por ossualidad porque

haste log giiesos se eaten aoabando." Q5e Galvez, La Panoa y su paalonvp. 108: "Sin el no existirian

ni la poes£a epiea de hueatros oampos, ni los

rudloentos del dra*a y de la llrfoa. El no pod£a

faltar en los elementales dramas del ranoho, a faeon

y ponoho, yo que la preeeneia del pingo, atado en el

palenque, pronto para la Jiuida, era la unloa pers­

pective de desenlaoe. El llevo la libertad a log «* 113 -

ptiebltii hermanos, eonoold las penuries del deolerto,

huyd oon el hlatdrieo lloreira y oon ol legendrlo

Martin Fierro, as 1stid bajo el oabu seeular a la

payada entre el Diablo y Santos Vega, ... |Que no fue en nucstro tierra! Soldado y montonero, eartero

y agrloultor y hasto parejero en las oarreras Gauohas

qne oupo ganarlas obedlentemente...

86. Bunge, La Pampa y su pasldn. p. 118.

87. Oulraldes, Don Segundo Sorabra. p. 323; "La sllueta redudlda

de ml padrlno aparebld en la loaada. Dense que era nuy pronto. Sin embargo era el, lo sontfa porque

a pesar de la distanola no estotia lejos. Hi vista

se oefila energloamente sobre equal pequefio

movimlento en la pampa somnolent#. Ya Ibm a llegar

a lo alto del oamino y desapareoer. Se fue reduolendo

oomo si lo oortaran de abajo en repetldos tejos.

Sobre el punto negro del ohaabergo, mis ojos se

aferraron oon afan de haoer perdurar equal rezago.

Inutll, una luz liens de pequeKas vibraotones se

extendid sobre la llanura. No se que cxtraKa

sugeatldn me proponia la presenoia ilimltada de un

alma. *Sombra' me repeti."

88. Goldberg, A Drama of Transition, p. 89.

89. Rojas, Ulstorla de la Llteratura de Argentina. Vol. I. p. 578:

"Si el arte argentine ha de pintar nuestros paisajes y perpetuar sus tradlotones, revelando el 114

raisterio de In vldn hunsna en nueatro ambients, los futures poetno, dranaturgoa y novellatea de la argentInldad, ban de decir en formas superlores lo que dijeron esoe primitives 6 han de repetIr la propla aotltud esplrltuol de esoo hunildes prede- oesores euando Intenten moatrar las nuevas inquie- 'i tudes del amor, del dolor y de la gloria que le olvilizacion vaya oreando en el mistao- ambiente de la naturaleza emeriesne.

•V - 115 •

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Alvarez, Jose S., Salero Crlollo,- Buenos Aires, 1920.

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Galvez, Manuel, La Pampa % Su Paslon. Buenos Aires, 1926. Goldberg, Isaac, A Drama of Transition. Cincinnati, 1922. Giilraldea, Ricardo, Don 3egundo Sombre. Buenos Aires, 1928.

Gultierrez, Eduardo, Juan MoreIra. Buenos Aires, 1080.

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Nosotros Vol, 10, 1913.

Dr. Martiniano Legulzamon

Enrique Vedla

Manuel Galvez X Don Juan de Mas y Pf

ITosotros Vol. 11, 1913.

Maestro Pelmeta

Manuel TJgarte Alejandro Korn

Hugo Aohaval

Edmundo Montague Emilio L. Tegui

Hosotros Vol. 12, 1913. Emilio Alonso Oriado 83 8T L — / f / • ' 7 3 3

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