Copyright by Médar De La Cruz Serrata 2009
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Copyright by Médar de la Cruz Serrata 2009 The Dissertation Committee for Médar de la Cruz Serrata Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Epic and Dictatorship in the Dominican Republic: The Struggles of Trujillo’s Intellectuals Committee: César A. Salgado, Co-Supervisor Jossianna Arroyo, Co-Supervisor Naomi Lindstrom James Nicolopulos Vance Holloway Adam Z. Newton Epic and Dictatorship in the Dominican Republic: The Struggles of Trujillo’s Intellectuals by Médar de la Cruz Serrata, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May, 2009 Dedication I want to dedicate this dissertation to the loving memory of my mother, Tomasina Serrata (Doña Grey), and to my father, Medardo de la Cruz. To my children, Paloma and Médar Issam, a constant source of joy and inspiration. To Rebeca, who took my hand, brought me back to school and has been by my side at every step of the way: por la alegría compartida . Acknowledgements I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my dissertation supervisors, César A. Salgado and Jossianna Arroyo, for their constant guidance and encouragement. I am also indebted to James Nicolopulous, who introduced me to the world of epic poetry, and to Naomi Lindstrom, Lily Litvak, Enrique Fierro and Vance Holloway, for their suggestions and their generosity. Many thanks to my friends and colleagues from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for their support, and to those in the Dominican Republic who gave access to their libraries and offered me advice—especially to Alejandro Paulino, Odalís Pérez, and Plinio Chahín. To my wife, Rebeca Castellanos, who a few years ago took me by the hand, brought me back to school and has been at my side every step of the way. I could not have done it without her. Finally, I would like to thank the many scholars on whose work I relied throughout the process of writing this study. v Epic and Dictatorship in the Dominican Republic: The Struggles of Trujillo’s Intellectuals Publication No._____________ Médar de la Cruz Serrata, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2009 Supervisors: César A. Salgado and Jossianna Arroyo-Martínez This dissertation studies the use of the epic genre to legitimize totalitarian power. It focuses on the writings of a group of Dominican authors who worked at the service of the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Most specialists of the period agree that the wealth of texts produced by these men of letters articulated an ideological system that allowed General Trujillo’s brutal regime to remain in power for three decades (1930-1961). Their governmental positions, as well as their prestige as writers and orators, granted them unrestricted access to the public school system and to the means of mass communication. They used this access to promote their notions of national identity, while naturalizing Trujillo’s totalitarian power by building consensus in favor of what came to be known as “The New Fatherland.” Their work in this respect was so effective that almost fifty years after the fall of the dictatorship their ideas about what it meant to be Dominican still plays a significant role in the anti-Haitian sentiment that fills the editorial pages of Dominican vi newspapers. These Trujillista authors and public servants, however, did not constitute a homogeneous front. An underlying current of texts produced by some them effectively departed from the main tenets of the official ideology, questioning the basic assumptions upon which lay its definition of dominicanidad . However, far from generating a unified discourse, they expressed divergent views on the Dominican racial and national identity. This fissure in the inner circle of power took the shape of a struggle between two generic forms in the field of cultural production. Whereas the dominant discourse followed the linear structure of the “epic of the victors,” identifying the Dominican identity with Spanish culture and the Catholic faith, the oppositional texts incorporated the digressive form of an “epic of the vanquished,” highlighting the contributions of the African diaspora to the emergence of a Caribbean consciousness. vii Table of Contents Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Chronology ..............................................................................................................9 Chapter 1: The role of epic in Trujillo’s “Era” ......................................................12 1.1 Uncovering the nation’s historical destiny ..........................................13 1.2 Epic and archive ...................................................................................23 1.3 The norms of the Trujillista epic ..........................................................29 1.4 Epic and power ....................................................................................44 Chapter 2: The twice-told tales of Manuel Arturo Peña Batlle .............................48 3.1 Peña Batlle’s liberal stage or the trials of sovereignty .........................54 3.2 Enriquillo, father of the liberal revolution ...........................................69 3.3 Leaping over the abyss: Peña batlle’s Trujillista phase .......................82 3.4 Reconstructing the national hero .........................................................91 3.5 Concluding remarks ...........................................................................103 Chapter 3: Joaquín Balaguer and the foundation of the Eternal City ..................107 2.1 Antihaitianismo ideology and the Haitian Massacre .........................111 2.2 Rewriting genocide: From massacre to Reconquest ..........................116 2.3 Praise and lament for the Eternal City ...............................................126 2.4 Santo Domingo’s tale of death and resurrection ................................137 2.5 The rise of Ciudad Trujillo ................................................................147 2.6 Concluding remarks ...........................................................................163 Chapter 4: Tomás Hernández Franco or the origin of the mulatto race...............166 4.1 The road from the avant-garde to trujillismo .....................................168 4.2 The relocation of Haiti in the Caribbean imaginary ..........................186 4.3 The discovery of the “mulatto zone” .................................................193 4.5 Yelidá : The mock-epic of the mulatto race ........................................210 4.6 Concluding remarks ...........................................................................229 viii Chapter 5: The dystopian narrative of Ramón Marrero Aristy ............................231 5.1 The elusive life of Marrero Aristy .....................................................234 5.2 The plantation as allegory ..................................................................242 5.3 The wanderings of romance ...............................................................252 5.4 The representation of Haitians in Over ..............................................258 5.5 Marrero’s about-face ..........................................................................263 5.6 The Poet’s fall from grace ..................................................................273 5.7 Concluding remarks ...........................................................................275 Conclusion: The end of Trujillo’s Era .................................................................277 Works Cited .........................................................................................................286 Vita 297 ix Introduction The present study examines the use of the epic genre for the legitimation of totalitarian power. It focuses on the writings of Joaquín Balaguer (1906-2002), Manuel A. Peña Batlle (1902-1952), Ramón Marrero Aristy (1913-1959), and Tomás Hernández Franco (1904-1952)—four Dominican authors who worked at the service of the dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo (1891-1961). Most specialists of the period agree that the wealth of texts produced by these men of letters articulated an ideological system that allowed General Trujillo’s brutal regime to remain in power for three decades (1930-1961). Their governmental positions, as well as their prestige as writers and orators, granted them unrestricted access to the public school system and to the means of mass communication. They used this access to promote their notions of national identity, while naturalizing Trujillo’s power, building consensus in favor of what came to be known as “la Patria Nueva” (the New Fatherland). Their work in this respect was so effective that almost fifty years after the fall of the dictatorship their ideas about what it meant to be Dominican still play a significant role in the anti-Haitian sentiment that fills the radiowaves and the editorial pages of local newspapers. The Trujillista authors and public servants, however, did not constitute a homogeneous front. An underlying current of texts produced by some them effectively departed from the main tenets of the official ideology, questioning the basic assumptions upon which lays its definition of dominicanidad . As I argue in the following pages, far from generating a unified body of thought, the Trujillista intellectuals engaged in what