Gambling in the Mid-Nineteenth-Century Latin American Social Imaginary

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Carolina Digital Repository GAMBLING IN THE MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY LATIN AMERICAN SOCIAL IMAGINARY Emily Joy Clark A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Studies (Spanish). Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: Rosa Perelmuter Juan Carlos González Espitia Emilio del Valle Escalante Irene Gómez Castellano John Charles Chasteen © 2016 Emily Joy Clark ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Emily Joy Clark: Gambling in the Mid-Nineteenth-Century Latin American Social Imaginary (Under the direction of Rosa Perelmuter) Economic themes appear in many nineteenth-century Latin American narratives, but the representation of gambling and other forms of speculative capitalist commerce, such as investment, trade, and mining, is a largely unexplored area of critical literary analysis. This dissertation examines the depiction of gambling and other games of chance, as well as financially-speculative endeavors, in eight texts from the mid-nineteenth century throughout Hispanic America, including José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi’s El Periquillo Sarniento (1816), Eduardo Gutiérrez’s Juan Moreira (1879), Rosario Orrego’s Alberto el jugador (1860), Teresa González de Fanning’s Regina (1886), Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda’s Sab (1841), Alberto Blest Gana’s Martín Rivas (1862), José Ramón de Betancourt’s Una feria de la caridad en 183… (1841, 1858), and José Milla’s Los Nazarenos (1867). In the four chapters of the dissertation, I analyze four different perspectives on gambling and its repercussions in society as it applies to gender (Chapters 1 and 2), social class (Chapter 3), and the role of the citizen in post-independence Latin American nation states (Chapter 4). The fictional portrayal of the gambler and the description of gambling as either a positive or a negative activity for individuals, families, and the general populace tell the reader not only about game-playing and popular culture, but also about gambling’s deeper significance for writers of the nineteenth century with respect to their societies. By examining how gambling and social roles dialogue with one another, I conclude that focusing on the depiction of this chance-based iii activity allows us to confront several aspects of the social imaginary of the time: social inequalities, women’s participation and activism, class mobility through risky economic practices, and the construction of the citizen in nation-building narratives. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing a dissertation is a challenging, but rewarding experience, and I was fortunate to receive the support of many colleagues, family members, and friends over the years. While it is not possible to express my gratitude to everyone who offered me guidance or a listening ear, I will briefly mention a few people who have been especially supportive. I would first like to thank my dissertation director, Professor Rosa Perelmuter, for your incredible guidance, aid, and close reading throughout the process of writing this dissertation and over the years I have been in graduate school. You believed in my scholarship and helped me grow as a writer, for which I am immeasurably grateful. Thank you also to my committee members who provided tremendous support and excellent suggestions during coursework, exams, and throughout the writing process, including Professor Juan Carlos González Espitia, Professor Irene Gómez Castellano, Professor Emilio del Valle Escalante, and Professor John Charles Chasteen. Thank you to the other members of the Romance Studies program who have taught and mentored me over the years, including Professor Oswaldo Estrada, Professor Lucia Binotti, Professor Carmen Hsu, Professor Frank Domínguez, Professor Alicia Rivero, Dr. Glynis Cowell, Dr. Elizabeth Bruno, Dr. Anastacia Kohl, and Dr. Josefa Lindquist. Thank you to my husband Daniel for your love, patience, and perspective. You have been here for me throughout this process and have pushed me to continue walking when my feet occasionally failed me. Thank you to Dulce for knowing how to live in the moment and for getting me to clear my head by going out into nature. I am grateful to my mother Linda, who v single-handedly supported my sister and me as kids on a secretary’s income. Your kindness and perseverance have helped to make me who I am today. Even though you didn’t have all the answers, you and Dad encouraged us to think and question, and I love you both. To my sister Cathy, thank you for your love and encouragement throughout the years, especially in the final days of this project. I also appreciate the support of other family members who continued to believe in me throughout graduate school, such as Aunt Diane, who is one of the strongest women I know. Finally, I would like to thank all of my supportive colleagues and friends, particularly my fellow graduate students of Dey 301A who were there through the most challenging moments of this process. I am especially appreciative of the support while I was writing from Paco, Mary, Tali, Whitney, Maria, Sarah, Stella, Sam, Zully, Martha, Wesley, Caitlin, Adrienne, Thomas, and Elena. To my friends from childhood, college, and teaching in Atlanta and Memphis, including Amy, Neil, Meg, Audrey, Sarah, Lila, Kate, Ansley, Becca, and Kelly, thank you for believing that I had the grit to finish this and for being there for me during both the best and the worst times in my life. I am very fortunate that both hard work and luck have carried me to this point. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: THE ROMANTICIZED ROGUE AND QUESTIONS OF MASCULINITY FOR THE GAMBLER ..................................................................................... 17 A Brief Literary History of the Gambling Romantic Rogue ..................................................... 20 The Rogue Gambler and Masculinity in Romantic Fiction ...................................................... 26 The Gambling Rogue in El Periquillo Sarniento (1816) .......................................................... 34 Gambling Gauchos in Juan Moreira (1879) ............................................................................. 53 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 2: GAMBLING, WOMEN’S REFORM, AND THE FAMILY ............................... 68 Women’s Writing and an Emerging Moral Discourse .............................................................. 70 A Brief History of Women’s Anti-Gambling Texts in the Nineteenth-Century ....................... 77 The Perils of Gambling Addiction in Rosario Orrego’s Novel Alberto el jugador (1860) ...... 87 Financial Corruption in Teresa González de Fanning’s novel Regina (1886) ........................ 101 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 119 CHAPTER 3: GAMBLING, RACE, AND SOCIAL CLASS, A GENTLEMAN’S GAME? .. 121 Social Class and Gambling in Dialogue in the Nineteenth Century ....................................... 123 Changing Ideas of Wealth, Work, and Luck ........................................................................... 130 Sab (1841) and the Lottery as a Mediating Factor in Gender, Class, and Race Inequalities .. 133 Social Class Mobility and Gambling in Martín Rivas (1862) ................................................. 160 Gambling Among the Upper Class in Martín Rivas ............................................................... 166 vii Gambling among the Middle and Lower Socio-Economic Classes in Martín Rivas .............. 172 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 181 CHAPTER 4: GAMBLING AND THE CITIZEN: ITS IMPACT ON SOCIETY AND THE VISION OF AN IDEAL NATION .......................................................................... 183 Gambling, Corruption, Criminality, and National Discourse ................................................. 185 Gambling and the Citizen in Betancourt’s Una feria de la Caridad en el 183… (1841) ........ 191 Los Nazarenos (1867) and Gambling in Guatemala’s Historical Novel ................................. 211 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 225 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 226 WORKS CITED ......................................................................................................................... 232 viii INTRODUCTION While many scholars have looked broadly at literary works depicting reform movements such as abolitionism, political movements, and indigenous rights, among other topics, very few have examined the subtle, but persistent, depiction of gambling and the prohibition movement condemning its practice during the nineteenth century. Of course, in order for social reformers to take interest in the topic of gambling, it had to be relevant and prevalent in their societies, and indeed it was. Gambling was a pastime that had long been popular in Latin America,

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