Augusto Roa Bastos

Augusto Roa Bastos
Occupation	Writer, journalist, professor
Nationality	Paraguayan
Genre	Latin American Boom, Dictator Novel
Notable works	Hijo de hombre I, the Supreme
Notable awards	Miguel de Cervantes Prize 1989

Augusto Roa Bastos, (June 13 1917 – April 26 2005) was a noted Paraguayan novelist, and one of the most important Latin American writers of the 20th century. As a teenager he fought in the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia and later worked as a journalist, screenwriter and professor. He is best known for his complex novel Yo el Supremo (I, the Supreme) for which he won the Premio Cervantes in 1989, Spanish literature's most prestigious prize. Yo el Supremo is one of the foremost Latin American novels to tackle the topic of the dictator. It explores the dictations and inner thoughts of Dr. José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, who ruled Paraguay with an iron fist and no little eccentricity from 1814 until his death in 1840.

Roa Bastos' life was decidedly marked by military dictators, and so was his writing. In 1947 he was forced into exile in Argentina by the Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, and then in 1976 he fled Buenos Aires for France in similar political circumstances. Thus, most of Roa Bastos' work was written in exile, but this did not deter him from fiercely and creatively tackling Paraguayan social and historical issues. Writing in a Spanish that was at times heavily accented with Guaraní words (the Paraguayan indigenous language), Roa Bastos incorporated a multitude of Paraguayan myths and symbols into a Baroque style known as magic realism. He is considered a late-comer to the Latin American Boom literary movement. Roa Bastos' personal canon includes the novels Hijo de hombre (1960; Son of Man) and El fiscal (1993; The Prosecutor), as well as numerous other novels, short stories, screen plays and collected writings.

Biography

Early life (1917-1932)

Roa Bastos was born in Asunción on June 13 1917. He spent his childhood in Iturbe, the provincial town where his father was an administrator on a sugar plantation. It was here, some 200 kilometres (120 mi) to the south of the Paraguayan capital of Asunción, that Roa Bastos learned to speak both Spanish and Guaraní, the language of Paraguay's indigenous people. At the age of eight he was sent to a military school in Asunción where he stayed with his uncle, the bishop of Asunción. His uncle's extensive personal library provided the young Roa Bastos with his first exposure to the classical Spanish literature of the Baroque and Renaissance traditions that he would imitate in his early poetry throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Roa Bastos' experience of Guaraní social customs and language combined with the traditional Spanish education that he received in Asunción, created a cultural and linguistic duality that would manifest itself in much of Roa Bastos' writing. His rural upbringing also exposed Roa Bastos to the exploitation and oppression of the indigenous and peasant peoples of Paraguay, which would become a prominent theme in his writing.

War and writing (1932-1947)

In 1932 the territorial Chaco War began between Paraguay and Bolivia and continued until 1935. At some point, perhaps as late as 1934, Roa Bastos joined the Paraguayan army as a medical auxiliary. Directly after the war he worked as a bank clerk and later as a journalist. During this time he began writing plays and poetry. In 1941 Roa Bastos won the Ateneo Paraguayo prize for Fulgencia Miranda, although the book was never published. In the early 1940s he spent significant time on the yerba mate plantations in northern Paraguay, an experience he would later draw upon in his first published novel, Hijo de hombre (1960; Son of Man). In 1942 he was appointed editorial secretary for the Asunción daily El País.

In 1944 the British Council awarded Roa Bastos a nine-month fellowship for journalism in London. During this time he traveled extensively in Britain, France and Africa and witnessed the devastation of WWII first hand. He served as the El País war correspondent, notably conducting an interview with General Charles de Gaulle after the latter's return to Paris in 1945. Roa Bastos also broadcast Latin American programs at the invitation of the BBC and France's Ministry of Information.

Throughout this eventful period in his life Roa Bastos continued to write. In 1942 he published a book of poems in the classic Spanish style, which he titled El Ruiseínor De La Aurora (The Dawn Nightingale), a work he later renounced. He also had plays successfully performed during the 1940s, though they were never published. Of his prolific poetry of the late 1940s only "El naranjal ardiente" (1960; "The Burning Orange Grove") was published.

Argentina: Roa Bastos comes into his own (1947-1976)

In February of 1947 the Paraguayan Civil War broke out and Alfredo Stroessner seized power. Roa Bastos was forced to flee to Buenos Aires, Argentina, because he had spoken out against Stroessner and his ally President Higinio Morínigo. With Roa Bastos to Argentina went close to 500,000 of his fellow Paraguayans. . He would remain in Argentina until just before the arrival of the military dictatorship in 1976 and would not return permanently to Paraguay until 1989. While Roa Bastos had difficulty accepting his exile, his time in Buenos Aires was a prolific period.

In 1953 his collection of short stories El trueno entre las hojas (1953; Thunder Among the Leaves) was published, but it was not until the 1960 publication of the novel Hijo de hombre (Son of Man) that Roa Bastos received extensive critical and popular success. This latter work draws on the oppressive history of Paraguay from the rule of Dr. Jose Gaspar de Francia in the early 1800s until the Chaco War in the 1930s. The historical and political themes, as well as the multiple narrative perspectives used throughout this novel would be used extensively in his most famous work Yo, el Supremo more than a decade later. Roa Bastos adapted Hijo de hombre into an award winning film in the same year as its publication.

Roa Bastos further established himself as a screenwriter with the screenplay of Shunko (1960), directed by Lautaro Murúa, and based on the memoirs of a country school teacher. In 1961 he once again collaborated with Murúa for Alias Gardelito (1961), which depicted the lives of urban petty criminals and became a major independent film of the nuevo cine movement. In 1974 Roa Bastos published his influential master piece Yo, el Supremo, which was the labour of the previous seven years. However, with the arrival of Jorge Rafael Videla's military dictatorship in 1976 this book was banned in Argentina, and he was exiled for the second time in his life, this time to Toulouse, France.

France (1976-1989)

In Toulouse Roa Bastos taught Guaraní and Spanish literature at the University of Toulouse. Although he had been allowed to visit Paraguay to work with a new generation of Paraguayan writers starting in 1970, he was once again barred from entry in 1982 for purportedly engaging in subversive activities. There is however, little evidence that he participated in sectarian politics of any kind. Despite it being the second forced relocation of his life, there were some some positive developments for the author in France. Helen Lane's english translation of Yo, el Supremo, I, The Supreme, was published in 1986, to widespread accolades and publicity in the english speaking world. However, in France, Roa Bastos' writing focus was primarily academic, and his literary output did not match that of his time in Argentina. Following the downfall of the oppressive Alfredo Stroessner regime in 1989, Roa Bastos returned to Paraguay at the request of its new leader Andre Rodriquez.

Return to Paraguay and the Cervantes Prize (1989-2006)

Following the toppling of the Stroessner regime, Roa Bastos won the Premio Cervantes (Cervantes Prize), awarded by the Spanish Royal Academy and its correspondent academies in the various American nations, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the Spanish-language novel. It was at this time that Roa Bastos began to frequently travel between Paraguay and France. . In 1991 Roa Bastos adapted his 1974 masterpiece Yo, el Supremo for the screen. This was followed by his first novel since Yo, el Supremo, Vigilia del admirante (1992; Vigil of the Admiral) and El fiscal (1993; The Prosecutor) was published the following year. Although neither of his later novels had the impact of his earlier work, El fiscal is still considered an important novel. Roa Bastos died on April 26, 2005 in Asunción from a heart attack. He was survived by his three children, his third wife, Iris Giménez, and a considerable reputation as one of Latin American's finest writers.

Major works

Hijo de hombre

Main article: Hijo de hombre

Hijo de hombre (1960; Son of Man), Roa Bastos' first published and award winning novel, represents his definitive break with poetry.. It is seen as a refined "outgrowth" of his earlier works of short fiction such as El trueno entre las hojas (1953), which also dealt with themes of political oppression and social struggle in Paraguay. This novel portrays the conflict between the governing élite and the oppressed masses in Paraguay from 1912 until just after the end of the Chaco War with Bolivia in 1936.<refname="foster40">Foster 1978, p. 40</ref> Like his masterpiece Yo, el Supremo that would follow almost fifteen years later, Hijo de hombre draws upon a series of Paraguayan legends and stories dating back to start of Dr. Francia's dictatorship in 1814.

Hijo de hombre builds upon a system of Christian metaphors as part of the Neobaroque concept of Magic Realism, in order to examine the pain of being Paraguayan. This novel contrasts two figures: Miguel Vera and Christobal Jara. Vera narrates the odd chapters, although he might also be the narrator of all nine chapters (this is unclear). . He is a well-to-do and educated romantic supporter of revolution, who is unable to take real action to support his ideals, and in the end betrays them (not unlike Judas).. Jara, on the other hand, is an uneducated “son of man” who becomes a Christ-like leader for Paraguayan people through action and strength of character. Although it was a massive critical success, Roa Bastos remained quite dissatisfied with the work for a number reasons. It would be fourteen years before he published another novel.

Yo, el Supremo

Main article: Yo, el Supremo

Yo, el Supremo (I, the Supreme) is a fictionalized account of the nineteenth-century Paraguayan dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, who was also known as "Dr. Francia". The book's title derives from the fact that Francia referred to himself as "El Supremo" or "The Supreme." The first in a long line of dictators, The Supreme was a severe, calculating despot.He ruled absolutely from 1814 until his death in 1840, and is a unique figure in Latin American history. The goal of his rule mirrored that of the Jesuits who had ruled Paraguay for much of its history before him; to keep the Paraguayan people and its customs pure by protecting them from the corrupting influence of European and other outside forces. In Yo, el supremo, Roa Bastos is also fundamentally concerned with the power (and the weakness) of writing itself: its plot revolves around the dictator's efforts to uncover who has been forging his signature on a series of pasquinades discovered around the capital, and also his relationship with his secretary, Patiño, to whom he dictates his thoughts and orders, but whom he never feels he can fully trust.

The novel itself is "an exceptional cultural phenomenon." Critics have suggested that it "[is] more immediately and unanimously acclaimed than any novel since One Hundred Years of Solitude, [and the] strictly historical importance [may] be even greater than that of García Márquez's fabulously successful creation." Yo, el supremo has contributed widely to a number of different genres and styles. It belongs to the genre of novelas de dictadores or dictator novels, and also to the Latin American Boom, a literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Yo, el supremo is also an important milestone in the evolution of the historical novel genre. "Yo, el supremo takes on a plethora of formats interwoven into a single work - history, novel, sociological essay, moral philosophy, biographical novel, revolutionary pamphlet, testimonial documentary, poetic prose, autobiographic confession, ideological debate over literary limits and , finally a linguistic treatise of sorts reflect on verbal expression and its ability to communicate effectively".

Precursors and influences

Ruy Díaz de Guzmán's Anales del descubrimiento, población y conquista del Río de la Plata, is considered one of the most important antecedents to Roa Bastos' writings. Guzmán, a Paraguayan explorer of Guaraní and Spanish heritage, wrote extensively about the geography of Paraguay using mythical descriptions of the landscape and the Guaraní language. The most important precursor to Roa Bastos, however, is Rafael Barrett (1876-1910), whose writings incorporated many of the important themes and writings styles that Roa Bastos would later master including: Spanish-Guaraní bilingualism, magic realism, the revision of Paraguayan history, social literature, exploration of collective memory and the universe of poetic symbols. Barrett's essay "Yo que son los yerbales" is a severe critique of the exploitation of workers on yerba mate tea plantations. Roa Bastos spent part of the early 1940s documenting this same issue and there is much speculation about the role of "Yo que son los yerbales" in the creation of his first major novel Hijo de hombre.. The Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga is another important predecessor.

Style

Roa Bastos' writing is generally of the Neobaroque style that brought Latin American literature to the fore internationally in the mid 20th century. Among others, Pablo Neruda is also associated with the Neobaroque school of writing. This style uses a complex system of metaphors that are often very closely tied to the land, flora and culture of the particular writer, especially in the case of Roa Bastos. Magic realism is a Neobaroque concept that uses such systems of metaphor in an otherwise realistic setting (Yo, el Supremo was written in strong accordance with this concept). The Neobaroque style was used by many Paraguayan writers in exile after 1947 and until the 1980s. At the core of much of the work from this group are ideas of political freedom and the emancipation of their homeland.

Roa Bastos started out writing poetry in the Spanish Renaissance and Baroque traditions. Later he took on "a new sensibility" in response to the poetry of Valle-Inclán, Juan Ramón Jiménez and García Lorca. However, it is as a prose-fiction writer Roa Bastos has built his considerable reputation, particularly through his novels. Roa Bastos' novels blend the present and past by creating scenes with myths from pre-colonial times and Christian legends, developing a special kind of Magic Realism, although there are significant stylistic variations between his major novels.

Themes

Paraguay: Collective Memory and Symbols

The majority of Roa Bastos' work was written in exile due to the oppressive political condition of his country, at a time when Paraguay was one of the least culturally, economically and politically developed countries in Latin America. Thus, much of Roa Bastos' important writing is an attempt to "capture the tragic essence, the 'inner weakness' as well as the inner strength of his country's people." Throughout his work there is an intense interest not only in contemporary Paraguay, but in its history stretching back to the beginning of the 19th century and the rule of Dr. Gaspar de Francia (whose life is the focus of ‘’Yo el Supremo’’). While key historical figures and events are obviously of interest to Roa Bastos, it is the impact of these “socio-historical roots” on “the nature of the masses” that is a primary theme in his literary work. Thus, the writing of Roa Bastos is rife with symbols and complex narrative that often builds on the memory and stories of multiple people. Yo el Supremo is representative of this theme in the extreme, both in its construction and narrative. This intertextual novel was composed out of the stories, memories and documents of hundreds of Paraguayans over seven years.

The engaged writer and the condition of human suffering

Roa Bastos believed that it was the role of the writer to directly engage in the interpretation of both contemporary and historical events. Rather than the abstract "chronicler", he thought that the writer should engage morally and ethically with the social problems present in the material that they produce. According to Roa Bastos…”literary activity has come to signify the necessity for facing up to a destiny, the will to enlist in the vital reality of a collectivity, in its true moral context and social structure, in the complex relationships of a contemporary reality – that is to say, by projecting themselves toward a universal world of man.”

Undoubtedly, Roa Bastos' own experiences played a significant role in his emphasis on human suffering. As a young man he fought in the Chaco war between Bolivia and Paraguay, an event portrayed in Hijo de hombre. Later he saw the devastation of WWII first hand in Europe, the violent strife of 1947 in Paraguay, and the rise of the Argentinian military dictatorship in 1976. His collection of short stories published in 1953, El trueno ebtre las hojas, set the stage for Hijo de hombre and Yo, el Supremo with its dark portrayal of devastating political struggle and oppression.. Two decades later, Yo, el Supremo was published, providing a prime example of Roa Bastos' idea of the engaged writer; it offered an unflattering (albeit fictionalized) account of the final thoughts and ramblings of Paraguay's first dictator, at a time when Paraguay was under the stranglehold of a regime that imitated many of the same policies of oppression and isolation that had been used under this first regime. Roa Bastos was not alone in his attempt to use literature to engage in contemporary Latin American events during the Latin American Boom period. In the 1960s and 1970s, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and other authors applied this concept, and together created the Dictator novel genre.

Bilingualism: Spanish and Guaraní

As is customary for most Paraguayans of peasant or working origins, Roa Bastos learned to speak Spanish and Guaraní from birth. Both Spanish and Guaraní are the official languages of Paraguay (the latter is primarily an oral language). Although Guaraní remains the "popular" language spoken at home and on the "street", Spanish is the language of official business and of power. The preservation and widespread use of an indigenous language after centuries of European immigration is unique in Latin America, and Guarani remains a symbol of Paraguayan nationalism and an "important vehicle for interpreting the country's reality". This is the legacy of the Jesuits who ruled Paraguay in the 18th century and used Guarani (instead of Spanish or Latin) to spread Christianity throughout Paraguay.

While Roa Bastos' writing is primarily in Spanish, the interplay between these two languages is an essential part of Roa Bastos' writing. His bilingualism gives Roa Bastos a much greater range of language to work with, but also leaves a tension between an internationally recognized language and one that is obscure and fiercely Paraguayan. Roa Bastos has described the relationship between the two languages as an almost schizophrenic split not only on communicational levels of the spoken language, but also and quite particularly in the literary language.

Honors and distinctions

Over the course of his career, Roa Bastos received many awards and prizes. These range from the 1941 Ateneo Paraguayo Prize for his (unpublished) novel Fulgencio Miranda to the British Council fellowship that enabled him to travel to Europe. He won awards for his novel Hijo de hombre, and indeed also for the subsequent screenplay, but his most prestigious distinctions include the 1971 award of a John Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for creative writers, and then, in 1989, the Cervantes Prize, an award given by the Spanish government to the most important writers in the Spanish language. Roa Bastos donated most of his prize money to provide easier access to books in Paraguay.

Legacy

The most important author to come out of Paraguay, Roa Bastos remains highly influential for a new generation of Paraguayan authors. His influence can also be found in the works of a host of foreign post-boom writers including: Mempo Giardinelli, Isabel Allende, Eraclia Zepeda, Antonio Skármeta, Saul Ibargoyen, and Luisa Valenzuela. According to Juan Manuel Marcos, Yo, el Supremo "anticipates many of the post-boom writing techniques" such as "the carnivalization of historical discourse, transtextualization, and parody". Mexican author, Carlos Fuentes calls this same novel one of the milestones in Latin American literature.. While a significant portion of his reputation can be attributed to his novel Yo, el Supremo, Roa Bastos also leaves a legacy of important achievement in film, creative writing, and journalism. His writing spans four countries, six decades and countless genres.

Published works

Novels

• Hijo de hombre (1960; Son of Man)
• Yo, el Supremo (1974; I, the Supreme)
• Vigilia del admirante (1992; Vigil of the Admiral)
• El fiscal (1993; The Prosecutor)
• Contravida (1994; Counterlife)

Short fiction

• El trueno entre las hojas (1953; Thunder Among the Leaves)
• El baldío (1966; Vacant Ground)
• Madera quemada (1967; Burnt Wood)
• Los pies sobre el agua (1967; The Feet on the Water)
• Moriencia (1969; Slaughter)
• Cuerpo presente y ostros textes (1971; Lying in State)
• El pollito de fuego (1974)
• Los Congresos (1974)
• El somnámbulo (1976)
• Lucha hasta el alba (1979)
• Los Juegos (1979; The Games)
• Contar un cuento, y otros relatos (1984; To Tell a Tale and Other Stories)
• Madama Sui (1996)
• Metaforismos (1996)
• La tierra sin mal (1998; Land Without Evil)

Screenplays

• Hijo de hombre (1960)
• Shunko (1960)
• Alias gardelito (1961)
• El senor presidente (1966)
• Do segundo sombra (1968)
• Yo el Supremo (1991)

Poetry

• El ruiseñor de la aurora, y otros poemas (1942; The Dawn Nightingale, and other poems) *Written in 1936
• "El naranjal ardiente" (1960; "The Burning Orange Grove") *Written between 1947 and 1949

Other writings

• Candido Lopez (1976)
• Imagin y perspectivas de la narrativa latinoamericana actual (1979)
• Lucha hasta el alba (1979)
• Rafael Barrett y la realidad paraguaya a comienzos del siglo (1981)
• El tiranosaurio del Paraguay da sus ultimas boqueadas (1986)
• Carta abierta a mi pueblo (1986)
• El texto cautivo: el escritor y su obra (1990)
• Mis reflexiones sobre el guion y el guion de "Hijo de hombre" (1993)

Compilations and anthologies

• Antología personal (1980; Personal Anthology)

Translations

Hijo de hombre as Son of Man (1965), Rachel Caffyn Yo, el Supremo as I, The Supreme (1986) Helen Lane

References

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• Bryan, Ryan, ed. (1991), "Augusto Roa Bastos", Dictionary of Latin American Literature, London: Twayne, pp. 403–405, ISBN 1-884964-18-4.
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• Lewis, Tracy K (1997), "Augusto Roa Bastos 1917-: Paraguayan prose writer, poet, dramatist", in Smith, Verity (ed.), Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature, London: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 716–717, ISBN 1-884964-18-4.
• Marcos, Juan Manuel (1989), "Augusto Roa Bastos", in Solé, Carlos; Abreu, María Isabel (eds.), Latin American Writers, vol. 3, New York: Scribner, pp. 1209–1213, ISBN 9780684184630.
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