Facundo

Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism

File:Facundo sarmiento.jpg The cover of a recent translation, from University of California Press.
Author	Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Translator	Kathleen Ross
Language	Spanish
Publisher	El Progreso de Chile
Publication date	1845
Publication place	Argentina
Published in English	1868 / 2003
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-520-08159-5, paper ISBN 0-520-23980-6

Facundo (subtitled Civilization and Barbarism) is a book written by the Argentine author and politician Domingo Faustino Sarmiento in 1845. It was written partly in protest against the regime of Juan Manuel de Rosas, who ruled Argentina in two periods: 1829-1832, 1835 to 1852. The literary critic Roberto González Echevarría calls it "the most important book written by a Latin American in any discipline or genre.". This book describes the life of Juan Facundo Quiroga in Sarmiento´s perspective. By describing this gaucho, the author gives us the best exemplification of the Argentinean culture, the best description of the Argentinean context and, at the same time, Sarmiento found himself in a dichotomy between civilization and barbarism.

Background

In 1808 French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain and established a new government with Napoleon’s brother as king. This was the cause of a civil war in Spain between the supporters of Bonaparte and the supporters of the deposed Spanish monarch, Charles IV. Meanwhile, the South American colonies claimed the right of self government until a legitimate king assume the throne. In 1814, Ferdinand VII became the new king and declared the complete independence of de La Plata region from Spain in 1816.

Buenos Aires is the name of the Argentina’s largest and most prosperous city. It has a coastal and a river access. Therefore, it has proved to be a prime city to trade; the city receives goods, capital and new ideas from all over the world. In the nineteenth century, Buenos Aires became a city characterized by European culture. By comparison, other Argentine cities of this era were small and insolated. Therefore, it was a certain antagonism arose between Buenos Aires and the rest of Argentina."

Argentine civil war

In 1826 an assembly elected Bernardino Rivadavia as president of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata. This action roused the ire of the provinces, and civil war was the result. Support for a strong, centralized Argentine government was based in Buenos Aires, and gave rise to two opposing groups. On the one hand, there were the Unitarians, those favoring centralized government (tended to be wealthy and educated). The rest o the country tended to favor a looser federation with more autonomy for the individual provinces known as Federalists (tended to be rual inhabitants and rejected to imitate European ways). "

The perception about the Rivadavia government, was divided in the two different ideologies. For the Unitarians as Sarmiento it was a good experience the Rivadavias presidency: He established a good university, supported a public education program for male rural children. He also supported theater and opera groups, publishing houses and a museum. Less happy were the Federalists as Juan Facundo Quiroga or Juan Manuel de las Rosas, because Rivadavia arrested the gauchos for vagrancy and forced to work on public projects, usually without pay "

Beset by Federalist forced, and losing a war against Brazil, Rvadavia left the presidency in 1827. Manuel Dorrego became governor of the Buenos Aires province with the help of the fellow Federalist Juan Manuel de las Rosas. Dorrego made peace with Brazil by sacrificing a large piece of disputed territory. Argentine troops, having returned from the war zone, proceeded to overthrow and execute Dorrego, installing their leader the Unitarian general Juan Lavalle, as governor."

Lavalle was soon overthrown himself, by Rosas-led militia composed largely of gauchos. By the end of 1829 the old legislature that Lavalle had disbanded was back in place and had appointed Rosas as governor of Buenos Aires."

Rosas dictatorship

The Rosas dictatorship was characterized by the big differences between the high and poor class, it was not a middle class in the Argentinean society. Rosas created a big gap between both groups. During this time, with the help of Facundo Quiroga, Rosas maintained peace between Buenos Aires and the rest of Argentina. Rosas enjoyed general support until stepped down form office at the end of this three year term."

Without the strength of Rosas, the nation soon dissolver into chaos. The provinces were demanding a constitution that would give them a more equitable relationship with Buenos Aires, whose government appeared threatened by Unitarian forces. The assassination of Juan Facundo Quiroga in 1835 promised anarchy; to avert this the Buenos Aires legislature begged Rosas to resume the governorship on his own terms. His terms were absolute power and Rosas ruled as dictator the next 17 years."

Dictatorship novel

The dictator novel (Spanish: novela del dictador) is a genre of Latin American literature which developed the theme of caudillismo by specifically challenging the role of the dictator in Latin American society. Its hallmarks include a concern with the relation between writing and power, and so also is an allegory of the role of the (Latin American) writer in society. The goal of the dictator novel is not to dissect and to analyze the rule of particular dictators in history, but rather, it concerns itself with the more abstract nature of authority figures and with the question of authority in general.

Publication and translation history

Facundo was published, in installments, in the Chilean newspaper El Progreso. A second edition, with some significant changes, was published (also in Chile) in 1851.

It was first translated, in 1868, by Mary Mann with the title Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants; or, Civilization and Barbarism. A modern (and more complete) translation was undertaken by Kathleen Ross, and published in 2003 by the University of California Press. In her "Translator's Introduction," Ross notes that Mann's nineteenth-century version of the text, turning it "into an Anglo-Saxon idiom [. . .] had much to do with the fact that in 1868 Sarmiento was a candidate for the Argentine presidency" and "Mann wished to further her friend's cause abroad by presenting Sarmiento as an admirer and emulator of United States political and cultural institutions." Hence this translation cut much of what made Sarmiento's work distinctively part of the Hispanic tradition. For instance, Ross continues, "Mann's elimination of metaphor, the stylistic device perhaps most characteristic of Sarmiento's prose, is especially striking."

Synopsis

This book is divided into 15 chapters, with an author's note and introduction by Sarmiento. It provides Sarmiento's point of view with sources to support. It is difficult to classify this book in a specific genre as it combines history, biography, sociology, geography, poetic description, and political propaganda.

Chapter I, titled "Physical Aspect of the Argentine Republic, and the Ideas, Customs, and Characters It Engenders", provides a physical description of Argentina. This Chapter begins with Sarmiento's description of the geography of Argentina. It is described as vast and expanse. It lies from the east of Chilean Andes to the west of the Atlantic Ocean and there are rivers in between which are finally joined in the Río de la Plata. Sarmiento suggests that Buenos Aires is the only city that could benefit from the river systems and could most likely achieve civilization in Argentina but Buenos Aires failed to influence the rest of Argentina. Thus, barbarism continues to exist in the rest of Argentina. As a result, the dictator Rosas was produced and he in turn took control of Buenos Aires. Sarmiento then explains the reasons why Argentina failed to attain civilization. Argentine lands are mostly Pampa which are flat and vast terrains. Due to this geographical condition, there is no place for hiding nor for defensing.

Chapter II, titled "Argentine Originality", introduces four different types of gaucho which are the rastreador, Baqueano, the outlaw, and the minstrel.

Chapter V is about Facundo's life.

Main Characters

Facundo

Juan Facundo Quiroga

Facundo, that is, Juan Facundo Quiroga, is the book's central character. Facundo is portrayed as wild and untamed in Argentina, just like a normal caudillo at that time.

Themes

Style

Facundo can not be classified as a novel or as an specific genre of the literature, the books has characteristics of a novel, of a biography and of a historical description of a particular event. Therefore, it is very difficult to define a particular genre in this book. Instead of that, it would much easier to define the particularities of the writing style of Sarmiento to understand better the book.

In the Sarmiento’s style, we can not forget the background of the author; Sarmiento was primarily, a militant soul and we can not separate his actions out of the book. Therefore, the book has an specific ideology and Sarmiento used it as a tool to fight his enemies.

The book is divided in 15 chapters, but the story can be divided in 3 big sections: The first, the description of the environment; the Second, the description of the character (Facundo Quiroga), and finally, we can distinguish an other part in the last two chapters of the book in which Sarmiento made an historical description.

All the story is joint with the Sarmiento’s style. There is no a transition between the first chapters and the ones that are describing the Facundo Quiroga life. Instead of that, the caudillo appears as a natural consequence of the environment.

Civilization and Barbarism

"That is the point: to be or not to be savages"

The dichotomy that Sarmiento expresses between "barbarism" and "civilization" is the book's central idea. The book is a critique of Rosas's dictatorship but also is a broader investigation into Argentine history and culture. The book is ostensibly a biography of the caudillo Juan Facundo Quiroga, who is portrayed as wild and untamed in Argentina, and as standing in opposition to true progress through the common enlightenment of European society. The book implies that the only way to truly achieve progress and a better world is through the taming of such leaders and a common education allowing the common man to philosophically recognize and oppose such exploitation.

The dichotomy of civilization and barbarism illustrates the struggle in the post-Independence era. Although Sarmiento was not the one to create this dichotomy, he turns it into an influential concept in all Latin America Literature. Sarmiento explores the issue of civilization versus the cruder aspects of a caudillo culture of brutality and absolute power. Caudillo is a word denoting "a political-military leader at the head of an authoritative power". Caudillos are seen, at the beginning of the book, as the opposite of education, high culture, and civil stability. Caudillos introduce instability and chaos, which destroy societies through their blatant disregard for humanity and social progress. Sarmiento portrays the rise of Facundo Quiroga, an archetypical Argentine caudillo, his controversial rule, and his downfall. Civilization is represented by the metropolitan society of Buenos Aires.

Although most only connect the book with contemporary Argentinean history, some also apply it to the wider social questions facing Latin America as a whole during the mid-19th century. As caudillos took control and set up authoritarian governments, in the book, questions of what is best for the progress of society were largely ignored by the ruling elite for the more immediate goal of exploiting the masses.

Facundo, when interpreted as a critique of both Rosas and caudillos at large, introduces an opposition message that promoted an alternative that was more beneficial to society at large. This included education and honest officials who understood enlightenment ideas of European and Classical origin.Education was an essential key to Sarmiento. He viewed barbarism, linked with ignorance, poverty, lack of education, anarchy and so on, as a never ending line of social ills. The wilderness that Facundo demonstrates was one of Sarmiento’s techniques to illustrate his social projection. Those who were isolated and thus opposed to political relations were considered as a symbol of ignorance and anarchy. And this symbol of ignorance and anarchy is once again connected to barbarism, a position in which Argentina was located.

At that time, Sarmiento viewed himself as civilization and Rosas as barbarism. Sarmiento mainly attacked Rosas through his book, Facundo Civilization and Barbarism, which shows the education and “civilized” status. On the other hand Sarmiento used political power to dispose of any kind of hindrance. In other words, Rosas mainly used brute strength to achieve what was needed to achieve while Sarmiento used wits and intelligence to help advance the country. Sarmiento strongly linked Europe to civilization and civilization to education. By doing so, he managed to illustrate an admiration of their culture and civilization. At the same time, it gave the author a sense of dissatisfaction, motivating him move towards civilization/Europe. Europe was connected to civilization which means that Latin America was connected to barbarism. Sarmiento did this mainly to illustrate how Argentina was disconnected to the numerous resources surrounding it, which limited the growth of the country.

Sarmiento's friend, Vicente Fidel Lopez, eliminated the difference of the Latin American cultural shores in his thesis, “Memory on the general results with which the old towns have contributed to the civilization of the humanity” (original quote “memoria sobre los resultados generals con que los pueblos anitiguos han contribuido a la civilización de la humanidad.” ) Sarmiento continues this thesis with a sense of struggle which shows what critic Diana Sorensen Goodrich terms "the progress of the nation in its postcolonial phase." Although the land of Argentina, i.e. geography, and its impact on the socialization work as a boundary to move towards to a civilized society, the historical influence manages to push civilization-barbarism to move forward which gradually bring about in the achievement of civilization. This forward movement is shown in the final chapters of Facundo, where the head of power is removed to continue towards civilization.

This dichotomy is also strongly linked with writing and power which is another main theme in this book since Sarmiento illustrates that education/writing is linked to civil. And those who are ignorant are portrayed as being barbaric .

Dictatorship

In Latin American history, after the independence processes, dictatorships were very common in the region. Even in our days, Hugo Chavez, Augusto Pinochet and Fidel Castro, are examples of one of the most particular characteristics of Latin America. In this context, the literature of this part of the world has been characterized by the protest novel, books in which the main story is around the dictators figure, his behaviors, his main particularities and the situation of the people under this regime. Writers such as Sarmiento, used the power of the word in order to criticize a government by using the literature as a tool, as an instance of the power and as an arm against the repression.

Writing and Power

The connection between writing and power was one of Sarmiento's obsession and strategy (Goodrich).

Legacy

Facundo has been enormously influential. It is the founding text of Argentine literature but is also more generally, as González Echevarría notes, "the first Latin American classic." This book contributed to many changes in Argentina. Josefina Ludmer marks that Facundo is “the first cathedral of Argentine culture” [original quote, la primera cathedral de la cultura argentina]

References

• Bravo, Héctor Félix. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Prospects: the quarterly review of comparative education Paris. UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, vol. XXIV, no. 3/4, 1994, p.487-500

• Carrilla, Emilio. Lengua y Estilo en el Facundo Universidad nacional de Tucuman, Buenos Aires, 1973.

• González Echevarría, Roberto (2003). "Facundo: An Introduction". In Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (ed.). Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism. trans. Kathleen Ross. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. pp. 1–16.

• Ludmer, Josefina. The Gaucho Genre: A Treatise on the Motherland Trans. Molly Weigel. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1991.

• Mann, Horace Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants; Civilization and Barbarism. With a Biographical Sketch of the Author Hafner Publishin Co. New York. First published in 1868.

• Moss, Joyce; Valestuk, Lorraine. Latin American Literature and Its Times. World Literature and Its Times: Profiles of Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events That Influenced Them. Gale Group, 1999. Vol 1. 171-180

• Ross, Kathleen (2003). "Translator's Introduction". In Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (ed.). Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism. trans. Kathleen Ross. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. pp. 17–26.

• Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino (2003) [1845]. trans. Kathleen Ross (ed.). Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism (The first complete English translation ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |accessyear=, |origmonth=, |accessmonth=, |month=, |origdate=, and |coauthors= (help)

• Sorensen Goodrich, Diana. Facundo and the Construction of Argentine Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.

External links

• Facundo in the original Spanish

See also

• The Dictator Novel