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Augusto Roa Bastos

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Augusto Roa Bastos
OccupationWriter, scriptwriter, professor
NationalityParaguayan
GenreLatin American Boom, Dictator Novel
Notable worksHijo de hombre
I, the Supreme
Notable awardsMiguel de Cervantes Prize 1989

Augusto Roa Bastos, (June 13 1917 – April 26 2005) was a noted Paraguayan novelist, and was 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 novel Yo el Supremo (I, the Supreme) for which he won the Premio Cervantes, 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 for 26 years in the early 19th century. Roa Bastos' personal canon includes Hijo de Hombre (Son of Man) and numerous other novels, short stories, screen plays and collected writings, the majority of which were written in exile.

Biography

Early life: 1917-1932

Roa Bastos was born in Asunción on June 13 1917. He spent his childhood in Iturbe, a provincial town in which his father was an administrator on a sugar plantation.[1] 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.[2] His early exposure to Guaraní social customs and language combined with the traditional Spanish education that he would receive in Asunción, created a cultural and linguistic duality that would manifest itself in many of Roa Bastos' writings.[3] His rural upbringing also provided Roa Bastos with exposure to the exploitation and oppression of the indigenous and peasant peoples of Paraguay,[1] which would become a prominent theme in his writings.

War and writing: 1932 to 1947

In 1932 the Chaco War began between Paraguay and Bolivia. At some point, perhaps as late as 1934, Bastos joined the Paraguayan army as a medical auxiliary.[4] Directly after the war Roa Bastos' occupation was first as a bank clerk and later as journalist, and it was at this time that he began writing plays and poetry. As the first of many accolades to come, Roa Bastos won the Ateneo Paraguayo prize in 1941 for his book Fulgencia Miranda, although the book was never published. In the early 1940s Roa Bastos spent much time in the mate tea plantations of the north, an experience that he would later draw upon in his first published novel, Hijo de hombre (Son of Man).[2] In 1942 Roa Bastos was named an editorial secretary for the Asunción daily El País.

In 1944 Roa Bastos was awarded a nine month fellowship to study journalism in London by the British Council. During this time he was able to travel extensively in Britain, France and Africa and see the devastation of the war first hand. He served as the El País war correspondent, the highlight of which was an interview with General Charles de Gaulle after the latter's return to Paris in 1945. Roa Bastos was somehow able to find time to do Latin American programming on both French and English radio during this time, at the invitation of the BBC and France's Ministry of Information.[2]

During this eventful period in his life Roa Bastos continued his literary exploits. In 1942 he published a book of poems in the classic Spanish style, which he titled El Ruiseínor De La Aurora (The Dawn Nightingale). Roa Bastos would later renounce this work.[5] His plays that were successfully performed during the 1940s were never published. Of his prolific poetry of the late 1940s only "El naranjal ardiente" (1960; "The Burning Orange Grove") was published.[5]

Argentina: 1947-1976

In February of 1947 the Paraguayan civil war broke out Alfredo Stroessner seized power in Paraguay. Roa Bastos was forced to flee to Buenos Aires, Argentina, because he had spoken out against Stroessner and his ally President Higinio Morínigo during the Paraguayan Civil War. With Roa Bastos to Argentina went close to 500,000 of his fellow Paraguayans.[6] . 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.[6]

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.[3] This 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. The historical theme and 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 and wrote many scripts throughout the 1960s.[5] In 1974 he published his influential work 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 II.[5] 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.[7] There is however, little evidence that he participated in sectarian politics of any kind.[8] Roa Bastos did not return to his native Paraguay until 1989, following the downfall of Alfredo Stroessner for whom he professed detestation.

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; he spent the prize money on educational and literary projects in Paraguay.[citation needed] It was at this time that Roa Bastos began to frequently travel between Paraguay and France.[5] He continued writing throughout the 1990s and died on April 26, 2005 in Asunción from a heart attack. He was survived by his three children and his third wife, Iris Giménez.[3]

Major works

Hijo de hombre

Main article: Hijo de hombre

Hijo de hombre (Son of Man, 1960), Roa Bastos' first published novel, Hijo de hombre represents his definitive break with poetry.[9]. It portrays the struggle between the governing élite and the oppressed in Paraguay from 1912 until just after the end of the Chaco War with Bolivia in 1936.[10] This novel draws upon a system of Christian metaphors as part of the Neobaroque concept of Magic Realism to examine the pain of being Paraguayan.[11] ‘’Hijo de Hombre’’ 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).[10] . 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).[12]. Jara, on the other hand, is an uneducated “son of man” who becomes a Christ-like leader for Paraugayan people through action and strength of character and will lead them to salvation. Although It was a massive critical success, Roa Bastos remained quite dissatisfied with the work for a number reasons.[9]

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.[13]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.[14] 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 is "[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."[15] 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.[16] Yo, el supremo is also an important milestone in the evolution of the historical novel genre.[17] "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".[18]

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.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21]. The Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga is another important predecessor.[22]

Style

Roa Bastos' writing is generally of the neobaroque style that brought Latin American literature to the fore internationally in the mid 20th century.[23] 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 (Hijo de Hombre was written in accordance with this concept).[24] The neobaroque style was used by many Paraguayan writers in exile after 1947 and until the 1980s.[25] At the core of much of the work from this group are ideas of political freedom and the emancipation of their homeland.[26]

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.[27] However, it is as a prose-fiction writer Roa Bastos has built his considerable reputation, particularly through his novels.[28] 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 two major novels Hijo de hombre and Yo el Supremo.[29]

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."[30] 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’’.[31] 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.[32] 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 the 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.[33] 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.”[34]

Significance of bilingualism

As is customary for most Paraguayans of peasant or working origins, Roa Bastos learned to speak Spanish and Guaraní from birth.[35] 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.[36] 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".[36] 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.[34]

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.[35] 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.[35]

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[37] 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,[4] but his most prestigious distinctions include the 1971 award of a John Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for creative writers,[4] 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.[38] Finally, Roa Bastos also received some belated recognition in Paraguay itself, as in 1990 he won the country's Condecoración de la Orden Nacional del Mérito.[citation needed]

Legacy

Roa Bastos is easily the most important author to come out of Paraguay and 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.[39] 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".[40]

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 (1963)
  • 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)

Notes

  1. ^ a b King 1983, p. 16
  2. ^ a b c Foster 1978, p. 17
  3. ^ a b c Caistor 2005
  4. ^ a b c Foster 1978, p. 11
  5. ^ a b c d e "Augusto Roa Bastos", Hispanic Heritage in the Americas, Enclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 2008-03-25
  6. ^ a b Foster 1978, p. 19
  7. ^ Marcos 1989, p. ????
  8. ^ Marcos 1992, p. 487
  9. ^ a b Foster 1978, p. 38
  10. ^ a b Foster 1978, p. 40
  11. ^ Marcos 1992, p. 487
  12. ^ Foster 1978, p. 39
  13. ^ Hoyt Williams 1979, p. 99
  14. ^ Foster 1978, p. 2
  15. ^ Martin 1989, p. 278
  16. ^ Fuentes 1986
  17. ^ Tobia 1997, p. 423
  18. ^ De Costa 1997, p. 186
  19. ^ Marcos 1989, p. 1209
  20. ^ Marcos 1989, p. 1210
  21. ^ Lewis 1997, p. 102 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFLewis1997 (help)
  22. ^ Foster 1969, p. 18
  23. ^ Marcos 1992, p. 485
  24. ^ Marcos 1992, p. 487
  25. ^ Marcos 1989, pp. 1211–1212
  26. ^ Marcos 1992, p. 486
  27. ^ Foster 1969, p. 11
  28. ^ Lewis 1997, p. 717 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFLewis1997 (help)
  29. ^ Marcos 1992, p. 487
  30. ^ Foster 1969, p. 19
  31. ^ Foster 1978, p. 24
  32. ^ Foster 1978, p. 25
  33. ^ Foster 1969, p. 14
  34. ^ a b Foster 1978, p. 21
  35. ^ a b c Foster 1978, p. 16
  36. ^ a b Mendez-Faith 1997, p. 619
  37. ^ Foster 1978, p. 18
  38. ^ Bach 1996
  39. ^ Marcos 1989, p. 1212
  40. ^ Marcos 1992, p. 487

References

  • Bach, Caleb (Nov/Dec, 1996), "Augusto Roa Bastos: Outwitting Reality", Americas, vol. 48, no. 6, retrieved 2008-03-27 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link).
  • Caistor, Nick (April 28, 2005), "Obituary: Augusto Roa Bastos", The Guardian, retrieved ?? {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link).
  • De Costa, Elena (1997), "??", in Smith, Verity (ed.), Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature, London: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 185–186, ISBN 1-884964-18-4.
  • Fuentes, Carlos (April 6, 1986), "A Despot, Now and Forever. Review of I, the Supreme", New York Times, retrieved 2008-03-27 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link).
  • Foster, David William (1969), The Myth of Paraguay: In the Fiction of Augusto Roa Bastos, Spain: Chapel Hill, ISBN 0-8057-6348-1.
  • Foster, David William (1978), Augusto Roa Bastos, Boston: Twayne Publishers, ISBN 0-8057-6348-1.
  • Hoyt Williams, John (1979), The Rise and Fall of the Paraguayan Republic, Austin: University of Texas Press, ISBN ?? {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help).
  • King, John (1983), "Profile: Augusto Roa Bastos", Index on Censorship, 12 (4): 15–17, doi:10.1080/03064228308533562 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help).
  • Lewis, Tracy K (1997), "Lo que son los yerbales: Essay by Rafael Barrett", in Smith, Verity (ed.), Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature, London: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 101–102, ISBN 1-884964-18-4.
  • 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.
  • Mendez-Faith, Theresa (1997), "Paraguay: 19th- and 20th-Century Prose, Poetry, And Literature in Guaraní", in Smith, Verity (ed.), Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature, London: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 619–624, 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.
  • Marcos, Juan Manuel (1992), "Paraguay", in Foster, David William (ed.), Latin American Literature, vol. Second Edition, London: Garland, pp. 469–491, ISBN 0815303432.
  • Martin, Gerald (1989), Journeys through the Labyrinth: Latin American Fiction in the Twentieth Century, London: Verso, ISBN ?? {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help).
  • Tobia, Luis Martel (1997), "The Historical Novel", in Smith, Verity (ed.), Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature, London: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 422–423, ISBN 1-884964-18-4.
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