Manuel González Prada
Manuel González Prada | |
---|---|
Real Convictorio de San Carlos | |
Known for | Influences on indigenismo and Peruvian nationalism |
Political party | National Union |
Jose Manuel de los Reyes González de Prada y Ulloa (Lima, January 5, 1844 – Lima, July 22, 1918) was a
He was born into the aristocratic class.[2] He was close in spirit to Clorinda Matto de Turner whose first novel, Torn from the Nest approached political indigenismo, and to Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera, who like González Prada, practiced a positivism sui generis.
Early life
González Prada was born on January 5, 1844, in
Due to the political exile of his father, the family temporarily settled down in
He would go on to live much of his life in Lima, living in a city full of Spanish traditions and conservatism, though he would become estranged from much of his family.[3]
Biography
Travel in south, solitude
For a period of time, González Prada traveled through Southern Peru, especially near
War of the Pacific
In 1879, he would release Cuartos de hora just prior to Chile's invasion of Peru, attacking the ruling class and Catholic Church.
Literary Circle
He was an original partner in the
I see myself, from this day on, at the head of a group destined to become the radical party of our literature.
During Fiestas Patrias on 28 July 1888, González Prada's Speech at the Politeama, read by an Ecuadorian orator due to the writer's stage fright, received thunderous applause by the audience, with President of Peru Andrés Avelino Cáceres, who was in attendance, saying "l did not know whether to arrest him or embrace him".[5] The publication of the speech was unsuccessfully censored by the Cáceres government.[2]
His most famous book, Free Pages, caused a public outcry that brought González Prada dangerously close to
National Union
In political life, González Prada was initially a member of the Civilista Party, but left to found with his friends, a radical party known as the National Union, a party of "propaganda and attack." The Literary Circle was transformed into National Union in 1891.[2] González Prada was named as a presidential candidate, but had to flee to Europe following persecution. He would spend seven years in Europe, visiting France and Spain, finally returning to Peru in May 1898.[2] Upon his return, he called for social revolution and the "greatest liberty" be brought through social reform.[2] He stood as his party's Presidential Candidate in the Presidential election of 1899 and came in third with 0.95% of the vote, with aristocrat Eduardo López de Romaña receiving 97% of the vote. Following the presidential election, he was asked to work for the newly formed government.
In 1902, González Prada would leave National Union and instead chose to write for working-class newspapers.[2] He began writing for Los Parias, a Peruvian anarchist newspaper, in 1904.[2] He also took up the post of director of the National Library of Peru on Abancay Avenue and helped to improve and reorganise the library to one of international stature.
Later life
His books Minúsculas (1901) and Exóticas (1911) are often considered as modernista although his work transcends the scope of that movement. Some critics have suggested that his poetry is pre-proletarian. Baladas peruanas (1935), perhaps his best book, is a vindication of the Indian. His metrical and rhythmical innovations and experiments are remarkable in Spanish-American poetry. Horas de lucha (1908) is a good example of his prose.[6]
Until his death, González Prada dedicated himself to educating university students and workers, holding Luz y Amor (Light and Love) discussion groups and sharing his writings with them.[2] González Prada died of cardiac arrest on 22 July 1918 and was buried in the Cementerio Presbítero Matías Maestro as a Peruvian patriot.[7] His writings on Anarchism, Anarquía, was posthumously released in 1936.[8]
Political views
Upon returning to Peru from Europe in 1898, Gonzalez Prada would support
Gonzalez Prada did not see the crisis facing Peru as a class conflict, saying that one class achieving power over the other would only mimic actual social justice.[2] When giving the "El intelectual y el obrero" address to the anarchist group Federación de Obreros Panaderos during a International Workers' Day event in 1905, he would make the cautioning statement that "revolutions come from above, but are made operative from below ... every revolution once successful tends to become a government of force, every victorious revolutionary degenerates into a conservative".[2]
After seeing the failures of nationalism, his strong
"Given the general inclination of man to abuse power, all government is evil and all authority means tyranny."
Legacy
The legacy of González Prada would not be recognized until later into the 20th century, influencing progressive movements within Peru.[3] His writings would also influence indigenismo due to his criticism of the pervasive Spanish culture amongst the Peruvian elite.[1] Linguistics scholar Bohdan Plaskacz would describe González Prada "as one of the greatest essayists of Latin America, champion of the rights of Peruvian Indians and spiritual father of the socialist movement of the following generation".[9] Peruvian intellectuals influenced by González Prada include José Carlos Mariátegui and Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre.[1] Víctor Andrés Belaúnde was influenced by González Prada's description of a superficial elite class.[1] His intellectual and stylistic footprint can be found in the writing of Clorinda Matto de Turner, Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera, José Santos Chocano, Aurora Cáceres, César Vallejo, José Carlos Mariátegui and Mario Vargas Llosa.
Following a curriculum change in the 1960s for the studies of the Peruvian Armed Forces, military students were taught the writings of González Prada and became disillusioned with the political elite, with officers ultimately overthrowing the government of Fernando Belaúnde in 1968 Peruvian coup d'état due to concerns of inequality.[1]
Thomas Ward, director of the Latin American and Latino Studies at Loyola University Maryland, would say of González Prada:[10]
"[E]ach century can boast of a voice that sounds in the desert shouting against colonialism, the corrupt, and its accomplices. ... A voice that, from the ruins of the War of the Pacific, ... rose up against pusillanimity, against the lack of principles, the Creole concept of Peru excluding the Andean, was that of Manuel González Prada."
Besides being a philosopher and a significant political agitator, González Prada is important as the first Latin American author to write in a style known as modernismo (modernista in Spanish, different from Anglo-American modernism) poet in Peru, anticipating some of the literary innovations that Rubén Darío would shortly bring to the entire Hispanic world. He also introduced new devices such as the triolet, rondel and Malayan pantun which revitalized Spanish verse. Besides his poetry, he cultivated the essay, and most recently Isabelle Tauzin Castellanos has published some of his hitherto unknown fiction.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Gorman, Stephen M. (September 1980). "The Economic and Social Foundations of Elite Power in Peru: A Review of the Literature". Social and Economic Studies. 29 (2/3). University of the West Indies: 292–319.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Chavarría, Jesús (1 May 1970). "The Intellectuals and the Crisis of Modern Peruvian Nationalism: 1870-1919". Hispanic American Historical Review. 50 (2): 257–278.
- ^ Publications of the Modern Language Association of America. 68 (4): 696–715.
- ^ Chavarría, Jesús (1 May 1970). "The Intellectuals and the Crisis of Modern Peruvian Nationalism: 1870-1919". Hispanic American Historical Review. 50 (2): 257–278.
- ^ a b c d Gillis, James A. (1967). Gonzalez Prada: His Ideas and Influence. Loyola University Chicago. p. 17.
- ^ THE PENGUIN POETS LATIN-AMERICAN VERSE, edited by Enrique Caracciolo-Trejo
- ^ "¿Qué personajes históricos están enterrados en el Presbítero Maestro?". infobae (in European Spanish). 19 July 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- Books AbroadVolume 14 - Page 12 Roy Temple House, Ernst Erich Noth - 1940 "As for his ideology, Anarquia is a formidable arraignment of the Creole oligarchies and a plea for anarchism, which was the position of the Peruvian Left at that time. "
- Slavic and East-European Studies. 15: 83–92.
- ISBN 9786124824753.
- González Prada, Manuel, Free Pages and Hard Times: Anarchist Musings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-511688-7(paperback).
- González Prada, Manuel, "The Slaves of the Church". Trans. Cathleen Carris. PMLA 128.3 (May 2013): 765-777.
Secondary bibliography
- Rufino Blanco Fombona, Grandes escritores de América, Madrid, 1917.
- Eugenio Chang-Rodríguez, La literatura política: De González Prada, Mariátegui y Haya de la Torre, Mexico, 1957, esp. pp. 51–125.
- John A. Crow, "The Epic of Latin America," Fourth Edition, pp. 636–639.
- Joël Delhom, "Ambiguités de la question raciale dans les essais de Manuel González Prada", en Les noirs et le discours identitaire latinoaméricain, Perpignan, 1997: 13-39.
- Efraín Kristal, Una visión urbana de los Andes: génesis y desarrollo del indigenismo en el Perú, 1848-1930, Lima, 1991.
- Robert G. Mead, Jr., Perspectivas interamericanas: literatura y libertad, New York, 1967, esp. pp. 103–184.
- Eduardo Muratta Bunsen, "El pensamiento filosofico de don Manuel González Prada," en Filosofía y sociedad en el Perú, Lima, 2003: 128-143.
- Luis Alberto Sánchez, Nuestras vidas son los ríos…historia y leyenda de los González Prada, Lima, 1977.
- Isabelle Tauzin-Castellanos, ed., Manuel González Prada: escritor de dos mundos, Lima, 2006.
- Marcel Velázquez Castro, Las máscaras de la representación: el sujeto esclavista y las rutas del racismo en el Perú (1775-1895), Lima, 2005, esp. pp. 249–264.
- Thomas Ward, La anarquía inmanentista de Manuel González Prada. New York, 1998.
- Thomas Ward, “González Prada: soñador indigenista de la nación”, en su Resistencia cultural: La nación en el ensayo de las Américas, Lima, 2004: 160-177.
- Thomas Ward, “Manuel González Prada vs. Rigoberta Menchú: When Indigenismo meets Indigenous Thought.” Hispania 95.3 (September 2012): 400-423.
- Thomas Ward, ed, El porvenir nos debe una Victoria. La insólita modernidad de Manuel González Prada. Lima, 2010.
External links
- Manuel González Prada page. Daily Bleed's Anarchist Encyclopedia (English)
- Times of Struggle An ongoing translation project of Horas de lucha
- El porvenir nos debe una victoria, a new website dedicated to Manuel González Prada replacing "Ensayos y poesía"
- His most important collections of essays and poetry, archived from "Ensayos y poesía", Manuel González Prada