THE INFLUENCE OF DICTATORS IN LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE

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THE INFLUENCE OF DICTATORS IN LATIN AMERICAN
LITERATURE

• Presented by
• Kaitlyn Archambault
• Ellen Cynar

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Presentation Preview

• Caribbean/ Island Nations
• Rafael Trujillo- Dominican Republic
• Gerardo Machado y Morales- Cuba
• South America
• Juan Manuel de Rosas- Argentina
• Dictators and Gabriel García Márquez

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The Shared Experience

• Latin America The Continent of Dictators
• Reoccurring Themes
• Tyranny
• Power
• Evil
• Marriage of American Imperialism and Latin
  American Tyrant.
• Dictators provided fodder and were catalysts for
  artistic expression.
• Literature becomes a translation of this
  political, social, and economic experience.

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Rafael Trujillo- Dominican Republic

• 1891-1930
• Became head of Dominican National Guard created
  by U.S. in 1924, a power position that helped him
  later in elections.
• Ran against Horacio Vasquez for president and won
  in 1930.
• Established secret police that tortured and
  murdered opposition was supported by U.S.
  because of his anti-communist attitude.
• Was assassinated in 1961 when car was machine
  gunned by group of men.

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Mario Vargas Llosa- Peru

• 1936-
• Peruvian novelist, playwright, journalist, and
  literary critic, Vargas Llosa began literary
  career in Europe but most novels set in Latin
  America.
• Ran for president of Peru in 1990 against
  Fujimori, lost.
• In 2000, published The Feast of the Goat (La
  fiesta del chivo). Novel about the Dominican
  dictator Trujillo (whose nickname was el
  chivo).
• Writes The dictator is a creation of the masses.
  They are mutually dependent and cannot exist
  without each other.

There is an incompatibility between literary
creation and political activity.
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Gerardo Machado y Morales- Cuba

• 1871-1939
• Started out as a business man, first in sugar,
  later in electricity.
• Ran for president in 1924 with support of
  President Zayas and won.
• Once in power, he outlawed new parties, took over
  existing parties bribed military into siding
  with him controlled congress.
• Changed constitution in 1927 to extend
  presidential term, again in 1928.
• Overthrown in 1933, fled to Miami, Florida. Dies
  there in 1939.

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Alejo Carpentier- Cuba

• 1904-1980
• In political exile in Paris 1928-1939 (fled
  country from Machado).
• Wrote during literary boom- 1960s-70s) writings
  fall into genre of magic realism.
• Novel influenced by Machados dictatorship Reason
  of State (El recurso del metado) 1975.
• Died of cancer in 1980.

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Juan Manuel de Rosas- Argentina

• 17931877
• Became wealthy through large scale ranching.
• Rose to power as a caudillo in a movement for
  conservatives and federalism, although in the end
  he was overall anti-federalist.
• Represented the estancieros, the new oligarchy
  based on commercial ranching, who were generally
  against the indigenous.
• Created a government of tyranny and fear.
• Overthrown in 1852.
• Contributed to the unification of Argentina.

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Domingo F. Sarmiento- Argentina

• Rosas contributed to literary classics by exiled
  writers such as Sarmiento, who was opposed to him
  and spent a year in Chile.
• Became interested in politics President of the
  Republic from 1868- 1874.
• Facundo Civilizacion y Barbarie (1845)
• Regarded as the first great literary work about a
  L. American dictator.
• L. American problems derived from the clash of
  the Europeanized urban and the barbarism of the
  rural class.
• Contributed to the idea of contra/ versus in
  both politics and literature, ex wealthy vs.
  gauchos.

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The Autumn of the Patriarch/ El otoño del
patriarca

• By Gabriel García Márquez from Colombia.
• Reflects back at the life of a L. American
  dictator, whose body is found in ruins.
• Theme of decay, barbarism, squalor, and
  corruption.
• Dictator is a combination of the many L. American
  dictators García Márquez was exposed to in his
  life (Colombia, Venezuela, Spain, Dominican
  Republic).
• A poem on the solitude of power.- García
  Márquez

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Colombian Dictators and The Autumn of the
Patriarch

• Laureano Gómez
• 1889-1965
• Conservative politician who symbolized clerical
  and authoritarian values.
• Admired Hitler and Franco.
• Greatly contributed to la violencia.
• Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
• 1900-1975
• Led coup that ousted Gómez in 1953.
• Brutally suppressed opposition and regime was
  very corrupt.
• Ousted by junta in 1957.

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Additional Dictators and The Autumn of the
Patriarch

• Francisco Franco- Spain (1892-1975)
• Rose to power during Spanish Civil War (1936-39).
• Friend of Hitler and Mussolini strategic during
  WWII.
• García Márquez lived in Barcelona during his
  regime.
• Marcos Pérez Jiménez- Venezuela (1914-2001)
• Led coup in 1945 and became self appointed
  president.
• Brutal repression yet spent money on aesthetic
  structures in Venezuela.

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Conclusion

• Despite the ranging geography, time span,
  culture, and history, the dictator had a common
  influence on the literature of Latin America.
• Authors used the political culture to provide
  literary commentary as well as present a
  historical background for their work.

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Bibliography

• Alejo Carpentier http//www.ups.edu/faculty/velez/
  FL380/Carmain.htm
• Chanady, Amaryll Beatrice.  Magical Realism and
  the Fantastic.  New York  Garland Publishing,
  Inc, 1985.
• Martin, Gerald. Journeys Through the Labyrinth
  Latin American Fiction in the Twentieth Century.
  London NY Verso, 1989.
• Moses, Valdez Michael. Big Daddy The dictator
  novel and the liberation of Latin America The
  Feast of the Goat, book review. Reason
  Foundation, 2002. www.find articles.com/p/articles
  /mi_m1565/is_4_34/ai_89389299
• Rama, Ángel. Los dictadores latino americanos.
  México D.F. Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1976.
• Sandoval, Adriana. Los dictadores y la dictadura
  en la novela hispaniamericana 1851-1978. México
  D.F. Universidad National Autónoma de México,
  1989.