Paper
During the 1820 s there was no national government in Argentina, at least not one which survived for long. In the year 1820, the year of anarchy , the province of Buenos Aires itself had at least twenty-four governors. In the rest of the country government was in the hands of the local gaucho leaders – caudillos. The gauchos are a mixture of Spanish and Indian blood who roam the pampa, their every want is provided by the catlle and the horses of the pampa. The national character of the Argentine people was already distinctive and had pronounced that it had aquired its special quality from the gauchos themselves e.g. persoanl independance and personal rule.
In the 1920 s a number of regionalist novels written in Latin America attracted international attention. Don Segundo Sombra, written by Ricardo Guiraldes and published in 1926, was amongst the first Latin American novels to be translated into the European languages and to be read by a public which had no first-hand knowldge of the areas which the author describes. The commited write tended to think of the modernist or post-modernist as decadent, too interested in aesthetic problems and not interested enough in I the problems of his society. With the 1920 s and the acctive engagement of many writers in the political struggle these differences were accentuated. Roughness, documentary truth and realism were assumed to be marks of a greater sincerity, a higher regard for the sufferings of the poor. Ricardo Guraldes was exceptional in his peroccupation both with style and with the expression of national values in literature.
Guiraldes referred to the importance of the gaucho on various occasions, in essays and studies, always speaking of his noble qualities, his freedom and his self-sufficiency.The first refernces to the gauchos that Guiraldes made in his work were in El cencerro de cristal . Here, the gaucho is a symbol of the pampas and and honest man. He lists the principle qualities of the gaucho : love of freedom, his pride, courage and his dexterity and skill. Guiraldes uses the language of the pampa, in his work and Don Segundo Sombra is no exception.
He says :
Hablo a mi pueblo porque hablo por mi pueblo. El es quien guia mi corazon por la mano mientras digo estas cosas. Mi palabra no es personal ni aspira a expresar sentimientos personales. Entre extra os aprend a ver lo que en m , no de individual, sino de colectivo y com n a todo mi pueblo.
The use of the gaucho in Guraldes s work is as a vehicle for the construction of a national consciousness. The genre isbuilt within the semantic opposition between the gaucho as vagrant and the gaucho as patriot , terms which dramatize the process of nation formation. Don Segundo Sombra is regional in that that the pampa is an essential element in the human drama. It is based on a real man whom Guiraldes met on his family s estancia where he grew up. Don Segundo – seen as a spiritual preparation for the good life. Strong, mystical strain is evident.