Facundo and the Construction of Argentine Culture (Texas Pan American Series)

Domingo F. Sarmiento's classic 1845 essay Facundo, Civilizacion y Barbarie opened an inquiry into the nature of Argentinian culture that continues to the present day. In this elegantly written study, Diana Sorensen Goodrich explores the varied, and often conflicting, readings that Facundo has received since its publication and shows how these readings have contributed to the making and remaking of the Argentine nation and its culture. Goodrich's analysis sheds new light on the intersection between canon formation and nation-building. While much has been written about Facundo as a primary text in Latin American letters, this is the first study that locates it within the problematics of canon formation and the cultural, social, and political contexts in which conflicting interpretations are constructed. This new approach to Facundo illuminates the interactions among institutions, cultural ideologies, and political life. This book will be important reading for everyone interested in questions of national identity and the institutionalization of a national tradition. Frontmatter Acknowledgments (page ix) Introduction (page 1) 1. The Wars of Persuasion: Conflict, Interpretation, and Power in the Early Years of Facundo's Reception (page 23) 2. The Risks of Fiction: Facundo and the Parameters of Historical Writing (page 41) 3. The Wiles of Disputation: Alberdi Reads Facundo (page 67) 4. Facundo's Travels to the Metropolitan Centers (page 83) 5. The Nation Consolidated: The 1880's and the Canonization of Facundo (page 99) 6. A Classic Corrected: Rewriting the National Myths (page 142) Notes (page 171) Bibliography (page 195) Index (page 213) How various readings of a classic 1845 essay have contributed to the making and remaking of the Argentine nation and its culture.