Synopses & Reviews
A classic work of Latin American literature, Domingo Sarmientoand#8217;s
Facundo has become an integral part of the history, politics, and culture of Latin America since its first publication in 1845. Partially translated into English when it was first published, this foundational text appears here for the first time in its entirety.
An educator and writer, Sarmiento was President of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. His Facundo is a study of the Argentine character, a prescription for the modernization of Latin America, and a protest against the tyranny of the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas (1835and#150;1852). The book brings nineteenth-century Latin American history to life even as it raises questions still being debated todayand#151;questions regarding the "civilized" city versus the "barbaric" countryside, the treatment of indigenous and African populations, and the classically liberal plan of modernization. Facundoand#8217;s celebrated and frequently anthologized portraits of the caudillo Juan Facundo Quiroga and other colorful characters give readers an exhilarating sense of Argentine culture in the making.
Kathleen Rossand#8217;s translation renders Sarmientoand#8217;s passionate prose into English with all its richness intact, allowing the English-language reader the full experience of Facundoand#8217;s intensity and historical reach.
Synopsis
"Sarmiento's
Facundo remains a foundational work for the traditions of Latin American fiction and historiography, and so an essential book for English language North Americans also, at least for those not content to abide in ignorance of an ongoing common destiny. Roberto Gonzand#225;lez Echevarrand#237;a, the leading critic of Hispanic literature, powerfully introduces the sensitive translation by Kathleen Ross. Sarmiento's High Romantic vision created the myth of the gaucho and his death drive, fascinatingly at some variance with Sarmiento's own vitalistic nuancing of his saga."and#151;Harold Bloom, author of
The Western Canon, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, and Genius: A Mosaic of On Hundred Exemplary Minds
"Publishing this book in a new translation is a historic event in itself. Sarmiento's epic Facundo is more than one of the Western Hemisphere's most important literary works; it epitomizes the meaning of 'classic.' The translator, Kathleen Ross, has captured the epic majesty and metaphoric power of Sarmiento's prose."and#151;Jeremy Adelman, Princeton University
About the Author
Kathleen Ross, Associate Professor of Spanish at New York University, is the author of The Baroque Narrative of Carlos de Sigand#252;enza y Gand#243;ngora (1994), co-editor of Scents of Wood and Silence: Short Stories by Latin American Women Writers(1991), and the translator of works by Cand#233;sar Vallejo, Roque Dalton, Julieta Campos and others. Roberto Gonzand#225;lez Echevarrand#237;a is Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literatures at Yale University
Table of Contents
Facundo: An Introduction
by Roberto Gonzand#225;lez Echevarrand#237;a
Translatorand#8217;s Introduction
FACUNDO: CIVILIZATION AND BARBARISM
Authorand#8217;s Note
Introduction
Chapter I. Physical Aspect of the Argentine Republic
Chapter II. Argentine Originality and Characters
Chapter III. Association
Chapter IV. The Revolution of 1810
Chapter V. Life of Juan Facundo Quiroga
Chapter VI. La Rioja
Chapter VII. Social Life (1825)
Chapter VIII. Tests of Strength
Chapter IX. Society at War
Chapter X. Society at War
Chapter XI. Society at War
Chapter XII. Society at War
Chapter XIII. Barranca-Yaco!!!
Chapter XIV. Unitarist Government
Chapter XV. Present and Future
Glossary of Historical Names
Translatorand#8217;s Notes
Index