Prof. Paula Hrycykpaulahrycyk@gmail.com

Map of the class� Key concepts in literature and arts

sociology, intellectual history and textanalysis.

� Historical context.� The TEXT:

a) Who is Echeverria? Why start with thisauthor?b) Why The Slaughterhouse?c) How can we read this book?d) Reading and group discussion

Key Concepts� Context:1. Context of emergency

2. Intertextuality

3. Intellectual Field

4. Author: standpoint and itinerary

5. Formal aspects: edition, format, genre

Key Concepts� Text: internal analysis1. Author’s perspective

2. Constructed reader/recepient: how’s the text’s interlocutor is

designed and addressed?

3. Type of discourse

4. Objectives

5. Main categories and argument’s structure

6. Mechanisms of persuasion

7. Appropriations: explicit and implicit quotations

Historical Context

Rosas and Argentina in the XIX century:

Political Context� Main social and political challenge since

Independence: unite the provinces under anational project of territorial and political unity.

� 1826 First National Constitution – nullified in1828 to placate caudillos from the provinces.

� 1827-29 social and political unrest: permanentthreat of a civil war.

� 1810-1852: Unitarians vs. Federalists.� 1830- 1852 National Confederation ruled by

caudillos: J. M. Rosas the most importantbecause of his control of Buenos Aires andtrade revenues

Rosas’ residence Now area of “El Rosedal” in Palermo

Rosas’ Government 1829-1832 // 1835-1852

� Rosas as the “Restorer of Laws”: put an end to sense of anarchy.

� First Federalist Governor in Buenos Aires. Represents ranching interests.

� Characteristics associated to him:- 1st period: Extraordinary faculties - 2nd period: Plenitude of the public power- Mazorca (police force), army and Church as government agents.- Censorship, intimidation and banishment of critics and enemies. - Rituals of public support: obligation to wear crimson colors of the Federalists and public allocutions should start with: “Long live the Federation and death to the unitarist savages”

City washersin the current area of Puerto Madero

Esteban EcheverríaLatin America's most important Romantic author

� Poet� Fiction writer� Cultural promoter� Political activist: He was a member of the group of young

Argentine intellectuals who in 1838 organized the Asociaciónde Mayo. This institution aspired to develop a nationalliterature responsive to the country's social and physicalreality

� Spent 5 years in Paris (1825 to 1830)- He absorbed the spiritof the Romantic Movement, then in its heyday in France

� Played a significant role in the development of Argentineliterature Echeverría's renown as a writer rests largely on hispowerful short story El matadero (The Slaughterhousewritten in 1839 but not published until 1871)

Why The Slaughterhouse?� It’s a landmark in the history of Latin American literature.

� It displays the perceived clash between "civilization andbarbarism", that is, between the European and the "primitiveand violent" American ways. This topic will reappear inFacundo by D. F. Sarmiento.

� It’s the incarnation of Echeverría’s mision as a writer and a political activist:

overthrow of Juan Manuel de Rosas with his thoughts andwriting as weapons. In 1840 he was forced to go into exile inMontevideo, there he wrote La Insurrección del Sur and ElMatadero. He remained in Uruguay until his death in 1851.

Slaughterhouse’s area

Representation of theslaughterhouse area

El Matadero, acuarela: 1829. Watercolor by Charles Henri Pellegrini

Ch. H. Pellegrini

How can The Slaughterhouse be read?

§ The Slaughterhouse can be read as a political allegory. A means to accuse Rosas of protecting the kind of thugs who murder the cultivated young protagonist at the Buenos Aires slaughterhouse.

§ Rosas and his henchmen stand for barbarism, the slain young unitarian man for civilization.

Slaughterhouse “La Convalecencia” in Barracas

Reading and group discussion

� Form 4 groups.

� Each group should discuss the questions assigned to them and share their insights with the rest of the class.

Group A: pages 59/60- What does the way the text starts tell you aboutthe author ?

- What can you infer about the author’s politicalposition in his depiction of: Unitarians andfederalists, the Church and the priests’ actions andiniciatives during lent and the inundations?

- Can you find any elements of irony? In whichoccasions do you think the author utilizes thisrecourse?

Group B: pages 61/62v How does Echeverria introduce the figure

of the government and how is it related tothe Church?

v What do you find significant in the depictionof what happens in the slaughterhouse, itspopulation and peoples behavior, etc?

v Is the idea of savagery explicitly associatedto the hole nation?

Group C: pages 66/69o What’s your insight on the hole episode

with the bull? What are the mostoutstanding elements of Echeverria’s wayof portraying people’s behavior?

o Can you find any references to theUnitarians associated to what happenedwith the bull?

o Who do you think Matasiete represents?

Group D: pages 69/72

q How can you describe the reaction to the appearance of the Unitarian? And what can you say about the Unitarian response to them?

q What can you say of the author’s standpoint after reading hisdepiction of the young Unitarian and the following paragraph:

“What nobility of soul! What bravery, that of the Federalists! Alwaysganging together and falling like vultures upon the helpless victim!”(p. 69)

q Can you reach any conclusions about the author’s perspective onthe relation of the people and authority in the Rio de la Plata in theXIX century?