Clorinda Matto de Turner

Clorinda Matto de Turner

Clorinda Matto de Turner (born November 11, 1854 in Cuzco , Peru , † October 25, 1909 in Buenos Aires , Argentina ) was a Peruvian writer and journalist and is considered the founder of the indigenist novel in Latin America ; She spent the last years of her life in Argentina and was also in contact with the Argentine cultural scene, which is why she can also partly be attributed to Argentine literature.

Life

Clorinda Matto was born as the daughter of a large landowner, Ramón Matto, who was also a writer; she grew up in the province on the Hacienda Paullo Chico near the city of Cuzco and had the opportunity there to observe the life of the indigenous population up close. She benefited from the fact that, in addition to Spanish, she also spoke Quechua (cf. Küppers: 150).

She began her schooling in Cuzco, but had to drop it off at the age of ten to look after her younger siblings after the death of her mother. Her father did not give in to his daughter's request to be allowed to study medicine in the USA (cf. Küppers: 217). In 1871 she married the English doctor and landowner Joseph Turner and moved with him to the Andean village of Tinta.

The author made a name for herself in Lima at the age of 20 when she published her debut work, Tradiciones cuzqueñas (in the tradition of the costumbrist movement established by Ricardo Palma ) in the daily Correo del Perú . In 1876 Matto de Turner publishes the biweekly El Recreo for the first time , in which, in addition to dealing with society-related issues, contemporary writers such as Juana Manuela Gorriti , Ricardo Palma, Rufino José Cuervo or Fernán Caballero have their say; A year later, however, she had to give up the newspaper project “for health reasons” (cf. Küppers: 134) and moved to Arequipa .

In 1881 the death of her husband after ten years of happy but childless marriage caused both emotional and economic problems, as she lost most of her property due to corrupt judges and lawyers; these experiences would later find expression in her novels.

1884-1885 she held the position of editor-in-chief of the newspaper La Bolsa in Arequipa, where she also published the font Elementos de Literatura Según el Reglamento de Instrucción Pública Para Uso del Bello Sexo in 1884 . 1884 her play was Hima-Sumac ó El secreto de los Incas premiered , a historical drama in three acts to forecast the Ollantaschatzes (published in 1890 in El Perú Ilustrado , 1892 in book form in the self-published , "La Equitativa").

In 1886, her biographical study Doctor Lunarejo appeared on the writer Juan de Espinosa Medrano from Cuzco, who had already written dramas in Quechua in the 17th century. In 1889 Matto de Turner became editor-in-chief of the El Perú Ilustrado magazine in Lima, almost at the same time as her first novel, Aves sin nido (English: birds without a nest ) was published. This text evokes highly controversial reactions: "Although it can be shown that the writer's commitment is based on Christian , even patriarchal convictions, she is ultimately faced with an increasingly strong front of opponents" (Rössner: 175). Her house was attacked by the incited mob, in particular by women fanatical by the church in Arequipa and Cuzco, her books were put on the index and burned at stakes in Cuzco in October 1890 , her statue was publicly burned in Arequipa, she herself was burnt on September 5th Excommunicated by the Catholic Church (Archbishop Badini of Lima) in 1890 , reading Aves sin nido and the magazine banned (cf. Küppers: 155). The number of subscribers fell, Clorinda Matto had to say goodbye in 1891. Upon invitation, she travels to the world exhibition in Chicago to escape the rumor mill.

Together with her brother, the doctor Dr. David Matto, Clorinda Matto founded the printing company “La Equitativa” in Lima in 1892 (for example: “The just” in the sense of “ equal rights or equality of women” ); she only employs women to serve her and publishes the sheet Los Andes (cf. Küppers: 158). With this now-all-in-all stance, she made even more enemies: in 1895, troops of President Nicolás de Piérola marched into Lima to the cheers of petty-bourgeois and conservative circles, as well as those supported by the Church . Clorinda Matto's house and print shop are ransacked and the facility destroyed. Faced with the so-called “Democratic Revolution of '95”, Clorinda Matto left Lima on April 25, 1895 and went into exile in Buenos Aires. She initially earned her living by working in various newspapers, and also as a teacher in two Escuelas Normales de Profesoras (teacher training institutions) and in the Escuela Comercial de Mujeres (commercial school for women), for which she also publishes relevant teaching material. In the same year, Clorinda Matto de Turner was accepted as the first woman in the " Ateneo de Buenos Aires " (cf. Küppers: 195).

Between 1896 and 1908 she directed the magazine El Búcaro Americano in Buenos Aires; Well-known authors such as Ricardo Palma, Amado Nervo , Rubén Darío , Leopoldo Lugones and others publish in it (cf. Küppers: 284). In the last years of her life she made numerous trips through Spain , France , Italy , Germany and England ; there she meets again and again with representatives of bourgeois women's organizations to discuss the so-called “ women's question ”. She finally died in Buenos Aires on October 25, 1909. In 1924, the body of Clorinda Matto was repatriated to Peru .

plant

Tradiciones Cuzqueñas

From 1884 to 1886 Matto de Turner summarized the articles about typical customs and manners as well as small scenes from the life of the country's inhabitants in two volumes, which had already been published in Correo del Perú . The texts could be described as a mixture of anecdote , instruction and entertainment; the author herself puts them in the genre of romance . It is a small literary form, one to two-page texts that seem a bit awkward in style, wooden and a little too strongly didactic and instructive oriented (cf. Küppers: 178). Their not to be overlooked reference to Ricardo Palma can probably be interpreted as a search for and exploitation of male patronage . The problem of indigenous people and women are interwoven and mutually explain each other. The projection of sexual needs into the figure of “Indian women ” allows a taboo to be expressed for bourgeois women via detours (cf. Küppers: 183).

Hima-Sumac ó El secreto de los Incas

The main characters in this historical drama are noble Indians, relatives of Túpac Amaru , whose fiancée falls in love with a Spanish military man. He wants access to the treasure of the Incas, but she does not reveal it and dies under torture with all her relatives. The text has an inexperienced dramaturgy and too many improbabilities (cf. Küppers: 177). Interestingly, there is an adaptation of the same material by Juana Manuela Gorriti in the story "El tesoro de los Incas".

Aves sin nido / birds without a nest

Published in 1889, this novel represents a radical rejection of fanaticism and hypocrisy; he campaigns for the indigenous inhabitants of the Peruvian highlands, opposes celibacy and sharp criticism of the political rulers in the countryside. First, the author skilfully launched propaganda herself in her own magazine, El Perú Ilustrado , by offering it for subscription . Two editions were then published (one with Carlos Prince in Lima and one with Félix Lajouane in Buenos Aires ). Matto undertook all sorts of clever advertising campaigns: under the heading “Fashion” one could read that a newly created women's hat was named “Aves sin nido”, a polka was named for the title of the novel (cf. Küppers: 151). So it soon enjoyed great popularity , in 1891 both editions were sold out. The announcement states that it is a "libro-fotografía", a photographic book (cited by Küppers: 223) that claims to reproduce reality "truthfully". Birds without a nest is widely considered to be the starting point of indigenous literature in Latin America, which focuses on the problems of the indigenous population. The title or the underlying metaphor of "birds without a nest" (in the sense of "fatherless children") refers to the fact that the two main characters learn at the end that as illegitimate children of a priest they are in reality half-siblings, which is their love affair brings an abrupt end and makes the desired marriage impossible. In addition, the corrupt secular dignitaries are sharply targeted, while women and Indians are viewed with sympathy. The socially critical and anti-clerical element is therefore one of the most salient features of this novel.

Literary precursors

The indiothematic was touched on earlier in the story “Si haces mal no esperes bien” (1861) by Juana Manuela Gorriti; there have also been charges against the sexual abuse of Indian women. Another forerunner can be seen in Narciso Aréstegui's church-critical text El Padre Horán (Cuzco 1848), which dealt with a real event in it: In 1836 there was a trial against a priest who had murdered a woman from his parish . Clorinda Matto's grandfather, Manuel Torres Mato, as prefect of the department of Cuzco, was involved in the investigation of the case (cf. Küppers: 226).

Índole

The second novel by Clorinda Matto de Turner was published with the subtitle "Novela peruana" (also: Peruvian novel) in Lima, 1891. Here, too, one of the main motifs is priestly sexual greed, triggered by the "bad habit" of the confessional , through which Giving priests access to the intimate secrets of women's lives and thus control over the female psyche (cf. the similar topic in the novel La Regenta by the Spaniard Clarín ). Consequently, the author argues in favor of priestly marriage , arguing that sexual urges are natural and “willed by God” and should not be suppressed.

Herencia

The author's third novel is a typical city novel, e.g. In some cases the same characters appear in him as in Aves sin nido , of which he is the “continuation”. Here the underworld of Lima is shown in its misery in a naturalistic manner; female desire and sexual frustration of women are expressed bluntly for the first time.

Bible translation into Quechua

The Scottish Baptist pastor James Thompson had already translated the New Testament into Quechua with a team of four translators in 1824 , but the manuscript was lost due to the events of the war in 1825. It was not until 1880 that the first Quechua translation of the Gospel of John came out. Clorinda Matto was the first translator to publish large parts of the New Testament in Quechua . She translated the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the Letter to the Romans from Spanish into Quechua by Cuzco , which were published in Buenos Aires between 1901 and 1904. Revised versions followed in 1907 and 1915.

Other works

• Leyendas y recortes
• Bocetos al lápiz de americanos célebres (1890): 11 biographies
• Boreales, miniaturas y porcelanas (1902): gallery of 23 portraits
• Viaje de recreo (1909 posthumously in Valencia): travel diary with panels

First editions

• Aves sin nido . Lima: Imprenta del Universo de Carlos Prince, 1889.
• Índole. Lima: Imprenta Bacigalupi, 1891.
• Herencia . Lima: Imprenta Bacigalupi, 1893.

Modern editions

• Aves sin nido . Lima: Ed. Omega, around 1989.
• Aves sin nido . Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1994. (Biblioteca Ayacucho; 186), ISBN 980-276-223-7 , ISBN 980-276-222-9
• Aves sin nido . Buenos Aires: Stock Cero 2004
• Herencia . Lima: Instituto Nacional de Cultura, 1974.
• Herencia . Ed. de Mary G. Berg. 1st ed.Benos Aires: Stock Cero, 2006.
• Indole: (novela peruana) . Ed. de Mary G. Berg. 1st ed. Buenos Aires: Stock Cero, 2006. ISBN 987-1136-43-9

Translations

English

• Birds without a nest: a novel: a story of Indian life and priestly oppression in Peru / by Clorinda Matto de Turner; translation by JGH (1904); emended by Naomi Lindstrom (1996). Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996. (Texas Pan American Series), ISBN 0-292-75194-X (cloth), ISBN 0-292-75195-8 (paper)
• Torn from the nest . Ed. and with a foreword and chronology by Antonio Carnejo-Polar. Transl. from the Spanish by John HR Polt. New York [u. a.]: Oxford University Press, 1998. (Library of Latin America) ISBN 0-19-511005-6 , ISBN 0-19-511006-4

Secondary literature

• Arambel-Guiñazú, María Cristina & Claire Emilie Martin. La prensa no tiene secso . Las mujeres toman la palabra: escritura femenina del siglo XIX . 2 volumes. Madrid: Iberoamericana, 2001, Vol. I: pp. 45-76.
• Arambel-Guiñazú, María Cristina & Claire Emilie Martin. Del romanticismo al realismo. Novelistas peruanas de fin de siglo . Las mujeres toman la palabra: escritura femenina del siglo XIX . 2 volumes. Madrid: Iberoamericana, 2001, Vol. I: pp. 179-196.
• Berg, Mary G. Clorinda Matto de Turner: periodista y crítica (Perú, 1852-1909) . In Las desobedientes: Mujeres de nuestra América . Ed. Betty Osorio y María Mercedes Jaramillo. Bogotá: Panamericana Editorial, 1997, pp. 147–159.
• Berg, Marg G. Presencia y ausencia de Clorinda Matto de Turner en el panorama literario peruano , in Edición e interpretación de textos andinos . Ed. Ignacio Arellano y José Antonio Mazotti. Navarre: Univ. de Navarra, 2000, pp. 211-229.
• Berg, Mary G. "Role Models and Andean Identities in Clorinda Matto de Turner". Studies in Honor of Denah Lida . Eds. Mary G. & Lanin A. Gyurko. Potomac: Scripta Humanistica, No. 153, 2005, pp. 297-305.
• Carrillo, Francisco. Clorinda Matto de Turner y su indigenismo literario. Lima: Ediciones de la Biblioteca Universitaria, 1967.
• Cornejo Polar, Antonio. Aves sin nido: Indios, 'notables' y forasteros . La novela peruana . 2nd Edition. Lima: Horizonte, 1989, pp. 11-36.
• Cornejo Polar, Antonio. Escribir en el aire . Lima: Editorial Horizonte, 1994, pp. 130-136.
• Ertler, Klaus-Dieter. Little history of the Latin American novel. Movements - authors - works. Tübingen: Narr, 2002, pp. 102-109.
• Kristal, Efraín. Una vision urbana de los otheres . Lima: Instituto de Apoyo Agrario, 1989.
• Küppers, Gabriele: Peruvian women authors before the turn of the century: literature and journalism as an emancipation project with Clorinda Matto de Turner. Frankfurt / M .: Peter Lang, 1989. (European university publications; 24.30)
• Meléndez, Concha. La novela indianista en Hispanoamérica (1832–1889) . Río Piedras: Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1961.
• Müller, Hans Joachim, "Clorinda Matto de Turner: 'Aves sin nido"', in: Volker Roloff, Harald Wentzlaff Eggebert (eds.), The Hispanoamerican novel , Vol. I: From the beginnings to Carpentier, Darmstadt (Scientific Book Society) 1992, pp. 78-91.
• Peluffo, Ana. "Bajo las alas del ángel de caridad: Indigenismo y beneficencia en el Perú republicano". Revista Iberoamericana 206 (enero-marzo 2004), pp. 103-115.
• Rössner, Michael (ed.): Latin American literary history . Stuttgart [u. a.]: Metzler, 1995. ISBN 3-476-01202-6
• Ward, Thomas. "La Ideología Nacional de Clorinda Matto de Turner". Neophilologus 86 (2002), pp. 401-415.
• Ward, Thomas. La teoría literaria: romanticismo, krausismo y modernismo ante la 'globalización' industrial . University, MS: University of Mississippi, "Romance Monographs," 2004, pp. 113-120; 140-144.
• Ward, Thomas. La resistencia cultural: la nación en el ensayo de las Américas . Lima: Universidad Ricardo Palma, 2004, pp. 178-198.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Iglesias Evangélicas de Chile (2013): Diego Thompson ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (aka James Thompson) 
2. ↑ Apunchis Yesus-Kiristup, Santu Yoancama ehuangeliun; Santo evangelio de nuestro Señor Jesu-Cristo según San Juan. Traducido por the Rev. JH Gybbon-Spilsbury. Sociedad Bíblica, Británica y Estrangera, Buenos Aires 1880.
3. ↑ Apunchis Jesucristoc Evangelion San Mateoc qquelkascan, Pananchis Clorinda Matto de Turnerpa castellanomanta runa simiman thicraskan. Sociedad Biblica Americana (American Bible Society), Buenos Aires 1904. 120 pp.
   Apunchis Jesucristoc Evangelion San Marcospa qquelkascan, Pananchis Clorinda Matto de Turnerpa castellanomanta runa simiman thicraskan. Sociedad Bíblica Americana (American Bible Society), Buenos Aires 1903. 102 S.
   Apunchis Jesucristoc Evangelion San Lucaspa qquelkascan, Pananchis Clorinda Matto de Turnerpa castellanomanta runa simiman thicraskan. Sociedad Bíblica Americana (American Bible Society), Buenos Aires 1901. 113 S.
   Apunchis Jesucristoc Evangelion San Juanpa qquelkascan, Pananchis Clorinda Matto de Turnerpa castellanomanta runa simiman thicraskan. Sociedad Bíblica Americana (American Bible Society), Buenos Aires 1901. 76 S.
   San Pablo Apostolpa Romanocunaman qquelkascan, Pananchis Clorinda Matto de Turnerpa castellanomanta runa simiman thicraskan. Sociedad Bíblica Americana (American Bible Society), Buenos Aires 1901.
   Apostolcunac ruraskancuna, Pananchis Clorinda Matto de Turnerpa castellanomanta runa simiman thicraskan. Sociedad Bíblica Americana (American Bible Society), Buenos Aires 1901.
   
4. ↑ John in Quechua. A revision of the Turner 'Classical' (Cuzco) Quechua version, prepared by George Allan, Antonio Salazar, and Moisés Orruel. ABS, New York 1915.

Web links

• Biography in Biografía y Vidas (Spanish)
• Text of the drama Hima-Sumac (in Spanish)
• Literature by and about Clorinda Matto de Turner in the catalog of the German National Library

See also

• List of Spanish-speaking writers