José Marmol

This article describes an Argentine writer. There is a place of the same name in Gran Buenos Aires, José Mármol (Province of Buenos Aires) .

José Marmol

José Mármol , origin. José Pedro Crisólogo Mármol , (born December 2, 1817 in Buenos Aires , †  August 9, 1871 ibid) was an Argentine writer who wrote the novel Amalia, one of the most important romantic works in Latin America . He held political offices and headed the Argentine National Library .

Life

In 1839, during his incomplete law degree in Buenos Aires, Mármol was arrested for 23 days by the police of the dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas as an opponent of the dictatorship ruling in Argentina . He wrote his first verses on the wall of the cell. He escaped another arrest a year and a half later by fleeing by ship to Montevideo . Other writers such as Juan Bautista Alberdi , Florencio Varela and Esteban Echeverría lived there in exile . When this city was besieged by Rosas' regime, with the help of his ally Manuel Oribe , Mármol fled to Rio de Janeiro , from where he planned to travel to Chile in 1843.

However, the ship had to turn back due to a storm, and Mármol spent two more years in Rio. In Brazil he took part in campaigns against Rosa's regime and wrote articles for magazines such as ¡Muera Rosas! , El Talismán and La Nacional . This gave him a certain reputation as a poet among the Argentine emigrants . He was also, like his author friend Esteban Echeverría, a member of the banned secret society Asociación de May . From 1845 to 1852, Mármol lived in Montevideo again. During his stay in Uruguay, he founded three newspapers, including La Semana , which deals with political and literary topics , and also wrote articles for other newspapers.

When the Rosas regime was overthrown under General Justo José de Urquiza in 1852 , Mármol returned to Argentina after more than a decade in exile. In 1854 he began his political career as a senator . He later occupied the position of a member of parliament and in 1858 took up the post of head of the Argentine National Library, the Biblioteca Nacional de la República . In addition to his work as ambassador, he worked as an authorized minister in Brazil in 1864.

In the last two years of his life, Mármol became completely blind. The French romantic Victor Hugo and the Spaniard José Zorrilla y Moral can be named as his literary models .

Selected Works

Amalia

Mármol's only novel is also known as the first Argentine novel. His first part appeared in 1851 as a serial in the newspaper La Semana ; 1855 the complete work, divided into two volumes with a total of 77 chapters. According to other sources, the novel first appeared in 1844. The first German translation was published in 1873. As a historical novel about the Rosas dictatorship, Amalia portrays the current conditions in Buenos Aires. Mármol embedded political and social history in a love story.

The protagonist Amalia lives protected and shielded from the unrest in the area in an aristocratic neighborhood in Buenos Aires. One night an argument takes place near her home. A group of Rosas' opponents want to leave the country, but are betrayed. The Mazorca, Rosas' terrifying police, bloodily put down the attempt to escape. Daniel, Amalia's cousin, brings his badly injured friend Eduardo Belgrano to Amalia's house, who thus becomes an ally and opponent of tyranny. While taking care of Eduardo, they both develop romantic feelings for each other. However, they cannot pursue these, as Eduardo is tracked down by the Mazorca the night before their wedding. An unequal fight ensues in which Amalia is saved, but Eduardo dies.

The book gives a picture of Buenos Aires in the middle of the 19th century. Real political and social persons appear under different names as well as fictional persons. The cruel deeds of the Mazorca, some of which are described as exaggeratedly bloody, are contrasted with the attempts of political opponents against the dictator - a connection with the author - who defied Rosas' himself in his works and sought exile. The use of French vocabulary is striking in this work, indicating the European influence in Latin American romanticism. Furthermore, its structure is very heterogeneous, there are sonnets , letters, rallies and political orders in the novel, which can also stand on their own and document the prevailing conditions. The plant was extremely successful in what was then Latin America.

Cantos del peregrino

The very romantic lyrical-epic fragment (German: "Pilgerlieder") is considered the first major and most important poetic work of Mármol. It was created on a voyage by ship in 1844. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage of Lord Byron can be seen here as a model . Like this work, Cantos del peregrino was created from personal experience. It resembles a travel diary, formally divided into 12 units. However, apart from the protagonist, the pilgrim Carlos, these do not have anything in common in terms of content. Due to his experiences, this is to be equated with the author. Thus there is also an autobiographical part in this work. The work also shows a varied structure of stanzas, as well as a varied treatment of themes. On the one hand the nature of America is highly praised and hymnically sung about and on the other hand it is philosophized about its history and future. In the next moment, the protagonist makes a thought leap and remembers his first love. The pilgrim wants freedom for his country and feels banished. These feelings can be found in all parts of the work and thus hold it together. In this way, Mármol combines politics and love in one work.

Armonías

In 1851 a collection of poems against Rosas was published in Montevideo, bearing the paradoxical title Armonías (in German: Harmonies). In this collection of poems, Mármol takes action against Rosas and condemns him and his tyranny. Due to the topicality of the subject, the poems were successful at the time.

factories

• Amalia (1844). (Oxford University Press 2001, ISBN 978-0-19-512277-0 )
• El peregrino (1847)
• El poeta (1847)
• Armonías (1851)
• El cruzado (1851)

literature

• Klaus D. Ertler: Small history of the Latin American novel . Gunter Narr Verlag, Tübingen 2003, ISBN 3-8233-4997-X .
• Rudolf Grossmann: History and Problems of Latin American Literature . Max Hueber Verlag, Munich 1969.
• Dieter Reichard (Hrsg.): Author Lexicon Latin America . 3rd edition Suhrkampverlag, Frankfurt / M. 1992, ISBN 3-518-40485-7 .
• Michael Rössner : Latin American literary history . 3rd edition. Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 978-3-476-02224-0 .
• Hartmut Stenzel: Introduction to Spanish literary studies . 2nd edition JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-476-02058-1 .

Web links

Wikisource: José Mármol  - Sources and full texts (Spanish)

• Literature by and about José Mármol in the catalog of the Ibero-American Institute of Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin
• Jose Marmol in the Encyclopedia Britannica