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Chapter 23 - Martín Fierro: Subaltern Voices

from Part III - Literary Names

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2024

By
Juan Pablo Dabove
Edited by
Alejandra Laera  and
Mónica Szurmuk
Alejandra Laera
Affiliation:
University of Buenos Aires
Mónica Szurmuk
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de San Martín /National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina
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Summary

This chapter conciliates two different demands. On the one hand, it presents Martín Fierro as the apex of the gauchesca genre, as an intervention in political and cultural conflicts regarding the consolidation of the nation-state, the conservative order, rural capitalism, and the relationship between urban elites and rural populations, taking into consideration the two very different contexts in which both parts of the poem were written and initially read. On the other, it presents what seems to be the most impactful and widespread legacy of the poem: how, through the trope of the gaucho outlaw, the poem establishes a mode of conceiving the relationship between lettered elite and subaltern bodies and voices, when articulated to diverse (even contrasting) cultural/political projects. This articulation entails a constant redefinition of what “subaltern” may mean but always seems to assume unique uses of gaucho bodies and voices. One example would be the notion of the gaucho sociolect as the true national language and not a frontier sociolect, something unique to Latin America. How this came to be, and why, and with what consequences, are guiding questions.

Keywords

Martín Fierrogauchesque literatureJosé Hernándezrepresentation of popular subjectsbanditry in literature
Type
Chapter
Information
A History of Argentine Literature , pp. 356 - 369
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Works Cited

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