Inside the Literature of Argentina
By Oscar Mulhall 10K
Argentina, known for its beautiful beaches, elegant people and for its dance, art and sport culture, is a large nation situated in South America. Argentina has a highly diverse landscape with arid zones, with deep red mountainous valleys, that lead onto subtropical regions, overflowing with vegetation and moisture. They have some temperate areas and large open grassy plains and finally there are even a sub-Antarctic grasslands and mountains. (1)
With a population of approximately 43.85 million, the country covers over 2.5 million kilometres squared and is a home to a variety of languages and cultures. The country’s official language is Spanish, however there are many other languages spoken there including Portuguese, Italian, English, Catalan and even Levantine Arabic. There are also many indigenous languages including Quechua, Guarani and Mapudungun. Amongst this diverse language spread there are some very ancient indigenous languages that are in fact endangered. They are spoken by the oldest generations of the country, unable to be passed down and will sadly but eventually become extinct. Some of these include Vilela (20 speakers), Puelche (5 to 6), Tehuelche (4), Selk’nam (1 to 3). (2)
(3) (4) Argentina has a long and intriguing history of literature. The name of the country Argentina was in fact inspired by a poem called ‘La Argentina’ (1602), written by a Spanish poet Martin de barco Centenera. The country was first settled and colonized by Spain in the 16th Century and it wasn’t until 1816 that independence was officially declared, and Argentina became its own country, the name highly derived from this very poem.
There were many indigenous tribes and groups that lived and still live in the less populated, rural areas of Argentina. In the very early stages Argentine literature much of the inspiration comes from the stories and poems of the indigenous tribes. Some very unique styles were created by fusing traditional indigenous writing and Spanish literature.
During the 18th century Argentina was still in development and for the early part, was still under the rule of Spain. Throughout this time the literature was much influenced by Europe as many settlers and migrants spread and introduced their literature, however its main influence and control was still Spanish literature.
However, in the late 18th and early 19th century, this style gave way to a new literary culture. It was based off the people in particular and the landscape of the country. In particular it focused on the story of the Argentine version of the cowboys of the ‘Wild West’. They were called Gauchos. Much of this literature was written by Gauchos themselves. A popular poet whose work featured this style was Jose Hernandez, who wrote El Gaucho Martin Fierro.

It wasn’t until the mid to late 19th century that Argentine literature seemed to completely break away from Spanish literature, taking on the romantic styles of France. A leading author in this stand out movement was Esteban Echeverria who was one of the first to experiment in romanticism. A famous novel written by him, that followed this new style was called ‘El Matadero’ or ‘The Slaughterhouse’. It again relies heavily on and implements the landscape of Argentina as a main part of the novel, being set in the Pampas, which are vast and beautiful, low lying plains in the South-Eastern part of Argentina.
Developing at the beginning of the end of the 19th century the writers or Argentina began to embrace and develop a new style of modernism that can be seen incorporated throughout many famous authors of this time. This included new fictional styles, as the first Argentine science fiction novel was written by a highly influential modernist author Leopoldo Lugones. Entering the 20th century Argentina had experienced an urban society with many modern and industrial features. This developed the literature even further, the urban and rural landscapes becoming an even bigger focus in Argentina’s literature. Significant authors of this time were Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortazar.

Moving on through the 1900’s the world was experiencing much violence and conflict through many wars. Argentina was quite affected and developed a new style/expression through literature. The New Humanism movement. This occurred around the 1950’s. After this period there was even more war and Argentine literature experienced a small blur, continuing the stylistic, emotional and naturalist literary styles. Authors then began to focus on the social and political issues of Argentina which resulted in an upset that led to the exile of many authors. A stand out author was Liliana Heker who chose to stay in Argentina and discretely continue to publish literature that included left-wing views and statements.
The literary style of Argentina is still changing, influenced by the constantly changing political, social, cultural and geographical features of the country.
I chose two short stories written by two well-known Argentine authors. The first author is Jorge Luis Borges and the second Julio Cortazar. The both wrote literature in the 1900’s, living in a very close time frame, dying only two years apart.
The first short story is La Biblioteca de Bable or in Enlgish, The Library of Babel, which was written by Borges. This short piece was quite an interesting, yet difficult read.
In the story the narrator finds himself in this fantastic, dream like Library. Much of the story consists of the narrator describing the neat, hexagonal shaped rooms that make up the Library. It seems to have an infinite top and bottom to it, never ending. It is so old and so full of knowledge and books that it is thought to contain all literature that has ever been written. He discusses the infinite structure and formulae that help construct the magnificent library. He describes how he searches for a fabled book, “I have pilgrimage in search of a book, perhaps a catalogue of catalogues” (1) that is believed to be the descriptor and answer to the mystery of the library telling the reader how, why and what it is. But understands he will most likely die before he finds it, “Now that my eyes cannot decipher what I write, I prepare to die a few leagues from the hexagon where I was born.” (5)
Like many of Borges works this narrative has very little plot, character development and minimal conflict and resolution. It focuses very heavily on descriptive passages and takes enjoyment in creating a complex puzzle for the reader to work through. He incorporates some humour giving the story a slight sense of freedom.
Again, like many of his works, Borges The Library of Babel had no prominent recurring theme. Whether this was due to the fact that the story strays away from incorporating many of the important elements named above or because it was a deliberate technique used it is hard to be sure.
Through this short story it is hard to gain much knowledge about the country itself. However, Jorge Luis Borges was a very celebrated and famous writer who won many awards such as the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and the Cervantes Prize (6). He often wrote in this style proving it was a very popular and successful style of literature in Argentina.
The second short story I chose was called House Taken Over, by Julio Cortazar. This piece was rather different, and quite intriguing.
This narrative is centred around two main characters. It is written from an unnamed male’s perspective, who lives a life of solitude with his sister Irene. Both are middle aged and unmarried, due to past mishaps. The story revolves around their almost depressing daily routine of life, living peacefully in a large house passing the time. It becomes apparent that they believe their house is being taken over, hence the title, as Irene’s brother hears noises coming from deep in the house and flees locking the door behind him. This continues, and their living space becomes smaller and smaller. They end up being completely overrun and eventually leave the house with nothing but what they are wearing. The story abruptly ends there.
Cortazar is quite descriptive as well in his writing, describing and eerie, gothic like house where almost magical things happen. A theme featured in this work is perception and reality. Incorporated quite subtly, it is shown through the strange occurrences in the two siblings’ house. The perceive the taking over of their house as almost normal, treating it each time with an unusual air of composure and weary boredom. In actual reality what is happening is very abnormal, whether it is a figment of their imagination, or in fact legitimate criminals who are slowly taking possession of their house. The fact that they end up kicked out of their house is in truth something very strange happening.
What can be concurred from both stories about the country of Argentina is not very substantial. Something can be told about the highly descriptive properties of Argentine literature that both novels possess, which is quite a commonly found technique used by many Argentinian authors.
The five poems I chose to analyse were written by three different poets. The first two; ‘My Sister’ and ‘Little Little Man by Alfonsina Storni. The second two; ‘A Patio’ and ‘Simplicity’ by Jorge Luis Borges and finally the last; ‘This is my life; the leaf seems to say’ by Carlos Barbarito.
The first two poems written by Alfonsina Storni were quite contrasting of each other. While both poems display an intelligent craft to them, they are written in two very different styles.
‘My Sister’ is a heavily descriptive and detailed poem that uses imagery and content to get across its message. The poem is written from the authors perspective and she is describing her sister. She is put to the readers as a young, pure, beautiful girl who is so innocent that “she is like the sky: she knows nothing”. (7)
The poem does not incorporate any rhyme scheme and the rhythm is steady but the lines with irregular syllables and accents. Heavy on imagery, Storni uses many similes in her description as a common technique, a given example “My sister is weaving her silk cocoon, like a skilled caterpillar: her cocoon is a dream” (7) uses this technique providing a simple yet detailed image of her sister. It is more of a free verse poem.
The second poem ‘Little Little Man’ by Storni is quite the opposite. This poem is very short and blunt; however, this works to a good effect. The little description and short sharp phrases help the poem get across in a plain but effective way. This poem is written from the perspective of a canary who is asking its owner/captor to let it out of the cage. It is almost taunting him by calling him little little man, as said by the canary; “I say “little little” because you don’t understand me, nor will you understand” (8). These two poems portray two very different styles of Storni’s writing.
The next two poems are written by Jorge Luis Borges, who wrote two one of the narratives analysed above. I chose to look at more of his works because I found his style of writing interesting and wanted to see if that carried across to his poetic writing.
The first poem ‘A Patio’ resembles ‘Little Little Man’ in stylistic features as it is more short and punctual and is on the lesser side in descriptive content. Like his short story The Library of Babel it is describing a rather strange but simple object or entity, which in this case is a patio. The description is light but complex giving more inexperienced readers something to grasp onto while also appealing to more advanced readers. The second poem ‘Simplicity’ follows along the lines of ‘A patio’ as it is describing something quite vague, in this case it is the matter of existence itself. However, deviating away from the pattern of the first poem, ‘Simplicity’ draws on a lot more complex language and description to tell the story. Both poems have no rhyme scheme and have no reoccurring rhythmic pattern. Both poems use heavy imagery that allow the mind to easily create a picture of what they are reading.
The final poem I chose, ‘This is my life, the leaf seems to say’, by Carlos Barbarito is another description heavy poem based around another simple topic, the life of a leaf. Like all the other poems it has no rhyme to it and the rhythmic values of each line tend to vary. However, there is a certain structure that can be noticed, that is having one longer line then on shorter line to give it more of a flow. The imagery is again very powerful, Barbarito uses complex language that really makes the reader think and analyse the poem to make sense of it. The extract below has an example of line three using the word abjuration alongside healthiness and vileness makes the reader really think to understand how he desires it to be pictured.
“The day does not last,
the mouth fasts at one side of the salt;
in the apparent healthiness, abjuration and vileness;
only lack of will-power, it lingers on:
oil that stays there and does not boil.” (11)
All these five poems have a beautiful way of drawing from simplistic, grounded things and using them to describe deep, emotional things. All these poems have a strong spirituality and religious devotion of a Christian kind, suggesting that the country has a strong and heavy devotion to a greater existence.
The fact that all poems keep referring back to ordinary, everyday objects to explain concepts of great complexity through the power of imagery suggests that the country itself is very grounded and have a love and comfort with the country and its surroundings itself. This comes into play in all of the poems this extract from ‘Simplicity’ is just one example;
“This is to reach the highest thing,
that Heaven perhaps will grant us:
not admiration or victory
but simply to be accepted
as part of an undeniable Reality,
like stones and trees.” (10)
This passage demonstrates both the religious features, as it mentions Heaven and Reality with a capital R. It the uses a simile describing stones and trees to describe the desire and dream that Heaven will grant them acceptance as a part of “Reality”.
My Sister: (7)
It’s ten o’clock at night; in the room in semidarkness
My sister is asleep, hands on her chest;
Her face is very white and very white her bed,
As if it understood, the light is almost unlit
She sinks into the bed like rosy fruit,
from smooth pastures into the depths of the mattress.
The air enters her chest and raises it chastely
With its rhythm measuring the fleeting minutes.
I tuck her tenderly into the white covers
And protect from the air her two divine hands;
Walking on tiptoe I close all the doors,
leave the shutters half-open and draw the drapes
There’s a lot of noise outside, drowning so much noise
The men are suing each other, whisper the women,
Words of hate go up, the shouts of the merchants:
Oh, voices, stop it. Don’t enter till you come to your nest.
My sister is weaving her silk cocoon
Like a skilled caterpillar: her cocoon is a dream.
With thread of gold she weaves the silken ball:
Spring is her life. I am already summer.
She counts with only fifteen Octobers in her eyes,
And so her eyes are so clean and clear;
She beleives that storks, from strange countries,
Come down carrying beautiful babies with little red feet.
Who wants to enter now? Oh, is it you, good wind?
Do you want to watch her? Come in. But first,
Warm up a moment; don’t go so soon
and freeze the gentle dream in her present.
Like you, it’s well that the rest would like to come in
and watch that whiteness, those immaculate cheeks,
Those fine bags under her eyes, those simple lines,
You would see them, wind, and kneel and weep.
Oh, if you love her, be good a day, because she
flees from the light if it hurts her. Watch your words,
and your intention. Her soul, like wax, can be carved,
But like wax, too much touch destroys her.
Do as that star that watches her by night,
Filtering its eye through a crystalline veil:
That star rubs its eyelashes and spins,
But does not wake her, silent in the sky.
Fly away, if it’s possible, for your snow-white orchard:
Piety for your soul! She is immaculate.
Piety for your soul! I know it all, it’s true.
But she is like the sky: She knows nothing.
Little Little man: (8)
Little little man, little little man,
set free your canary that wants to fly.
I am that canary, little little man,
leave me to fly.
I was in your cage, little little man,
little little man who gave me my cage.
I say “little little” because you don’t understand me
Nor will you understand.
Nor do I understand you, but meanwhile,
open for me the cage from which I want to escape.
Little little man, I loved you half an hour,
Don’t ask me again.
A Patio: (9)
At evening
they grow weary, the patio’s two or three colours.
Tonight, the moon, bright circle,
fails to dominate space.
Patio, channel of sky.
The patio is the slope
down which sky flows into the house.
Serene,
eternity waits at the crossroad of stars.
It’s pleasant to live in the friendly dark
of entrance-way, arbour, and cistern.
Simplicity: (10)
It opens, the gate to the garden
with the docility of a page
that frequent devotion questions
and inside, my gaze
has no need to fix on objects
that already exist, exact, in memory.
I know the customs and souls
and that dialect of allusions
that every human gathering goes weaving.
I’ve no need to speak
nor claim false privilege;
they know me well who surround me here,
know well my afflictions and weakness.
This is to reach the highest thing,
that Heaven perhaps will grant us:
not admiration or victory
but simply to be accepted
as part of an undeniable Reality,
like stones and trees.
This is my life; the leaf seems to say: (11)
This is my life, the leaf seems to say
as it falls from the branch
or the stone that rolls down the hillside.
Not much: no faith
worth being praised or attacked,
no music of the spheres,
no sky bursting into flames.
Under my feet the future ashes
which will supervene at the final distraction,
the penultimate blasphemy;
all light will go out,
and on the horse of the waves
a cobalt fish will ride in
to bite without pity the sex and the eyelids.
The leaf feels in its way
as in its way the stone feels,
but only someone with hands
finds softness in the flesh
and hardness in the bones.
It’s true: no man is visible.
The day does not last,
the mouth fasts at one side of the salt;
in the apparent healthiness, abjuration and vileness;
only lack of will-power, it lingers on:
oil that stays there and does not boil.
From this project I have learnt may this and have been able to interpret many things about aspects of Argentina.
Through the historical line of the literary style of the country, I have determined that they have a very strong and individual literature that is forever changing. This exclusive style took much development as the country attempted to develop its own sense of individuality.
It was found at the heart of the country, with Argentina’s cultural, social and geographical aspects drawn upon to help write beautiful and emotional literature.
This has shown to me that the people of Argentina are very proud and are very comfortable with and are very fond of the beautiful landscapes that Argentina holds. This is backed up by the delicately, alluring poems written through the years.
Another thing I learnt through reading the literature of Argentina is that is a very religiously devoted country. Christianity is referenced often in various Argentine works. This is something that may have helped them through the darker times the country experienced. It was something that many of the people could draw strength from and this love for religion n is shown almost as strongly as the love for their love for the land.
All in all, I am very glad I chose Argentina as my country as it led me to look into things I am not normally interested in. It took me out of my comfort zone and I became very intrigued by the country, as I learnt and read many interesting and beautiful Argentine works.
(1)
Nora W. (2014) Argentina Landscape, Weather and Culture [Online Website] (Last Updated: Not stated)
Available at: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-languages-are-spoken-in-argentina.html
(2)
Amber P. (2017) What languages are spoken in Argentina? [Online Website] (Last Updated: June 14, 2018)
Available at: https://argentina-travel-blog.sayhueque.com/argentina-landscape/
(3)
Surdelsur.com Editorial Team (2014) [Online Website] (Last Updated: September 7, 2015)
Available at: https://surdelsur.com/es/historia-literatura-argentina/
(4)
Thelationauthor.com Staff (Not Stated) [Online Website] (Last Updated: Not Stated)
Available at: http://thelatinoauthor.com/countries/literature/argentine-literature/
(5)
Jorge, L.B. (1941) THE LIBRARY OF BABEL [Online Website] (Last Updated: Not stated)
Available at: http://www.literatura.us/borges/biblioteca.html
(6)
Emir, M. (1999) Jorge Luis Borges [Online Website] (Last updated: Aug 20, 2018)
Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jorge-Luis-Borges
(7)
Alfonsina S. (2014) My Sister [Online Website] (Last Updated: May 29, 2014)
Available at: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-sister-85/
(8)
Alfonsina S. (2004) Little Little Man [Online Website] (Last Updated: Not Stated)
Available at: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/little-little-man/
(9)
Jorge Luis B. (2013) A Patio [Online Website] (Last Updated: December 13, 2013)
Available at: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-patio/
(10)
Jorge Luis B. (2013) Simplicity [Online Website] (Last Updated: Not Stated)
Available at: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/simplicity-49/
(11)
Carlos B. (2004) This is my life; the leaf seems to say [Online Website] (Last Updated: Not Stated)
Available at: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/this-is-my-life-the-leaf-seems-to-say/