The man of letters as a hero. Oblicual history of Mexican Romanticism

Abstract

This essay addresses the paradoxical relationship between history and literature in 19th century Mexico. The history of 19th century Mexican literature is one-sided since, in a time of constant civil wars, it shows the point of view of one of the ideological sides in conflict. The heritage (historical and literary) that we have received is, precisely, a «vision of the victors» since it silences or hides many authors and works from the conservative side, hence social history has validated a manichean version of our literary history. On this occasion I review a serial titled Elementos para una literatura nacional) (generally cited as La literatura nacional) (1868), by Ignacio M. Altamirano, with the purpose of exhibiting its multiple fractures following the perspective of The heroes by Carlyle to underline the ideological reading (the poet as hero) that, to date, we carry out about Mexican romantic literature (history vs. literature).