The logo for Lesson 11 is a caudillo

Lesson 11: Neoclassicism - Forging the New Nations

I. Creating the new nations

The first problem faced by the newly-independent Latin Americans was the dilemma of what kind of nation they wanted and what political system they would adopt. Or put another way, what would replace the Spanish colonial system and what would fill the power vacuum. (We noted previously that the Brazilian solution was, at least for most of 19th century, to continue a monarchy, but independent from Portugal).

Unfortunately for the Latin Americans, there had been little experience with democracy before Independence. Unlike English North America, there was little grass-roots self-rule in the Colonial period, except for a very limited amount in the Cabildos. There were, however, a great many political theorists and lawyers who had read much about the French and United States Revolutions and who attempted to create constitutions in Latin America based on those foreign models. The individuals who had to make these foreign constitutional models work, however, knew little about these imported systems or their theoretical foundations. The end result was a period of considerable chaos and instability for the first fifty years after Independence.

Inevitably, the military heroes of the fighting period filled the power vacuum. While in some cases handing power over to men with proven track records as leaders worked out well, military skills were often quite different from skills required by the constitutions and their abstract political theories. In the end, the generals tended to rule with a heavy authoritarian hand, and were prepared to sacrifice theoretical democratic ideals to the daily needs of pragmatic politics. And so began Latin America's long and frequently unhappy experience with the "caudillo", the strongman, frequently a military officer, who governed all too often as a dictator.

Fig 11-1: "In case of democracy break the glass"

Much of the political debate in this period polarized around two positions loosely defined as "liberal" or "conservative". A 19th Century Latin American "liberal" would most likely favor a republican system, limits on the power of the Church, free trade with the outside world, and a decentralized federal arrangement of states or provinces. In contrast, the "conservative" might argue for a native monarchy (or at least a strong executive), a large role for the Church in education and issues involving public morality, restricted trade, and a centralized system in which the national executive would control the provinces. Conservatives stressed how well the Colonial system had functioned, and attempted to preserve as much of it as possible. Liberals pointed to the Colonial system's failures, exalted the examples of the new republics in France and the U.S., and demanded as much change as possible.

The end result was a long struggle between these two camps, which had local variants in each nation. The energies that could have gone into building the new nations were wasted in political bickering, and all too often the reins of power were held by caudillos. These tended to ally themselves with the landowning elite and with the Church, and thus were drawn into the conservative camp. The alliance of military, landowner and priest was a powerful one that was to dominate Latin American politics for many years, and in some cases continues into our own times.

Fig 11-2: Landowner, officer, priest

The new Latin American nations were also severely challenged by centrifugal forces. Based at times on regional pride, and at times on the ambitions of local caudillos or politicians, this centrifugal tendency was reinforced by geography, distance, and difficult communications from the national capital to the farthest provinces. And so we note that in the early years of the Independence period the Central American Confederation broke away from Mexico and then divided into five separate nations: the nation of Gran Colombia broke up into Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador (and later Panama); Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay were carved out of the successor states of the two Viceroyalties of southern South America. (See Map, Figure 10-13). Only Brazil, blessed with more favorable geography and the stability of a monarchical system, was able to successfully resist this tendency toward fragmentation.

From outside came the threat of the Holy Alliance (made up of conservative absolutist monarchies in Europe) to restore the Spanish colonial system by force. This threat was one of the reasons for the U.S. declaration of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, although the United States had little power to enforce it for many years. The Monroe Doctrine was a unilateral US declaration of policy, taken without consultation with the rest of the Hemisphere. Latin American critics of the Doctrine also argue that its first violation occurred when Great Britain took the Falklands/ Malvinas Islands by force in 1833, and that the US did nothing to stop it.

II. Neoclassicism

The predominant cultural movement in this early national period was Neoclassicism, which had arrived in Latin America in the late 18th Century as the esthetic expression of the Enlightenment. The Neoclassical traditions stressed the Greco-Roman foundations of European culture and required a fairly rigid treatment of certain standard themes. Although local writers and artists could introduce their own variants of these themes, they were expected to fit them into the rules of Neoclassical literature and art.

Because of its link to the Enlightenment and to the French Revolution, Neoclassicism quickly took root in Latin America around the time of Independence. It was also seen as the best way of rejecting the old Spanish Colonial baroque esthetic tradition, which was no longer acceptable because of the way it had been used to buttress the power of the king and the conservative Church. Neoclassicism's Greek and Roman roots were also used to emphasize, somewhat idealistically, the democracy of those Mediterranean cultures. Thus, when it came time to design the public buildings for the new nations, it seemed highly appropriate that a new congress or government building should be modeled after classical Greek or Roman ones.

Fig 11-3: Neoclassicism

In contrast to the Baroque, Neoclassicism stressed simplicity and clarity of design, restraint in detail, rationality, and organization. There was little room for the exuberance of colors and lushness of details that characterized the Baroque. In literature and painting the rules of Neoclassicism inhibited excesses of emotion or subjectivism; the mind clearly dominated the heart.

The principal mechanism for transmitting Neoclassicism and its rules and standards was the institution known as the Academy. The first Academy of Fine Arts had been established in Mexico in 1785 (it was the only one founded in the Colonial period). Others were created soon after Independence. They were based on French models, and they established what was and what was not acceptable in the world of art, writing, and architecture.

A number of prominent European intellectuals, especially naturalists such as Charles Darwin and Baron Alexander von Humboldt, visited the New World in the early and middle part of the nineteenth century, and these figures left their impact in their scientific fields as well as the literary ones. This, coupled with local pride, helps explain the neoclassicists' priority of countryside and agriculture over cities and urban life. This was also a reflection of the Enlightenment's emphasis on the "noble savage" and the purity of life in the state of nature.

Popular art and literature was not favored by the Neoclassic standard-setters and the elites who held political and economic power. They viewed it as uncultured and distant from both the French models as well as the Greco-Roman roots of Neoclassicism. Although undoubtedly local artisans and painters continued to produce their craft, it was considered inferior by the elites and given no official sanction or protection; little of it has survived.

Neoclassical literature in Latin America borrowed heavily from Latin models and made frequent allusions to classical images from Greek and Roman mythology. Good writers who carefully followed the standards produced high-sounding and inspiring works. Unfortunately, there were many Neoclassical writers who could not achieve these goals and their product tends to sound artificial and even bombastic, especially when translated into a non-Latin language. Because of the historical period of Independence, Neoclassical literature focused on the great heroes of Independence and their exploits. Themes exalting the natural wonders of America also prevailed. These currents were seen as helping to forge the new nations by emphasizing the break with the Colonial past and exalting the beauty and wealth of the New World.

III. José Joaquín de Olmedo (1780-1847).

This Ecuadorian poet epitomizes the Neoclassical emphasis on glorious deeds, Independence, classical references, high-sounding oratory, and carefully structured verse. Olmedo knew Bolívar personally, and after the important battle of Junín the Liberator asked him to write a heroic poem in the Latin tradition. While Bolívar did not ask for a poem that would glorify him personally, it was obvious that he would figure prominently in the poem since he had been present at the battle. The poem is indeed a hymn to Bolívar, elevating him to the level of a conquering Roman Caesar as well as extolling his republican virtues.

Fig. 11-4: Olmedo

By the time Olmedo was finishing the poem another important battle, that of Ayacucho, had taken place, and he felt it should be included in the work. This created a problem for the poet, since Bolívar had not been present at Ayacucho. Olmedo solved it (and complied with the Neoclassical rule of unity and logic) by writing the poem in two parts and introducing the figure of the last Inca, Huayna Capac, as a sort of commentator who would tie the two parts, corresponding to the two battles, together. Huayna Capac does this by glorifying Bolívar, castigating the Spanish for their cruel conquest and Colonial rule, and then presenting the second half of the poem, which deals with the battle of Ayacucho. Bolívar was not pleased with the end result, apparently because he felt Huayna Capac was too prominent a figure and that the inclusion of the second battle detracted from his role in the first.

Bolívar might also have been concerned over the symbolism of the Inca. At the moment the poem was written (1825) the debate over republicanism versus monarchy was raging in Spanish America, and some felt that the creation of a local monarchy based on a descendant of the Inca Emperor might be a logical solution. Bolívar himself was known to have been considering the advisability of a British-style parliamentary monarchy (with himself as a possible monarch or president for life) as a way of fighting the centrifugal tendencies he had perceived. Thus, the prominence of Huayna Capac had a heavy political meaning when the poem appeared.

The first lines of the poem are also an excellent example of onomatopoeia, and were meant to suggest the thundering of distant cannon in battle. They are frequently used to torture English-speaking learners of Spanish who have an inherent difficulty in rolling the Spanish "r".

The original Spanish lines are:

"El trueno horrendo que en fragor revienta

y sordo retumbando se dilata...

"The Junín Victory: Bolívar's Anthem" by José Joaquín Olmedo

The horrendous thunder throbs and rumbles

and rolls in swelling waves

across the globe in flames,

announcing to God that He rules in Heaven.

The bolt that at Junín crashes and scatters

the Spanish multitude

who fiercer than ever were threatening

eternal slavery through blood and fire.

And the hymn of victory

which with a thousand deafening echoes reverberated

through deep valleys and to the craggy peaks

proclaims that Bolívar is on earth

the final judge in peace and war.

The arrogant pyramids which skyward

human art had dared to raise

to speak to centuries and nations;

temples, where hands of slaves

deified in pomp their tyrants,

are mocked by time, who with weak wings

touches them, and brings them down,

after which the fleeting wind easily

erases their lying inscriptions;

and below the confused ashes

between the shadows of eternal oblivion,

oh what an example of ambition and misery!

lies the priest, the god, and the temple.

But the sublime mountains, whose face

to the ethereal region is raised,

who see the storms at their feet,

flash, growl, break, dissipate;

the Andes: the enormous, stupendous

mounds seated on bases of gold,

the earth with its weight balancing,

shall never be moved. They mock

alien envy and stubborn time.

fury and power, they shall be eternal

heralds of Liberty and Victory,

who with deep echo

shall say to later ages:

"We saw the field at Junín;

we saw that with the deployment

of Peruvian and Colombian flags

the arrogant legions grew restless,

and the fierce Spanish panicked and fled,

or surrendering, sued for peace.

Bolívar triumphed; Peru was free;

and in triumphal pomp sacred Liberty

was placed in the Temple of the Sun" ...

Who is that who with slow pace moves

over the mount that dominates Junín?

Who from there measures the field, the site

of combat and victory designated?

Who observes the enemy host, counts

and in his mind breaks and routs,

and the bravest condemns to death,

like an eagle who commands

the high skies to sight its prey

who in the flock uneasily grazes?

Who is it who now descends

prepared and ready for the fight?

Tremendous clouds pregnant with storm

surround him; the flash of his sword

is a living reflection of glory;

his voice thunder; his look a lightning bolt.

Who, when the battle is joined

proud as a messenger of victory

carries his impetuous load tirelessly

running to and fro here and there?

Who, but the son of Colombia and Mars!

His voice rang out: "Peruvians.

behold there the harsh oppressors

of your homeland. Brave Colombians,

victors in a hundred cruel battles,

behold there your fierce enemies

whom you have sought since Orinoco:

theirs is the power, the courage is yours:

yours shall be the glory;

because to fight bravely for the homeland

is the best presage and omen of victory.

Attack: because he who dares most

always is victorious:

and he who does not expect to win has already lost."

IV. Andrés Bello (1781-1865)

Latin America's most notable Neoclassical figure was the writer, linguist, philologist, educator and law-maker Andrés Bello. He worked closely with Simón Bolívar in his youth and spent many years in Europe (especially France and England), steeping himself in the Neoclassical tradition and eighteenth century European rationalism. In 1810 he accompanied Bolívar as his interpreter and advisor on a diplomatic mission to London. Although it was supposed to be only a short visit, Bello remained in England for almost twenty years, marrying twice. He spent many hours in the British Museum studying the Greek and Roman classics and debating politics with his British hosts and exiled Spanish liberals.

Fig. 11-7: Bello

His knowledge was truly encyclopedic and broad-ranging. Among other things he wrote the best Spanish grammar text of his time and drafted many of the documents which created the Chilean legal system and the foundations of Latin American international law. He spent the last part of his life in Chile, where he was the first rector (president) of the University of Chile. In Santiago he engaged in hot debates with a number of writers, especially Argentines such as Sarmiento, who were prominent figures in the Romantic movement. The Romantics, as we shall see in following lessons, viewed the Neoclassicals as too deeply rooted in rigid foreign rules and standards to capture Latin American reality. As a result of these debates Bello is sometimes seen as an inflexible defender of Neoclassicism, but in truth he was open to new ideas, as we shall see in the essay on the Spanish (Castillian) language which follows.

One of his best poems is a Neoclassical ode to American agriculture. His naturalist's eye (and nose) provided him with keen tools with which to describe the exotic elements to be found in the New World's countryside. The poem is thus a combination of art and science. His pen is placed here at the service of the new nations of the Americas, in their search for their own identity and natural history. Bello clearly prefers the countryside and the bucolic life to the city, which, in the tradition of the Enlightenment, he sees as potentially corrupting. In this poem Bello includes lines which invite the post-Independence military to lay down their weapons, return to the fertile countryside as productive farmers, and participate in the political life of the new nations as civilians. These lines are often interpreted as a warning against the caudillo and the dictatorial role that the military all too frequently played in Latin American politics.

The Castilian language in America by Andrés Bello

I do not claim to write for the Castilians. My lessons are directed to my brothers the inhabitants of Spanish America. I judge it important to conserve the language of our fathers as pure as possible, as a providential means of communication and a fraternal link between the various nations of Spanish origins scattered over two continents.

Fig. 11-8

But it is not a superstitious purism which I dare to recommend to you. The prodigious advances in all the arts and sciences, the spreading of intellectual culture, and the political revolutions, cry out each day for new words to express new ideas. And the introduction of brand new words, taken from ancient and foreign languages, has ceased to offend us, so long as it is not manifestly unnecessary, or as long as it does not reveal the affectation and poor taste of those who think they are adorning the language by writing this way.

There is a worse vice, which is to borrow new meanings for familiar words and phrases, multiplying in this way the number of words with several meanings which to a greater or lesser degree afflict all languages today (and especially those languages which are most in use), because of the almost infinite number of ideas which one must accommodate with a necessarily limited number of words.

But the worst evil of all, and the one which if not stopped will deprive us of the great advantages of a common language, is the road of constructed neologisms, which floods and muddies a great part of what is written in America. By altering the structure of the language they tend to convert it into a multitude of irregular dialects, which are unfettered and barbarous embryonic stages of future languages. These, in a lengthy elaboration would reproduce in America what was the dark period in Europe while Latin was being corrupted. Chile, Peru, Buenos Aires would each speak their own language, or better said, various languages, as happens in Spain, Italy and France, where certain provincial languages dominate, but next to them are other languages, and this places obstacles to the spread of ideas, to the execution of laws, to the administration of the State, and to national unity. A language is like a living body: its vitality does not consist of the constant identity of elements, but rather in the regular uniformity of the functions that these carry out, and whose procedure forms the characteristics which distinguish it from others...

Do not feel, when I recommend the conservation of Castilian, that I am criticizing as false and vice-ridden all that is peculiar to the Americans. There are authentically pure words that in the Peninsula are now considered antiquated, but which traditionally continue to be used in America: why proscribe them? If according to the general practice of the Americans the particular conjugation of a given verb is more suitable, for what reason should we capriciously prefer the usage that prevails in Castille?

If from Castilian roots we have formed new words using the normal procedures for word derivation which Castilian recognizes, and which it has continuously relied on (and continues to rely on) to increase its stock of words, why should we be ashamed of using such words? Chile and Venezuela have as much right as Aragon and Andalucía to tolerate their accidental divergences, when they are provided by the uniform and authentic customs of educated people. In this procedure we sin much less against the purity and correctness of the language, than in the use of frenchified words, which one can see spattered across even the most highly esteemed works of Peninsular writers.

"The Agriculture of the Torrid Zone" by Andrés Bello (fragment)

Hail, fertile region

where the beloved sun in his daily rounds

envelops you as you conceive every living thing

that stirs in every kind of climate

caressed by its life-giving light!

You weave the summer's garland

from the heavy-leaden heads of grain.

You give the grape to the bubbling cask.

No shade or hue is missing in your fruit

or in your gorgeous forests:

neither purple, nor red, or yellow.

And the wind drinks in your flowers

a thousand varied scents.

Flocks without number

graze thy green majesty,

from the never-ending plain

to the surging uplifted mountains

with their ever-white snowcapped peaks.

You give the beautiful cane

from where honey is refined,

which the world prefers to honeycombs;

you in coral urns thicken the almond

that runs over the foaming jug;

in the prickly pears boils living carmine

that would rival Tyre's purple

and the generous ink of your indigo

copies the sapphire's light.

Yours is the wine, which the wounded maguey

pours for the sons

of happy Anáhuac, and the leaf is yours

which, when from gentle

smoke in errant spires it flees,

the fastidious will solace inert idleness.

You dress in jasmine

the coffee plant,

and give it the perfume that in feasts

will temper the insane fever of Lieo,

for your sons the high palm

its varied feudal growth,

and the pineapple seasons its ambrosia;

the yucca its white bread,

the potato educates its blond fruit;

and cotton opens up to the faint dawn

golden roses and snowy fleece.

Stretched out for you the fresh passionflower

in bowers of abundant green

hangs from its climbing shoots

nectarous globes and fringed flowers;

and for you the maize, arrogant chief

of the tasseled tribe, swells its grain;

and for you the banana tree

faints under the weight of its sweet load

the banana, first

of all the beautiful gifts conceded

by Providence to the people

of happy Ecuador, with a generous hand.

No more obliged by human arts

the fruitful prize it gives;

not to the pruning knife, or the plow

it owes to the fruit;

little industry is enough, since it can

steal from its work a slave's hand;

it grows quickly, and when it ends exhausted

adult progeny replace it all around.

Oh, if to the treacherous sound

that calls him from his home

the simple laborer

far from being stupid and vain

is the pomp and false glitter

of the pestilent laziness of the city!

By what dark illusion

do those whom fortune made lords

of such lucky, varied and abundant earth

which the citizen abandons

and to the mercenary faith

the inherited motherlands

and in blind tumult are imprisoned

in miserable cities

where obstinate ambition

fans the flame of civil bands. ...

The luxuriant heart

which scorns a happy darkness

which in the bloody luck of combat

beats with happiness,

and covets power or glory,

and loves noble dangers;

let it esteem insult and affront

the honor that the motherland does not receive

the liberty sweeter than an empire,

and more beautiful than the olive's laurel.

Citizen soldier

put aside your livery of war:

the branch of victory

should be hung from the motherland's altar

and alone adorn the merit of glory.

Of its triumph, my motherland,

shall see Peace the longed-for day

Peace, at whose sight the world fills

its soul with serenity and joy:

man returns inspired to his tasks,

the ships hauls anchor, and to her friends

commends soft breezes,

the workshop hums, the countryside boils,

and sickle cannot cut all the grain there is.

Fig. 11-11: Caudillo

O young nations, who lift your brows

girded with early laurels

over the gaze of the marveling West.

Honor the fields and the simple life

of the farmer and his frugal openness.

Thus liberty will forever live in you,

ambition will be restrained,

and the law will have a temple.

The people will be not stray from the path

to immortality, arduous and hard;

they will take heart from your example.

Your posterity and your new names

adding to your fame and glory

as the cry rings out:

"These are sons, sons

(the voice will preach to all mankind)

of those who as victors overpowered

the highest peaks of the Andes;

sons of those who in the battle of Boyacá

and in the arena of Maipú,

and in the glorious campaign of Apurima,

knew how to humble the Spanish lion".