Manuel González Prada | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1844-01-05)5 January 1844 |
| Died | 22 July 1918(1918-07-22) (aged 74) Lima, Peru |
| Burial place | Cementerio Presbítero Matías Maestro 12°02′34″S77°00′34″W / 12.042852552053436°S 77.00957408578998°W /-12.042852552053436; -77.00957408578998 |
| Alma mater | Real Convictorio de San Carlos |
| Known for | Influences onindigenismo and Peruviannationalism |
| Political party | National Union |
Jose Manuel de los Reyes González de Prada y Ulloa (Lima, 5 January 1844 – Lima, 22 July 1918) was aPeruvian politician andanarchist,literary critic and director of theNational Library of Peru. The first writer to criticize theoligarchy within Peru,[1] he is well remembered as a social critic who helped developPeruvian intellectual thought in the early twentieth century, as well as the academic style known asmodernismo.
He was born into the aristocratic class.[2] He was close in spirit toClorinda Matto de Turner whose first novel,Torn from the Nest approached politicalindigenismo, and toMercedes Cabello de Carbonera, who like González Prada, practiced apositivism sui generis.
González Prada was born on 5 January 1844, inLima to a wealthy, conservative,aristocratic Spanish family.[1][3][2] His father was the judge and politician Francisco González de Prada Marrón y Lombrera, who served as Member of the Superior Court of Justice of Lima and Mayor of Lima. His mother was María Josefa Álvarez de Ulloa y Rodríguez de la Rosa. His grandfather was an important administrative figure in theViceroyalty of Peru.[2]
Due to the political exile of his father, the family temporarily settled down inValpariso, where he started his education at an English school. During his youth, González Prada would remove the "de" portion of his name in repudiation of his family's aristocratic background.[3] He would go on to live much of his life in Lima, living in a city full of Spanish traditions andconservatism, though he would become estranged from much of his family.[3]
For a period of time, González Prada traveled through Southern Peru, especially nearCerro de Pasco, where he met with peasants and some of theindigenous peoples of Peru, developing an opposition tocentralismo in Lima.[2] Following the death of his father in 1863, González Prada would live in the Tutumohacienda of his family until 1869.[2] During this period of solitude, he would experiment with a chemistry lab, developing a profitable starch compound, became a more improved poet and received political literature from Europe that would influence him.[2]
In 1879, he would releaseCuartos de hora just prior to Chile's invasion of Peru, attacking the ruling class and Catholic Church.[4] During Peru's impending defeat byChile in theWar of the Pacific, González Prada would stay in his home for three years, refusing to look atthe foreign invaders occupying Peru.[1][2] The conflict proved to him that Peru was a failure under the economic oligarchy and that large reforms were necessary to improve the nation.[1] He would identify businessmen, clergy, military leaders and politicians as the upper class, saying that their wealth and power was gained throughcrony capitalism.[1] González Prada saw the political elites in two fashions; the civilian elite who stole public funds throughspecial interest groups and the militaristiccaudillos who plundered state coffers blatantly.[1] To enforce this system, he said that the elites utilizedpolitical repression through the police and military.[1] Culturally, he said the elites were foreign to the majority of Peruvians since they adopted Spanish customs and continued colonial practices, includingfeudalism, continuinginequality and poor development in rural areas.[1]
He was an original partner in theLima Literary Club and he participated in the foundation of thePeruvian Literary Circle, a vehicle to propose a literature based on science and the future.[5] The Literary Circle saw themselves asfreethinkers and that they were destined to change Peru, reaching out to González Prada, who immediately reoriented the groups direction.[2][5] During his first address to the group at the Ateneo, he would criticize those who looked to the past, stating "Our liberty will be useless if we limit ourselves in torm to the exaggerated purism of Madrid, or if in substance we submit ourselves to the Syllabus of Rome. Let us rid ourselves of the tendency that induces us to prefer the foliage of words to the fruit of ideas."[5] In 1886, he became the head of the Literary Circle, stating:[2]
I see myself, from this day on, at the head of a group destined to become the radical party of our literature.
DuringFiestas Patrias on 28 July 1888, González Prada'sSpeech at the Politeama, read by an Ecuadorian orator due to the writer'sstage fright, received thunderous applause by the audience, withPresident of PeruAndrés Avelino Cáceres, who was in attendance, saying "l did not know whether to arrest him or embrace him".[5] The publication of the speech was unsuccessfully censored by the Cáceres government.[2]
In political life, González Prada was initially a member of theCivilista Party, but left to found with his friends, a radical party known as theNational Union, a party of "propaganda and attack." The Literary Circle was transformed into National Union in 1891.[2] González Prada was named as a presidential candidate, but had to flee toEurope followingpersecution. He would spend seven years in Europe, visiting France and Spain, finally returning to Peru in May 1898.[2] Upon his return, he called forsocial revolution and the "greatest liberty" be brought through social reform.[2] In 1902, González Prada would leave National Union and instead chose to write for working-class newspapers.[2] He began writing forLos Parias, a Peruvian anarchist newspaper, in 1904.[2]
His booksMinúsculas (1901) andExóticas (1911) are often considered asmodernista although his work transcends the scope of that movement. Some critics have suggested that his poetry ispre-proletarian.Baladas peruanas (1935), perhaps his best book, is a vindication of the Indian. His metrical and rhythmical innovations and experiments are remarkable in Spanish-American poetry.Horas de lucha (1908) is a good example of his prose.[6]
Until his death, González Prada dedicated himself to educating university students and workers, holdingLuz y Amor (Light and Love) discussion groups and sharing his writings with them.[2] González Prada died ofcardiac arrest on 22 July 1918 and was buried in theCementerio Presbítero Matías Maestro as a Peruvianpatriot.[7] His writings onAnarchism,Anarquía, was posthumously released in 1936.[8]
Upon returning to Peru from Europe in 1898, Gonzalez Prada would supportanarchism, believing it provided more liberty compared toliberalism, which had prevented reform in Peru.[2] He had similar anarchist thoughts asPierre-Joseph Proudhon andBakunin. An atheist, a follower ofDarwin,Spencer, andComte, Manuel González Prada was a powerfulpolemicist whose targets were the Catholic Church, the Spanish tradition, and, generally, any form of conservatism. He would describe anarchism as "a new Christianity ... without Christ" and that it would provide "unlimited freedom and the greatest well-being for the individual with the abolition of the state and private property".[2]
Gonzalez Prada did not see the crisis facing Peru as aclass conflict, saying that one class achieving power over the other would only mimic actualsocial justice.[2] When giving the "El intelectual y el obrero" address to the anarchist group Federación de Obreros Panaderos during anInternational Workers' Day event in 1905, he would make the cautioning statement that "revolutions come from above, but are made operative from below ... every revolution once successful tends to become a government of force, every victorious revolutionary degenerates into a conservative".[2] After seeing the failures of nationalism, his strongmoral values and after embracing anarchism, Gonzalez Prada concluded:[2]
"Given the general inclination of man to abuse power, all government is evil and all authority means tyranny."
The legacy of González Prada would not be recognized until later into the 20th century, influencingprogressive movements within Peru.[3] His writings would also influenceindigenismo due to his criticism of the pervasive Spanish culture amongst the Peruvian elite.[1] Linguistics scholar Bohdan Plaskacz would describe González Prada "as one of the greatest essayists of Latin America, champion of the rights of Peruvian Indians and spiritual father of the socialist movement of the following generation".[9] Peruvian intellectuals influenced by González Prada includeJosé Carlos Mariátegui andVíctor Raúl Haya de la Torre.[1]Víctor Andrés Belaúnde was influenced by González Prada's description of a superficial elite class.[1] His intellectual and stylistic footprint can be found in the writing ofClorinda Matto de Turner,Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera,José Santos Chocano,Aurora Cáceres,César Vallejo,José Carlos Mariátegui andMario Vargas Llosa.
Following a curriculum change in the 1960s for the studies of thePeruvian Armed Forces, military students were taught the writings of González Prada and became disillusioned with the political elite, with officers ultimately overthrowing the government ofFernando Belaúnde in1968 Peruvian coup d'état due to concerns of inequality.[1] Thomas Ward, director of the Latin American and Latino Studies atLoyola University Maryland, would say of González Prada:[10]
"[E]ach century can boast of a voice that sounds in the desert shouting against colonialism, the corrupt, and its accomplices. ... A voice that, from the ruins of theWar of the Pacific, ... rose up against pusillanimity, against the lack of principles, theCreole concept of Peru excluding the Andean, was that of Manuel González Prada."
