El Senor President - Miguel Asturias

El Senor President, is written by Miguel Angel Asturias in 1946. It explores the nature of the political dictatorship and the effects it had on society. This story was developed from an earlier piece by Asturias which was meant as a protest of social injustice.

Here is a little bit of background information to better understand why Miguel Asturias wrote this story:

In 1847, the conservative Rafael Carrera manages to separate the United Provinces of CentralAmérica, unión formada por El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua y Costa Rica. America union formed by El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. La situación en este momento The situation at this time en Guatemala es de gran inestabilidad debido a la lucha entre liberales y conservadores, el nacionalismo y los in Guatemala is highly volatile due to fighting between liberals and conservatives, nationalism and golpes de estado. coups. Tras los sueños progresistas de Justo Rufino, en 1898 comienza la presidencia de Manuel After progressive dreams Justo Rufino, in 1898 the presidency of Manuel begins Estrada Cabrera. Estrada Cabrera. Éste someterá al país a un régimen autoritario y será acusado de crueldades con las clases This put the country into an authoritarian regime is accused of cruelty to classes campesinas y de haber entregado latifundios a extranjeros para su explotación. rural estates and he has given to foreign exploitation. Finalmente es derrocado en Finally, it is overthrown in 1920. 1920. Cuando se desarrollan los hechos el autor vivía su niñez y adolescencia, el narrador exterioriza el propio When developing the facts, the author lived his childhood and adolescence, the narrator himself exteriorized sentimiento de Asturias. sense of Asturias. (http://html.rincondelvago.com/el-senor-presidente_miguel-angel-asturias.html)

To start reading this story without any general background was a bit of a mistake so when I went back and did some research I was able to understand the plot/characters/dialogue much better. I was a little lost to start out, soon realizing Asturias as, of course, not only the narrator of his story but as a spectator during his life of the government which ruled around him.

I found the narration at times difficult to understand but the dialogue helps make  it an easier read since there is so much discussion throughout.

Mistral vs. Neruda

Needless to mention that both Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda were recognized for their artistic literature and both won Nobel Prizes. Both Chilean poets, Gabriela Marquez received her recognition in 1945 for the work of her many poems and other writing. On the other hand, Pablo Neruda claimed his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971, 16 years after Mistral.

Both authors share common ground. For one, they were both born in Chile and they were both highly recognized for their talent in writing. At one point, it is apparent that Gabriela Mistral taught Pablo Neruda in school. As I’ve read and researched, Neruda was too shy to show any of his work to Mistral.

One difference that both authors demonstrate in their writing, is the emotion and passion that the words reflect. For example, Neruda appears so passionate when he writes his love poems. It feels as if he has poured out his heart into his words on the page and they transpire so much greater meaning than the reader can interpret. I find that in Mistral’s writing, she is not as passionate as Neruda is. Oddly, you would think that the female would have more emotion in her writing but this is not the truth. Moreover, Pablo Neruda and Gabriel Mistral do share some common elements. For example, they both write about women – in different ways, but they do.

Neruda discusses the love that he has for women in his poems. We as readers do not know if he is referencing one woman alone or if he is talking about all women in general but it appears that with the depth of his writing he may be talking about one women – the love of his life. In Gabriela Mistral’s writing, she describes more than one woman. She characterizes them differently by naming each poem. Gabriela Mistral is more descriptive in who she is writing about in her work. She attaches a name to each figure where Neruda does not.

Another difference between the two authors is that Gabriela Mistral focuses a lot of her work on naturalism, feminism where Neruda is so focused on the passionate women he describes the body a lot. He goes into detail about what the figures look like, what they wear, what color they are, etc etc. There is a more simplistic form that Mistral writes with. Pablo Neruda, although young writes with fire and flame. He is extremely entertaining in his works, much more so than Gabriela Mistral.