Estudios de Teoría Literaria (Sep 2018)
The new historical novel and the historiographic metafiction: the (re)configuration of Lope de Aguirre in the Argentinean Literature
Abstract
When we propose an analysis of the literary configuration of the character Lope de Aguirre, we intend to establish an angular verification of the profile of this disconcerting figure of the European conqueror, who is not only the focus of many historiographical researches, but also an inspiring one for important titles in the literary field, resembling himself to Hernán Cortés and Christopher Columbus. His participation in the expedition led by Pedro de Ursúa (1559-1561), whose mission was to find the wonders of the New World immortalized in the mythical El Dorado and Omágua, undergoes a radical change during the course of the expedition. This nebulous journey was narrated by historiography as pure Aguirre’s tyranny until the twentieth century, when Latin American literature presents new shades for this narrative. Using as historical basis the chronicle of Francisco Vázquez (2007), we seek for critical and theoretical support in authors such as Hutcheon (1985), Aínsa (1991), Menton (1993), Esteves (1995), Aracil Varón (2004), Fleck (2007; 2017), and Tacconi (2013) in order to make references to the historical novels Daimón (1978), by Abel Posse, and Una lanza by Lope de Aguirre (1984), by Jorge Ernesto Funes. These writings are essential in order to highlight some dichotomous aspects of the character.
