Naturalism in the Works of Federico Gamboa

John Orr Theobald

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Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts

in the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, of the

University of Arizona v V ! ••x..

: H c*1A A .

19 5 3

Approved: Date

*7 f

£^979/

7 933

73 Table of Contents

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

Definitions.

Short History of Naturalism.

Life and "orks of Federico Gamboa.

Naturalism in the Novels of Federico Gamboa.

Conclusion.

Appendices: A.

Personal Letter from Federico Gamboa,

B.

Biblos.

C.

Por El Mis mo Autor,

D.

GuestIonario.

Notes.

Bibliography.

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Definitions The search for truth has manifested itself In margr ways in the- history of mankind.

It is the motivating ele­

ment in the greatest branches of knowledge, religion, sci­ ence, art, economics, and literature.

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There was a group of thinkers in.the field of liter­ ature called "naturalists".

Largely influenced by the

primary advances cf science, they sought to set forth in literature the truths of life, using the "scientific me-,, thod" as their mode of procedure.

The "scientific method"

is based on experimentation and observation.

The method

is one of strict analysis, and precludes any idealization. Theoretically, the naturalist must depict life just as it is, coldly and impersonally, arriving at his conclusions by the scientific method.

Despite the well defined theo­

ries of their school, and the zeal with which the natural­ ists defended these theories, none of the authors of the. school have complied perfectly with its regulations. Diametrically opposed to .naturalism, which is an exaggerated form of realism, is romanticism.

In romanti­

cism synthesis, idealization, and free use of imagination are fundamentals.

The case of romanticism against realism

is ageless, for the ideal against the material and practical / /

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is an inherent trait of human nature. i

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The field of study,is so vast and the divergences.of opinions of the acknowledged scholars so great, that to categorize each literary work as either romantic or realis­ tic, without qualifications, would be hazardous*

If the

work were one of great:artistic merit, those with the romantic point of view would choose to interpret its sa­ lient points as romantic, just as the, realists or natural­ ists would, elect the author*s ideas as coincident with their own#

Since no two men look alike, perhaps no two

think alike.

The radicals of today are the conservatives

of tomorrow; the great naturalists from their graves are frowning upon the cubists,-the superrealists, the dadaists, the unaniraists#

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.Therefore, it will be unquestionably more advantageous to quote these authorities in an unccntroversial spirit, rejecting or applying their contentions as we see,fit. The true distinction between romanticism and realism lies really in the novelist’s attitude of mind toward his materials.

Actually there can not be such a thing as a

romantic or realistic;subject.

The very same sub jeot can

be both romantically and realistically treated.

The dls-

tinotion therefore must;be one of method in setting forth this subject matter.

The realist is concerned with and

refers to the achievement of scientific discovery, while the romanticist busies himself with problems of artistic expression.

In the light-of philosophy, the distinction

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can be successfully made In the following statement * "In setting forth his view of life, the realist fol­ lows the inductive method of presentment, and the romantic follows the deductive Expanding this statement, our critic continues: "The realist first leads us through a series of Im­ agined facts as similar as possible to the details of actual life which he has studied, in order to arrive at the general conception.

His method is leading us from the particular

to the general.

The romantic is concerned only with convey­

ing his general idea by giving it specific illustrative embodiment.

He feels no obligation to make the imagined

facts of his story resemble the actual details of life. The realist must have eyes and ears, though he need not have a soul..

The realist’s eyes and ears must not

fail him, for then his readers will disbelieve him, and a story disbelieved is no story at all.

He must never go

beyond his own experience, he is confined to his own place and time, and the mere fact that he goes out of place and time will tend to produce skepticism in the reader.

The

range of romance is far wider than that of realism.

If

the romantic be certain of his truth and of his ability to convince, he need not support his truth by accumulation of evidence. It is said that a picture differs from a photograph mainly in its artistic repression of the insignificant; it exhibits life more truly because it focuses attention

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on essentials*

The realist who values facts for their own

sake, instead of the.truths which under-lie them, becomes a naturalist, and the naturalist makes photographs of 1 ife *

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, The paragraphs quoted above are by Mr. Clayton Hamil­ ton, and they offer a framework for the consideration of r the two schools.

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: Martino states that his definition will permit of useful antitheses: ,,

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*!...romanticism...is a certain state of mind, melan­

cholic and imaginative, rather proud and revolting, the other, a true fever to show man and nature in that which 3 they are the. most shameful.n , William Dean Howells carries the evolution of realism into naturalism to this length: "When realism becomes false to itself, when it heaps up facts merely, and maps life, instead of picturing it, realism will perish too."4

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A consideration of more of Mr. Howell’s critique brings us to this: "Armando Palaoio Valdes, in his preface to La Hermana San Sulplolo. says this: ’French naturalism represents only ' a moment and an insignificant part of, life...no one can j arise from the perusal of a naturalistic book without a vivid desire,..and a purpose more or less vague, of help­ ing to better the lot and morally elevate the abject beings who figure in It.*"5

"An insignificant part of life,"

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says Valdes, while Emile Zola thought and sought to embrace humanity In Its entirety as his subject!

Mr, Howalls, how-

ever, contends" that art Is not concerned with the preaching of morality; art rests on that which Is beautiful, and for that reason tends to be moral*6

This would exclude every­

thing from the realms of art that was not beautiful*

Again

there are as many thoughts as there are men, for Gamboa says:

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"To tengo para m l , que el arte no es moral ni inmoral; debe ser arte, y

cobk ?

tal, purlfiear lo Impuroj que sin

aquelj se quedarla de Impure para siempre*"^

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Since Mr* Clayton Hemllton says that there Is no such thing as a romantic or realistic subject* a true artist could safely treat a "shameful" subject, knowing that his art would chasten It* Valdes, with naturalism still in mind, claims that the greatest cause of the decadence of contemporary literature 0 is the "vice of effect!sm"* This may apply to those with mercenary tendencies in the field of literature, bit not to Gamboa:

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"..* no voy a oerrar ice museos ni intentar autos de fe con las obras literal!as, para evltar rubores de nines oasaderss, miedos de letrades asustadizos, o de viojos 119 bidinosos e impotentea," ^ A. discussion of naturalism zmst inevitably lead to the consideration of the most famous exponent of the school, Emile Zola,

A perusal of. his life reveals to us that he was

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a staunch romanticist in his youth.

At this point of.de­

parture from romanticism, which is the beginning of his successful literaiy career, h® caught the invading spirit of investigation and experimentation*

He modeled his nov­

els after the scientific processes of Claude Bernard, and became the principal theorist of naturalism.

He found

some sympathizers and untold numbers of enemies of hie school.

This was to his liking.

He thrived on the abuse

and the invective of his enemies;the saw his works going into hundreds of editions, hundreds of thousands of volumes. His espousal of the cense of naturalism brought him power, wealth, glory and fame.

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Why, then, abandon it, even though

in his later years its adherents were dwindling, he himself experience!ng the.reaction to naturalism?

Zola*s.private

and public statements sometimes diverge widely.

He once

said to his intimates, Flaubert,Edmond de Gonoourt, Baudot, and Turgeniev:

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"And by Jove, I say the devil with naturalism, like you. Yet I shall repeat those ideas and go on repeating them, be­ cause new things must be baptized before the:public, so that they may think them new,"*0

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Zola, "fought thru the long years for his doctrines and his school, while knowing the vanity, the vulnerability of them; •thus resembling,» as Ceard observes, •one of those apostles of Renan1® books, who die for a faith of whose il­ lusory character they have long been undeceived,•" ** It may be safely stated that Zola was not a perfect

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/ naturallot.

He was rather the champion of the school,

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work is synthetic and replete with idealizations, epic in the vastness of its subject, and pessimistic in tone.

Bearing in

mind the.evident insincerities of the man and the differences between his public and private opinion, we may approach his definitions and ideas with a slightly altered point of view. "A slice of life seen through a temperament” is pos-

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slbly Zola1s most quoted definition of his literature, and he adds, "art is a c o m e r of nature seen through a tempera­ ment."

These are contradictory statements because "reality

and temperament are two mutually exterminating conceptions".^ Naturalism for Zola was to be as vast as the hold of a ship.

The things ho attempted were always;on the grand scale;

we have only to recall'the ultra-ambitious program of the Rougon-Macquart.

His work was to embrace the whole mass of

humanity, and every phase of it*

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There are some laudable concepts to which Zola held throughout his life. doctrines.

The best of these are his socialistic

We will remember that France as a nation, preach­

ing social progressy and throwing off the domination of the Church, has just been (latter half of the nineteenth century) liberated from political feudalism.

The following occurs

in his notes and plans for the Rougon-Macquart: "I have said that there is an urge toward liberty and justice.

I believe that it will be long in arriving, while

holding that we may be tad toabetter state.

But I believe

above all in a constant march toward truth.

It is only

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from the knowledge of virtue that a better social state can be born.

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Ity study then-is simply-a piece of analysis of the world as it is.

I only state facts.

It is to be a study of man

placed in a milieu, with no sermonizing#

If w

novel must '

have a result, it will be this; to tell the human truth, to exhibit our machinery, showing the hidden springs by heredity and the play of environment.

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My novel must be simple. members.

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Only one family with a few

All the cases.of heredity either in the members of

this family or in secondary characters. The Empire has unloosed appetites and ambitions, of appetites and ambitions.

orgy

Thirst for pleasure, pleasure

in hasty thought and fatigued body.

Fatigue and collapse;

the family will burn like a body devouring itself, it will exhaust itself in a generation because it will have lived too fast#

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. I must apply the force, heredity, toward a direction# This direction is found; the family will go toward the con­ tentment of the appetite, fortune or glory,or the content­ ment of the appetite, thought.

The social moment is this:

all desire pleasure, all seek the utmost physical and intel­ lectual pleasures.* His "general notes on the nature of the work*: "Understand each novel as follows; place before you a human case; put two or three forces in juxtaposition with i t ; establish a struggle between these forces; then lead the

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characters to the denouement hy the logic of their particu­ lar beings, one force absorbing the others or a l l . " ^ That la Zola and the crystallisation of his naturalism. The experimental method is in the notes and plans and "observation and experience applied to literature Pellissier, an eminent French thinker and critic, in his "Le Mouvement Littersire Contemporaine", gives a very absolute definition of naturalism in his discussion of Mau­ passant, whoi he asserts, is the one author who really merits, if any do, the classification of "naturalist". He says, in part j

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: ",,,the most naturalistic of writers is evidently he whose idiosyncrasy alters nature the least.

The naturalist

is not he who sees differently than the others, but he who sees with more clarity, more precision, who expresses the real more strongly."^

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In a paraphrase of other ideas of Pellissier, we find that he considers that Maupassant gathers images, attitudes, and gestures with the precision of a photographic apparatus. Unlike Zola, no system, no theory deforms reality in the eyes of Maupassant.; Thera is no philosophyj to Maupassant it is impossible to explain our "raison d ’etre", no one has succeeded yet, then why be concerned about it?

There is no

morality; he is indifferent to justice, fraternity, happiness,

social and individual morality do not bother him;

he cannot distinguish between good and bad.

Love is an

instinct of sex, nature and morality oppose each other#

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Zola, Daudet and the de Goneourts..*are professional ob­ servers ; they have a plan, a purpose, an idea*

Passive

and neutral, Maupassant presents.thing® seen with a per­ fect exactitude.

Maupassant is absolutely impersonal.

His art merely bears out nature.

He has no euriosity, no

virtuosity, nothing rare, nothing exquisite, nothing "odd". He has only general qualities of style, clarity, and pre­ cision*

He puts the object under our eyes.

than clear; he is transparent*

He is more

Intimate life is shown by

clear exterior signs; that is enough psychology for him, and he can and does successfully show the inside by deal­ ing only with outside, -

We may. agree that Pellissler has given.the most abso-

lute definition of naturalism, and that Maupassant is the one author who has a right Ail claim to the title of nat­ uralist,

Bit for literature to follow these strict rules

would stifle all the: humanltarianism, all individuality, all sincerity, all emotion.

Zola himself would not have

wished to set such a cold program for his school to follow. In "Candelabra", John Galsworthy professes to see less Impersonality, and more artistic ability in Maupassant: . "In the essentials of style he is the prince of tea­ chers.

The vigor of his vision and thought, the economy

and clarity of the expression in which he has clothed them, have not yet been surpassed#

Better than any other writer

he has taught us what to leave out.,.His work forms a standing rebuke to the confusion, the shallow expressionism

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the formless egoism which are not Infrequently taken for art,”1,7 Brumetl^re is the most ardent adverse critic of net* urallsm.

His opinion Is:

"It is an art that sacrifices form to material, design to color, emotion to sensation, and the ideal to the real*, and "there are insignificant and low details•"

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Martino avers

that naturalism is a "method of intellectual vrork borrowed directly from science",

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while Juan Valera counters with:

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"Naturalism is a degradation or derivation of romanticism." Many of the definitions quoted are absolute, and there­ fore arbitrary.

On one hand we have Zola, whose naturalism

was to be like the vast hold of a ship, capable of carrying anything.

On the other there are those like Pellissier, who

would limit naturalism to the strictest sense of the word. are . But, with the exception of Maupassant, thereAnone of the naturalistic school who approach the absolute in naturalism, just as perhaps, man in all his works, does not obtain per­ fection. Naturalism adheres to the dogma of determinism, while realism admits of a "free will".

Naturalism carries realism

to an extreme of observation and experimentation.

Environ­

ment, in the eyes of the foremost adherents of the naturalis­ tic school, is paramount as an influence In the lives of men, while realism considers other things equally as important, Naturalism attempts not to select, but realism does so. There are fervent champions and equally zealous adver-

sarles of every sdhool#

Some naturalists are mercenarily

pornographic, others hypocritical, all seem to have diver­ gences of opinions.

There are as many different.ideas on

a given subject as there are men.

The naturalists could

have made for a clearer understanding of themselves if, instead of clinging irrationally to the binding tenets of a "school” , they had said, like Gamboa: ”If with this profession of literary faith, I fall into the files of naturalism, a naturalist I shall be, or a verist or a realist or whatever it may be,”22

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CHAPTER II Short History of Naturalism The fundamentals of naturalism have existed in all branches of human endeavor for many centuries as the search for truth#

More than two thousand years ago Euripides, in

his Baoohae said: "The simple nameless herd of humanity, ..

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Have deeds and faith that are truth enough for me." Euripides made this statement when all around him flourished the dramas of gods and goddesses; dramas based on fearful fictions and imaginations. Greek drama had a 3' ; .... ~ -. •strong element of truth in it, for in its depths it shows human nature faithfully, but from an exterior point of view, it gives anything but the appearance of truth.

As Euripides

deserted the gods arid goddesses for the man in the street, he voiced a salient characteristic of naturalism# The naturalistic process had existed even before Euripides.

In the Bible, in old Chinese poetry and Hindu

verse and in the Iliad, can be found tendencies toward nat­ uralism.

These tendencies, however, were similar to those

of the Greek dramatists and Moliere, all keen observers of human nature.

They dressed their characters fictitiously,

but guided their acts according to their studies of human nature.

They did not heed the truths of exterior appear-

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anoes.

They were not; slaves to actuality, and regarded

their observations of life and people as a means of achieve* ment, not an end# The encyclopedists of the XVIII Century started a movement in literature which awoke the desire in men for documentation and ohservatlen#

From.them, chronologically,

one can proceed to the Ideologists of 1820, to the positiv­ ists of I860,, and thence to the naturalists of 1880,23 Auguste Comte was the chief advocate of the school of 24 positivism, . Taine, the historian, took up the case of positivism where Comte left off, and became the chief philosopher of realism,

To quote Martino on Tain®:

"Taine has been, in truth, the true philosopher of realism; its theorist; it is he who has given the formula of positivism in literary material.

He has definitely

persuaded his contemporaries of that which the ideologists and Auguste Comte' taught years ago: to realize that psycho 1 ogy is only a chapter of physiology, that the study of oharaoters was that of temperaments, that the physical milieu presses from all sides upon our destiny, that the history of individuals, like that of nations, is submitted gK to the most vigorous of determinisms," Not until approximately 1880 was there a concerted effort to establish a definite school of naturalism.

At

this time Zola and the other members of the school looked to Stendhal and Balzac as their literary ancestors.

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Stendhal contributed peeeiem and observation to ^lem, Balzao, detailed descriptions and doeimentation. The new Naturallets (1880) followed many antecedents in part, but none implicitly.

The m a t direct influence

upon the naturalista was exercised by Taine and Claude Bernard,

Bernard’s new physiology and Taine*s theories

of realism gave them the solid foundation for their school, Pellisaiier, by way of momentaiy digression,' objects to clas­ sifying naturalists in a "school".

Since the true natural­

ist has no plan, no theory, ho purpose, to Impose the limi­ tations of a school upon him would detract from his ability to set down life and nature just as it is, for his adherence to a school would bias his point of view.26 A review of the best known of the naturalism group of 1880, reveals a characteristic divergence of opinion among the critics as to which merits the highest honor.

The de

Goncourts, Flaubert, Baudot, Zola, Turgenev, de Maupassant all have their followers.27 The de Goneourt brothers consider themselves high priests of the naturalistic movement• school, in a general sense.

They belong to the

They are leaders i n documenta­

tion, and as a result their style is laboriousi

Their sub­

jects are common$'the reading of Renee Mauperin will exhibit a clinical method of observation and investigation, S^aintsbury says of them: "The tedious tyranny of the •document* and the ’note*, the deliberate preference for disquieting subjects (which

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V is on the face of it as inartisti© as the deliberate ignor­ ing of them)» and the undigested prominence of mere obser­ vations, mere materials, supply a formidable indiotraent against this work in matter and spirite"28 Daudot,s connections with the school of naturalism are perhaps the slightest of the group mentioned.

He avails

himself of faets and real people, that is true, but the at­ mosphere in which :h@ clothes them, does not follow the best practice of the naturalists# . In Daudeli’s work one finds imginationi h u m r , and a gay, witty spirit totally absent in the work of other naturalists, and in contrast to their pessimism#

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Martin© would give Flau'tert the highest place in the naturalist group, and Brunetl&re concurs with him on this point#

They quote the following linos from Madame Bovary,

asserting that these lines practically.state the ease of naturalism*.

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"C’est.le point culminant; du dram®* traits de poote I ’a marque;

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Jamais Madame Bovary ne.fut

plus belle qu’a cette epoquej ell® avait oette indefinis,sable beaute qui result# de la jole, de 1*enthousiasrae, du suooes, et qui n ’est que I ’haraonie du temperament eve© v>les ciroonstancos, Ses oonvoitises, see c h a g r i n s ^ ^ e x ­ perience du plaisir et ses illusions toujours jeunea,: comma font auxfleurs 1© fumier, la pluie, les vents et le sol^Sl,

I ’avaient, par gradations, developjie, et elle

s’epanouissait enfln dans la plantitude de sa nature.

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Pesez ces deur phrases: alies aont tout le roman, # 89 tout le system©, touts 1*6001®, tout le naturalism®•" Flaubert had the proper outlook to qualify as a natur­ alist.

He was gloomy, yet fundamentally, like Zola, sought

some ideal, as one notices in his Idealization of Madame Bcwary.

His works all evolve from a perfected plan, and

it is common knowledge that he spent hours in quest of the "right word", so technical was his style. Zola and Maupassant are by the preponderance of opin­ ion considered the best of the school of naturalism.

One

might also attach to the movement, in a sweeping sense, Emilia Pardo Bazan in Spa in, Ouerrazzi and Cellini in Italy, Thomas Hardy in togland, Federico'Gemboa in Mexico, Theodore Dreiser in the United States. That naturalism has had an effect on the popular authors of the first third of the XX Century, is a point not without Justification•

The naturalistic novel was stun­

ted in the final periods of its evolution; it did not ac­ tually go thru a decadent period.

It was frankly abandoned.

The popularity of Rostand *s Cyrano de Bergerac, attests to the fact that the world had been gorged on "life", and that it was time for its ffinished imagination, denied of all Joy by the naturalists, to Instigate a reaction that would sweep naturalism out of the picture.

And the word "picture"

brings to the mind that the moving and talking picture, with its appeal to the imagination of the vast public that devoured the hundreds' of editions of Zola*s novels, promptly

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filled in the gap in .which naturalism migfct have revived• Yet it would be foolish to say that the woiks of the great­ est naturalists are dead and buried forever, which way the fancy of the mass will turn, no one can really predict, in­ deed, there is at present a perceptible revival of the popularity of Zola in France, and even a greater one for naturalism in Mexico, where the novels of Federico Gamboa are going into new editions. Naturalism, in its day, seemed to have-mothered the birth of numerous progeny.

We now have school upon .school ,

of writing.

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There are the cubists, the unanimists, the

superrealists, thefstream-of-consoiousnese* writers.

The

latter school present themselves as dissatisfied with naturalism, in that it cuts life only in one direction, that it lacks depth and breadth, and that they will give it this.

They would penetrate into the depths of the soul

to the place where action and thought are confounded.

They

are going to give depth and breadth to the flat surface naturalism has laid.

Then naturalism has influenced them,

but to what extent we do not know, for time alone can answer this. t

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CHAPTER III life and Works of Federico Gamboa Federloo Gamboa was born In Mexico City, December 22, 1864•

He studied tiiere, and after the examinations in

1888, entered the diplomatic corps as second secretary of the Legation of Central America.®®

He possesses decora-

tions and honors from many countries, is an "oficial" of the French Academy and a corresponding,member of the Spanish Academy.OA

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In Hombres y Libros, Luis G. Urbina, with whom Gamboa collaborated in■ El Combats ^and La Juventud Literaria, in . r rmmmmmmmmmmmrnmmm

m m m m m m mm m mm m mr

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part characterizes Gamboa in his youth in the following, skettii: nHls.,oonteiapprariea in art called him affectionately fEl Pajaro Gamboa*.

In his youth he was happy, carefree, in

love with life, ingenious, a fascinating conversationalist;, in his serious moments capable of sincerely moving those about him with a deep understanding of human ills and universal suffering.

Hejnixed the ingenuity of the street

with the aristocracy of intellect, forming a dignified and brilliant whole.

He had the faculty in literature, as in

life, of being able to be sad and happy at almost the same time.

He was the possessor of candid spontaneity, but ■' ' " 32 '• ' ''•■■■’■ *' sincere and reverent."

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Carlos Gonzalez Pena, in his Hlatoria de la Literature Mexieana, adds merely that he was poor as a youth, hut a self made man whose talents were fortunately recognized early. A review of Gamboa1s life necessarily brings us to a consideration of his Impreaiones y Recuerdos and his Mi Diario.

The former work was written early in his career,

and reveals the formation of many concepts which were to influence his writing.

It demonstrates his latent power

as a story teller, and its personal quality and intimacy ---- ------- — —

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parallels Baudotfs Lettres de Mon Moulin.

In Ml Diario.

of which only the first three volumes have been published, he gives us a detailed account of his life, but it is more than an autobiographical document.

He cannot forget he is

a novelist, and insists on telling us, in an exceptionally readable way, of the many personal reactions and impressions to the occurrences of his daily life.

To this he adds an

interesting account of the process of writing several of his ....... ‘ l novels, as well as a review of his experiences while in the diplomatic service of his country. While he was in the Mexican Legation at Washington, Gamboa formed -many oharactoristic Latin-American impress sions of the United States.

We note that he admires Presi­

dents Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, but criticizes us severely (and this, he adds, in a supposedly civilized nation) for our lynchings, prize-fights, Kentucky feuds, and dollar-ehasing.

He continues his tirade against the

United states In a denunciation of this nation*s attitude of imper1alIsm,toward South and Central America and Mexico, He states:

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".••the American Babylon has exiled Justice and Right •..the civilization of such an empire as the United States Is a constant threat to the entire North American continent,r These statements, we must confess, are typical crosssections of the Latin-Amerlean attitude toward the United States,

There are no excuses to be made, except that such

an attitude is the result of a: lack of reciprocal under­ standing.

This misunderstanding is not of necessity caused

by the superficial impressions that Latin-Americans have taken from the United States, but the Americans* failure to understand that his southern neighbor is of a different, and often incomprehensible, psychologic al structure*

Gamboa

exhibits a keen insight into this question of Latin-Arnerlcan psychology in a discussion of it in Mi Dlario.5^ In Mi Diario Gamboa professes an admiration for Zola, and terms him "a lay preacher of current socialism”*3® The paramount social questions of Mexico, alcohol and education, likewise find a place in Ml Diario.

He scarcely

attempts to solve these two problems but approaches them with a common sense attitude, showing a firm and well-founded faith in the future.33 In a short ^survey of the novels 'of Gamboa Del Natural may be cited as his first attempt in that literary field. It is actually not a novel, but a collection of short stories

Though he shows promise In this work* there Is an element of carelessness in the composition, and the style is some­ what laborious.

However its analyses are clever, and its

demonstrations are the piercing and convincing observation that he was later to perfect.

The descriptions, tooi show

promise, but little else* In Reconquista Gamboa follows the mental and physical experiences of an irreligious person who returns to the faith and finds therein the utmost in peace and happiness. Viramontes sees a symbolism in the adventures of the prota­ gonist, and profoundly eulogizes Gamboa for his treatment of the subject. Supreme Ley is a lugubrious psychological tale of an illicit love in Mexico City,

Its theme parallels that of

W« Somerset Maugham1s Of Human Bondage.

It is a story of

the trials and suffering of the poorer classes, and is depleted in the naturalistic "manner";

:

On the title page

occurs the quotation by Edmond de Gonoourt: "Cn romanoier n ’est, au fond, qu'un historian des gens

30

qui n ’ont pas d ,histoire.w

Concerning his regard of the

de Gonoourts, Gamboa made the following statement in a in­ terview with Jos* .Ortega y Gasset: "I am in accord with the statements of the de Gonoourts which ascertain that art is formed of reality and beauty. Life gives it truth* and the writer gives JLt^beauty...but if the work does not rest on truth, it carries death within itself, for the artificiality will be immediately notieed7"~

... Lula G. Urbina says that Suprema Ley is "the most beautifully true and human novel in Mexioan literature# The outstanding oharaoteristio is its faithfulness to life, plus a perfect psychological analysis."*? Gonzalez Pena is of an opposite opinion.

Carlos:

He thinks that

the work follows Zola and the de Gonoourts too closely to be of any value . He admits, however, that there is a ' ' preciseness in the reproduction of the atmosphere of the

' C

prison and the theatre, end that the descriptive elements are meritorious.41

•

•

..

'

.

Santa, Gamboa*a most popular novel, is similar to the Nana of Zola in its subject.

It exhibits the author*s

mastery of style, and is a delicate question superbly trea­ ted.

It contains an expos it ion of a social evil and delves

deeply into the souls of a class that, like the rich and the poor, are always with us.

Despite the.audacity of the sub­

ject, and the truthful vein that persists throughout the work, we cannot help but feel that it is chaste.

There is a re­

markable feeling of compassion for those whom life has injus tly treated. ’

There is evident in Santa Gamboa*s vast ! •

mmmmmrnmmmmmm

humanitarian spirit, and he voices a defense and a consola­ tion for those who, thru no fault of their own, sin against conventions and themselves.. Fatalism is present, and we face the•fact that society itself maftains, and condemns, in the same breath, these social outcasts, Metamorfoslac treats the moral question of a nun in love.

The metamorphosis of the nun from the life of cell- ^

26

haoy and religion to that of a oompleto ftilfillment of phy­ sical love is the theme*

Gamboa’s judgement is that love

should be denied to no one; it is an inalienable heritage, laws end dogmas notwithstanding.

Unquestionably, though,

the real value of the novel lies in the exposition of the life, customs, and traditions of the Mexican people, both in rural and urban districts.

Thru the medium of one of

the characters, a member of the poorer classes, Gamboa has expressed the attitude of the mass on political, social, and moral questions.

Luis G, Urbina says'this of Gamboa’s

novels in general, though it is especially applicable to ' Itetamorfoais:

.

"The sincerest feeling, living, copying our life * customs, and fashions is in Gamboa.

In spite of the fact

that he is a naturalist, and that sometimes his action be­ comes heavy through the mess of detail, he succeeds in achieving suspense and producing emotion.

He shows a life

throughly Mexican, in which events happen with the fatality of destiny."*2/ La Llaga is a novel of prison life and the problems of the freed prisoner in reinstating himself in society. In this work Gamboa rightly concerns himself with' prisons, their actual state, and the necessity for social and prison reform.

All the best characteristics of Gamboa’s literary

art are evident in La Liege.

He provokes our sympathy for

the protagonist, but does not detract from the -truth in so doing.

His descriptive power is brcught into its fullest

27

play; ho conviacas us of the exactitude of what he says. In . Juan de Ml Diarlo he explains that he studied SanAUlua, the prison In la Llaga. though It Is possible that he would convince us of the truth as he sees It, whether we were aware of this fact or not * A complete list of the otiier works of (iamboa, correc­ ted by his, own hand to Mareh. 17, 1933, occurs in the ap­ pendix,43

.

.

)

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28

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1 ■ •

; CHAPTER 17 • -

Naturalism In the Novels of Federico Gamboa An attempt to present the varied ideas and concepts of Federico Gamboa will be given in this chapter# These ideas shall contribute to the final decision in our con­ clusion#

Even though some of the quotations do not have

a direct connection with naturalism§ they will none the less aid in obtaining a better understanding of his charaetdristies in general. Primarily it may be apt to consider several contribut­ ing influences that played upon the style, composition, tone and subject matter that Gamboa chose as the media of expression-

in his novels.

It is known that he was greatly influenced by the French naturalism group:

Zola, Flaubert, Maupassant>

Daudet, and the de Goneourts.

It could be safely stated

that they influenced all departments of his work to a cer­ tain extent.

It is best to bear in mind, though, that

Gamt^a absolutely demies all allegiance to any school of writing.

He wrote what was in his heart; if the result

happened to follow the tenots of any school, well and good enough with him,4^

Without doubt, an influence equally as

great as that of the French naturalists on his works, is that of his Intense patriotism#^ /His style replete with Mexieanlsms, is almost classieal in its clarity.

It is

89

readable, and seldom involved in construction, though at times, because of the mass of detail, involved in sense. In the form of his novels, he is not the strict natural­ ist that Zola is.

He does not sacrifice spontaneity to

form, end he permits himself many digressions, without', one feels, being guilty of effeotlm. The tone of his novels, universal in general, is thoroughly Mexican in particular*

He is first a novelist-,

but secondarily almost a militant reformer and patriot. Not that he makes his desire for reform too evident, nor does he make the ref ora. element paramount; he is too well aware of the inconsistencies of human nature to do that. He presents.his cases and situations in their bald and ugly aspects, but he terminates with a plea for better­ ment and progress.

Himself an integral and intense part

of Mexico, and endowed with an uncommon intellectuality,! he has perhaps gone farther beneath the spiritual surface of his country than any other author.

Her revolutions,

her abuses and poverty, her social paradoxes, all appear on his pages with a ring of truth that art and knowledge alone can Achieve.

’

;

.

;

The subject matter and motivating power of his novels is love.

Of love he says;

"Ahora bien, de tod as las pa si ones, reionabas, con su aapecto, la m£s desooneoladora de las respuestarn? que n o e omponian latotalldad ]Dios fuera loadol

0lento

pero

eierto, olertisimo rtaablen que en Mexlco, y en el mundo entero, son las mayor las, las masas ignaras y torpes; los indlviduos que no sabmi leer nl minoa sabran lo que signif loan blenestar y dioha; los que labran los campos en la paz y en la guerra abonanlos con su-sangre y sus ouerpos insepultosj los que por faIta de modios, no pueden substraerse a la forrea Implacabllidad de estigmas y atavlsmos anoestrales, y pagan los desllees da los padres, los

80

*

qua cuando M e n lea va en su vlvlr gris y nnonimo, engen* drnn hljoe que hen de dolinquir y de porar en prealdarlos

yjA tibulos.se1,80 But th® future and a hope of salvation Is erer present! "•>

.

.

M^ahl el mitido, malo y todo, no esta perdldo$ por su vastg euperfinle aun g e m l n a m y ereoen, entre la mala yerba, poroion de oimlentes, redentores y eanaa.

lo que pasa, es qie

hay que esperar la floraelon y la ooseoha qie solo producea­ se, eon el rlego de las lagrlmae de los desgraoiados y de lew buenoa, y como estos ultlmos son los menos en todas partes, tlenen harto que sufrlr y que llorar para que los granos de esplgas, tan delleadas y extranas, so dlstrlbuyen entre algunos de los much os menesterosoa que a^iardan y oonfian de siglos ha * " 8 1 A realization cf 'tito social situation In Mexico eould have little other effect than to arouse a sympathy for so­ cial istlo doctrines In one of the intellectual capabilities of Gamboa.

Socialism is not the panacea for all the ills

'.of humanity, that Is tmie, but in some of its ramifications, namely, education of the masses and the cultivation of a higher moral sense, it offers to Gamboa, as it has been shown in the previous paragraphs, a distinct step in the right direction. That itileh discourages any advance toward socialism, at least insofar as history is concerned is that, while the intent of the revolutionaries has been ideal, their efforts and bloodshed have resulted in nothing, except eventually to

f-

61

make the position of the proletariat still more difficult* Gamboa may have had this idea in mind as he outlines the eternal struggle in'the f©licking: "Unos y otros eran los de abajo, los instintIt o s , historloament® p^ostergados y cdntinument© dlsposeidos de privilegios, tierra, derechcs, y gronjerfaa; los doblados seen la m e n to enclma de los arados? los que siempre Jadearon bajo la peeadumbre de las cargae que enriqueoen y benefioian a los de arrlba, a l a m o inaeabable, ayer rey, president® hoy, eap it alls tamanana y sle^ r ® amoj eran los que nunea se quejam* parias de todos los latitudes y d e todas las epooas, que en raeimoa d® padms,mujeres, y hijos, vlven ^prifloaAom y ofrendando su sudor y s u songre a los podemsos; eran el anoho esmido de earn®* tras del que se parapitan lbs terrorizantes, los filantropos, los despotasv eran la muehedumbre, que conform® com su suerte, sufre todos los srugos y labra todos los campos," mans amenta, perpetuamente, al oamblo del mendrugo que acalle su hambre y d* un desdans© brevislmo que algo repare sus fuerzas ja­ mas eihaustas, eran la mass qua si se oruzara de brazos solo un instantes

trastornar^a el muhdo...Eran la horda,

que, euRndo azuzada, hmee anieos dlnastlas y tronos, l o ­ re sp@ table y lo inoonmoviblej la multitud epioa, y desanz grade por oonquista de libertad sin eesar proraetida y nun» ca aloanzada.

Cuandb su esiberzo ineontrastable y multiple

ya arraso tierras, ya aniquilo existencias, ya corriglo la Historians© la quite del medio, y de los festlnes del V

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52

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reparto, apenas si consign# aloanzar las sobras y deaechoa de los ahltoa..."

62

Gamboa fully compratoads tbs evil that results from the teaching of ,&ooial1 stlo dootrines to theme who will misuse them and who do not understand that they can bring only di­ saster upon thomselves by this misuse: WE1 sooialismo modemo, con vistas a la violencia y al crimen, de oonsunoion morlria, precis ament# a oauea de eer anagaza qua deslumbre y atrae a los descaperedos y los rebeldes, prometiendoles que t odom— y en vocable recargeba— todea ban de e jeroitar unos mismos derechos, que todos ban de aaborear iguales mercedeslj Ahi estaba el error, en ese todos habilmente manejado por los agitadores, que azuzan y exaaperan las i m # sin raied io, los eterms renoorea de los que, desde ttempos inmemoriales, tiran del earro en que los potentadoa, los proceres, recorren con mayor comodidad este oamino forzoso que hay que reoorrer entre las cunas y los

'

sepuloros de las generaolones y las razaa#"

83

Gmnboa voices an antithesis of the machine age with which we are all familiari

..

^

..que comparadon smejante se impone siempre que se oontmnpla al hombre, pequeio y debil de suyo, junto a las magnas obras que su ii^enlo emoibe y su braao lleva a termino.e.Cuando forja metales, utilize el vapor y enoadena el rayo ♦, .No era de sorp render manse dumb re tamafia jlabrarse uno mismo los instrumentos de su deed ieha? •••4Qulen expllcara Jamas contrasentido tan monetruoso y sorprendente?

;

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53

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Bit the man whose thoughts leacU: hi* ilnto these fields finds consolation la thist "Ah, si no nos quedara el alma y la esperanza en otra vida, ml palabra de honor que a peaar de ml rnadre y ml novia;. e n e s t ® Instants me tiraba yo al marl..."®® A mere contemplation of salvation soothes only the spiritual pains of mankind.

The living must not con­

tinue just to exist in the shadow of a better life after death.

Such a philosophy w o u M stifle all advancement.

The living have a duty, there are definite things to be accomplished in the world to aid in the social progress of humanity:

;

"No, Eulallo, no; el debar de usted al salir de aquf, (el presidio), donde tanto se ve jhada menos de nuestros semejantes, desnudos de* cuerpo y alma!

el debar de

usted es ecuear esta llaga que ha visto y respirado, ponerla al sol, aunque su pestilencia y espanto moleste y hor­ ror ice a los que unloamente se la calculan y los que no la •oonocen...Se taparan los ojos y la nariz, olamaran al oieloj lo injuriaran o usted llamandolo p r e s I d a r 1 o, inmoral, oinioo..#No Importal

-

listed no desmaye,

slga exhibiendola haeta que no se cemsen las manos de ellos y se abran sue ojos, testa que al alre de su fiesta y retiros no se mezole la bediondez de esta podredtimbre, que usted habra atrevesado oomo por un mllagro...ar£te­ les a esos sordos, lo que haya visto y sufrldo, lo que exists tras la pledra y tras el hlerro^ lo que geimina

7

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54

y palpita bajo lee eriaeos y los peches de los recluses; esta nuestra inmenea erlminalldad heredada y en aumento, que per la incur!a de esos sordos y de esos ciegos, per su palabrerfa huera, per su eoneupiaciencla y sed de lu­ cre, a cade instante estalla en cludades y sierras, en poblados y dealertos, en todo este pais vasto y sin ventu­ re que podia ser patrla, y es apenas aduar primitive y salveje; la inraensa cri®inelidad naeional, en alarraante progresion inatajada, con peligro cierto de que el major dia, se convierta en un gran incendio pivoroso que lo arrase todo: el ayer, el hoy, y el manana, los seres y las oosas, las eonelencias y las almas,..’'8® And finally: rtY el s