Desarrollo y crisis de la nación y la literatura del siglo XIX en México: Servando Teresa de Mier e Ignacio Manuel Altamirano

Abstract

In my dissertation I rethink the relationship between the nation and literature of nineteenth century Mexico by establishing an “imaginary dialogue” among the Mexican writers Servando Teresa de Mier (1765-1827) and Ignacio Manuel Altamirano (1834-1893). My general goal is to better understand the evolution of the great literary movements of this period: romanticismo, costumbrismo, and modernismo. The development of the Mexican literature and nation can be observed in its great complexity in the works written by criollo and mestizo intellectuals during the nineteenth century. Mier and Altamirano disseminated liberal political, cultural, and economic ideals in their texts, which I understand as political national programs or utopias. The uniqueness of their lives and writings; however, is that they experienced an exile that forced them to think the nation from a twofold political and historical standpoint. The effect of this perspective changed Mier’s and Altamirano’s literary styles, and in so doing, it also prepared the ground for the literature written after them. Mier moved from an enlightened way of writing, characteristic of his early works, to a Romantic narrative that he developed in his "Memoirs" (1817-21). Altamirano evolved from the creation of typical Romantic narratives, which prevailed in almost all of his novels, to the exploration of new literary strategies in "Atenea" (1889) —an autobiographical novel that I have placed on the Latin American modernista movement. In the conclusion, I argue that the literary-ideological turn that Altamirano developed in "Atenea" influenced the writers of the “Ateneo de México.” I mainly refer to Mariano Azuela (1873-1952), José Vasconcelos (1882-1959), and Alfonso Reyes (1889-1959)—intellectuals that continued the tradition of writing from exile and urged the understanding of Mexico as part of an interrelated world.