Esteban Echeverría y la constitución de la literatura nacional en un manuscrito inédito de Paul Groussac

Abstract

This article is a critical analysis of a mostly unpublished manuscript (dated 1882) by Paul Groussac, entirely dedicated to the life and work of Esteban Echeverría. From the title (Bibe aquam de cisterna tua), Groussac evaluates the work of Echeverría in relation to the problem of the constitution of national literature: on the one hand, almost all his work as a writer and thinker, determined by imitation and plagiarism; on the other hand, almost alone, “the happy exception of ‘La cautiva’”. This article explores the ways in which the theses of the French critic discuss the ideas of Juan Maria Gutiérrez (first critic, biographer and editor of the complete works of Echeverría) and it analyses the operations by which Groussac build a position of enunciation whose features will be present in his future work