Relation with Countries

The life and literary work of Arguedas have been marked by migration. Since early childhood he moved around different cities and towns in Peru. His process of migration was progressive from small towns to bigger cities until he finally set up in the capital, Lima. Later on, mainly for professional reasons, Arguedas had the opportunity to travel to different countries and some of them had an impact on his life. These trips inside and outside Peru not only enriched his geographical horizons but also his understanding of Peruvian society, which he portrayed in his literary work. From his first short stories, Agua (Water), to his final novel, The Foxes, the geographical set of each story changes from a small town in the Andes towards the complexity of

a port city on the coast. This increase in the complexity of the story and the geographical movement reflects his personal experience of migration. Analyzing his literary work, especially his last novel, Cornejo Polar proposes looking at the migrant subject as a new category for analyzing Arguedas’

novels. He asserts:

It is not in vane that Arguedas defined himself as a permanent outsider and elaborated subtle and overwhelming considerations on what is called “outsiderism,” that restless experience of being a man from various worlds, but in the end from none of them, and always existing – disconcertedly – on alien territory. I believe that in the light of his final novel, in which the semantic mark of migration is so evident, one can reread all of Arguedas’ work in that same code (…). In this way, Arguedas’ production could be defined as the exploit of a migrant.³⁹

In this section, we will review Arguedas’ experience as an outsider in other countries.

Even though the time he spent in various parts of the world was longer than in others, his impressions in some countries and regions like Chile, the United States, Europe, and Africa impacted greatly on his life.

Probably the most important country for Arguedas’ life after Peru was Chile. Chile represented a refuge where he could find the mental peace to write, a peace that would not be possible to find in his own country. He needed to create some distance from Peruvian reality and the personal problems he had there. Chile also allowed him to be in direct contact with his psychotherapist, Lola Hoffmann. It is important to mention here that after the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru in 1879, the relationship between Peruvians and Chileans has never been very good, however, during the 1960s and early 70s (the period Arguedas traveled to Chile), that

39 “No en vano Arguedas se autodefinió como un forastero permanente y elaboró sutiles y agobiadas

consideraciones sobre lo que llamaba el "forasterismo," esa desasosegante experiencia de ser hombre de varios mundos, pero a la larga ninguno, y de existir siempre -desconcertado- en tierra ajena. Creo que a la luz de su novela final, en la que es tan evidente la marca semántica de la migración, se puede releer toda la obra de Argu edas en esa misma clave (...). De este modo, cabría definir la producción de Arguedas como la gesta del migrante.”Antonio Cornejo-Polar, “Condición Migrante e Intertextualidad Multicultural: El Caso de Arguedas.” Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, XXI, 42 (1995): 101-109, quote in page103.

country offered a positive atmosphere for socialist leaning intellectuals like Arguedas’. After the dictator Pinochet took over the government in Chile in 1973, the scenario changed dramatically and many intellectuals were exiled or murdered. Also, as Pedro Lastra, his Chilean friend told me, Arguedas likely idealized Chile because the group of friends who surrounded him there were his readers, who have read his novels and had a profound admiration for him, and offered him the affection and tenderness he always needed.⁴⁰

In the letters Arguedas wrote to Pedro Lastra, we can find emotional expressions on his relations with Perú and Chile and how these relationships affected his writing. In 1962 he writes to Pedro Lastra about Peru:

Peru is a country as beautiful and profound as it is cruel in these times. This barbaric fight was stimulating to me before, it inspired me; but after some very tough psychic problems that I couldn’t overcome, I started to get depressed and what before propelled me, today discourages me.⁴¹

It is not the only time that Arguedas refers to Peru as a country where the beauty of nature is in discord with the unfairness of its society. In contrast, in the same letter he defines Chile as a paradise:

My ten day stay in Santiago was, for me, like being in paradise. There, you’re not weighted with the uncontrollable resentments that here torture the common people and the middle class, especially the beastly scorn the “aristocratic” class and the wealthy have toward Indians and cholos.⁴²

40Pedro Lastra (Chilean Poet), interview by author, Lima, Perú, April 24, 2014.

41 “El Perú es un país tan bello, tan profundo como cruel en estos tiempos. Esta lucha bárbara me resultaba estimulante antes, me inspiraba: pero luego de unos problemas psíquicos muy duros que no pude vencer, empecé a deprimirme y lo que antes me impulsaba hoy me desalienta.” José María Arguedas, Lima, Perú, to Pedro Lastra, Santiago, Chile, Feb.8, 1962 in Edgar O’Hara, ed., Cartas de José María Arguedas a Pedro Lastra (Santiago de Chile: LOM Ediciones, 1997), 16.

42 “Mi estadía de diez días en Santiago fue para mí una estadía en el paraíso. Allí no están Uds. Cargados de los irrefrenables resentimientos que aquí atormentan al pueblo y a la clase media, especialmente el bestial desprecio de las clases “aristocráticas” y ricas por indios y cholos.” José María Arguedas, Lima, Perú, to Pedro Lastra, Santiago, Chile, Feb.8, 1962 in Edgar O’Hara, ed., Cartas de José María Arguedas a Pedro Lastra, 16. ‘Cholos’ is a term that refers to mix race people in Perú and may be used in a pejorative way.

He may also sustain this “paradisiac” impression of Chile, aside from the affection he received there, because the racial contrasts there were not as evident as they were in other Andean countries such as Peru or Bolivia.

In the same year, but in another letter he writes to Lastra:

I also believe, maybe “naively,” though I base this on “objective” facts, that a man in Santiago is less bitter that one in Lima. I’ve told you to what I attributed this difference. In Peru, especially in Lima, life is an appalling cruelty, a brutality.⁴³

In Peru, 1962 was a year of presidential elections, and as usually occurs during elections periods in Peru, the atmosphere became conflictive and tense; the social contrasts of the country became more evident then. When he wrote this letter in 1962, the president in office was Manuel Prado Ugarteche, but in July of that year Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre from the APRA party won the elections. However, the military considered the election fraudulent and so a military coup took power until 1963, when Fernando Belaunde Terry was democratically elected. On the contrary, the political atmosphere in Chile was not as turbulent and this may have given him the impression that Chile was a quieter and more stable society. He acknowledges, though, that his impression about Chilean people could be “naïve.”

In 1963, he expresses gratitude to his friend Lastra for his companionship during the process of writing Todas las Sangres, yet this gratitude is not only for Lastra but for all the

“brothers” he found in Chile who helped him to overcome the loneliness he felt in Peru, where he probably did not have the appropriate companions to talk to:

43 “También creo, quizá “ingenuamente”, aunque me baso en hechos “objetivos” que el hombre de Santiago es menos amargo que el de Lima. Ya te dije a qué atribuía esta diferencia. En el Perú y, especialmente en Lima, la vida es de una crueldad, de una brutalidad espantosa.” José María Arguedas, Lima, Perú, to Pedro Lastra, Santiago, Chile, Apr. 26, 1962 in Edgar O’Hara, ed., Cartas de José María Arguedas a Pedro Lastra, 20.

I just finished writing the 400^th page of All the Bloods. I think that I’m truly at the midpoint of the work. But I’ve only had days with fever and I feel very low. Nevertheless, no day have I left without writing. I repeat once again to you, dear brother, that this enormous strength that I feel I owe to you [all] and especially to two women in Santiago. Life is like this! And for some there flow from special springs. I was feeling wiped out because of loneliness; now I have a community of brothers that accompany me inside: you especially

…⁴⁴

The “two women” he refers to are Lola Hoffmann and Beatriz. Thus, this country was synonymous with peace, affection and love for him. He could find there a “brotherhood,” which gave him the support he needed.

In contrast to Chile, the United States was a country that inspired fear, respect, and admiration, but not affection. Even though he always had interest in traveling there, it took him more than ten years to get official embassy permission for the visa. In a letter written to his brother in 1951, he expressed his disappointment at losing an opportunity to go to the United States for a course required for this new opportunity:

Some very exceptional incidents happened to us, good and bad, during all this time. First I was just about to travel to the United States as I was suggested for the Dean of the Department of Social Sciences in the New Central Teacher’s School that will be in operation next year in Chosica. Everything seemed set. The minister accepted my being named gladly, the director of the School holds me in high esteem, and everyone that had to be informed who are close to me praised me warmly. But in the end, the Ambassador of the Unites States vetoed me. This event made a very hard impression on me. I was going to earn an excellent salary and I could have done a good job, one for which I’m well prepared. And it ruined the project.⁴⁵

44 “Acabo de escribir la cuartilla 400 de Todas las Sangres. Creo que estoy verdaderamente a la mitad de la obra.

Pero he pasado solo días con fiebre y me siento muy decaído. Ningún día dejé, sin embargo de escribir. Vuelvo a repetirte, querido hermano, que esta inmensa fuerza que siento se lo debo a Uds. y especialmente a dos mujeres en Santiago. La vida es así! Y para unos brota de fuentes especiales. Yo estaba siendo aniquilado por la soledad; ahora tengo un pueblo de hermanos que me acompañan por dentro: tú especialmente…” José María Arguedas, Lima, Perú, to Pedro Lastra, Santiago, Chile, May. 20, 1963 in Edgar O’Hara, ed., Cartas de José María Arguedas a Pedro Lastra, 36.

45 “Nos han ocurrido sucesos muy excepcionales, malos y buenos, durante todo este tiempo. Primero estuve a punto de viajar a los Estados Unidos, pues fui propuesto para el Decanato del Departamento de Ciencias Sociales en la Nueva Escuela Normal Central que funcionará el año entrante en Chosica. Todo parecía seguro. El ministro aceptó mi designación de muy buen grado, el director de la Escuela me tiene una gran estimación, y todos los que debían informar acerca de mí lo hicieron elogiándome calurosamente. Pero al final, la Embajada de los Estados Unidos me vetó. Este suceso me causó una impresión muy dura. Iba a ganar un excelente sueldo y podía haber cumplido una

Losing the offer of being appointed the Dean at the main school for teacher education in Lima at that time, “La Escuela Normal Central,” was a hard blow for him. One of the requirements for occupying the position of Dean of the Department of Social Sciences at the Normal School of Education was to take a course in the United States. The Embassy of the United States probably denied him the visa for his affinity with the Peruvian leftist party. We should remember that this was the period of McCarthyism in the United States and that country had a “black list” of people suspected of links with communism.

In 1960, when Arguedas finished writing his novel El Sexto, which narrates his experience while he was in jail, he wrote a letter to his American friend John Murra expressing his concern about the effect the publication of this novel might have on his reputation in the United States because some of the characters in the novel were related to the mining company “Cerro de Pasco,” which was the most important investment of American capital in Perú but also a source of exploitation of local people.⁴⁶ He writes to Murra:

But I’ve already very much abused the esteem in which I hold you talking to you about my things. There’s only one detail that’s missing. The government of the United States will bury me even more on the black list after the publication of El Sexto, because one of the main characters is a miner from Morococha that talks about the horrors committed by the

“gringos” during those years when there appeared on the door of the club the sign that said:

“Entry prohibited to Peruvians and dogs.” There’s no hatred against the United States as a country in the book. It would be absurd, but against the Cerro de Pasco [mining company]

buena tarea, para la cual estoy bien preparado. Y se arruinó el proyecto.” José María Arguedas, Lima, Perú, to Arístides Arguedas, Caraz, Perú, Aug. 2, 1951, in Carmen María Pinilla, ed., Arguedas en Familia: Cartas de José María Arguedas a Arístides y Nelly Arguedas, a Rosa Pozo Navarro y Yolanda López Pozo (Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1999), 220-221.

46 American investors created The Cerro de Pasco Corporation, which emerged in 1902 and was for half a century the dominant power in Peruvian mining. By late 1960s, when the United States was criticized for its foreign policy, the company faced increasing opposition due to its unfair labor practices. See Saint Louis University Libraries Special Collections: Archives and Manuscripts, “Cerro de Pasco Corporation (1902-1974),” Saint Louis University Libraries Special Collections: Archives and Manuscripts, http://archon.slu.edu/?p=creators/creator&id=47

that had symbolized the United States almost exclusively in Peru, disgracefully, until the rise of the International Petroleum [Company] that has come to the fore.⁴⁷

Here, Arguedas is clear in emphasizing that he does not hate the United States as a country but is against the injustices committed by the Cerro de Pasco mining Company. However, he could finally travel to the United States in 1965, after his first suicide attempt, when the Peruvian Minister of Education interceded for him.⁴⁸ In another letter to Murra, he shows how pleased he is after he received the invitation to go to the United States:

Cadwell called me to give me the news that I was invited for a visit for two months to the Unites States. This news surprised me and I felt a very pleasant emotion; I stood before a courageous man by reason of his honesty and intelligence. I felt like some shackles had been taken off my feet. I have to make my own itinerary. I’ll travel in April. I told Cadwell that I would ask you advice on the itinerary, the same with Carlos Cueto. What do you think about this news? I know that the “communists” will say that I’ve sold myself to Imperialism. None of that’s important to me. I’m not sectarian; fortunately I’ve been able to free myself from all types of sectarianism, of these and of others, equally distorted: the one that comes from personal feelings of aversion. I try to judge objectively.⁴⁹

Now that the possibility of traveling to the United States was closer, Arguedas was also worried about the reactions of the Communist Party in Peru. But as is written in the letter, he was

47 “Pero ya he abusado mucho de la estimación que le guardo hablándole de mis cosas. Me falta sólo un detalle. El gobierno de los Estados Unidos me hundirá aún más en la lista negra después de la publicación de El Sexto, porque uno de los personajes principales es un minero de Morococha que habla de los horrores cometidos por los “gringos”

en aquellos años en que figuraba a la puerta de su club un letrero que decía: “Prohibida la entrada a los peruanos y a los perros.” No hay odio contra los Estados Unidos como país en el libro. Sería absurdo, sino contra la Cerro de Pasco que ha simbolizado casi de manera exclusiva en el Perú a los Estados Unidos, desgraciadamente, hasta el auge de la International Petroleoum que ha pasado ahora a primer plano.” José María Arguedas, Lima, Perú to John Murra, Nov. 21, 1960 in John Murra and Mercedes López Baralt, eds., Las Cartas de Arguedas (Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1996), 51.

48 Note of the editor in John Murra and Mercedes López-Baralt, Las Cartas de Arguedas, 110.

49 “Me llamó Cadwell para darme la noticia de que me invitaba para una visita por dos meses a los Estados Unidos.

Esta noticia me sorprendió y me produjo una emoción muy grata: estaba frente a un hombre valiente por razón de su rectitud e inteligencia. Sentí como que me quitaban unos grilletes de los pies. Debo hacer yo mi propio itinerario.

Viajaré en abril. Le dije a Caldwell que te pediría consejos para el itinerario, lo mismo que a Carlos Cueto. ¡Qué te parece esta noticia? Yo sé que los “comunistas” dirán que me he vendido al imperialismo. Nada de eso me importa.

No soy sectario; por fortuna he alcanzado a liberarme de todo tipo de sectarismo, de estos y de los otros, igualmente deformantes: el de las antipatías personales. Trato de juzgar con objetividad.” José María Arguedas, Lima Perú, to John Murra, Oct. 28, 1964, in John Murra and Mercedes López-Baralt, ed., Las Cartas de Arguedas, 110-111.

not “a sectarian” and considered himself free from any ideology. When he finally arrived in the United States, he shared his impressions with his friend Murra:

I walked for three hours in New York last night. Something new seethes in my spirit and my nerves. The contrast (in additional to that of Washington) is perhaps the most unnerving I’ve ever seen. Washington gave me the impression of the capital of an empire, a city that continues to grow as you look at it; all of it done in silence, of masses of buildings and spaces. A unique city which I didn’t understand at first sight.⁵⁰

Note the intensity in Arguedas’ description when visiting the most important cities in the United States: “Something new seethes in my spirit and my nerves.” He had not experienced before the grandiosity of these American cities, cities such as Washington that are made of “silence, of masses of buildings and spaces,” in contrast with most Latin American cities that – at that time – had narrow streets and were surrounded by noise more than by buildings. Furthermore, Arguedas

Note the intensity in Arguedas’ description when visiting the most important cities in the United States: “Something new seethes in my spirit and my nerves.” He had not experienced before the grandiosity of these American cities, cities such as Washington that are made of “silence, of masses of buildings and spaces,” in contrast with most Latin American cities that – at that time – had narrow streets and were surrounded by noise more than by buildings. Furthermore, Arguedas