Harbinger of Modernity: Marcos Aguinis and the Democratization of Argentina

185 Pages·2013·1.28 MB·English

by  Dalia Wassner

Harbinger of Modernity
Jewish Latin America
Issues and Methods
Edited by
Raanan Rein (Tel Aviv University)
Editorial Board
Edna Aizenberg (Marymount Manhattan College)
Judah Cohen (Indiana University)
Luis Roniger (Wake Forest University)
David Sheinin (Trent University)
Rosalie Sitman (Tel Aviv University)
VoLUME 3
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/jlam
Harbinger of Modernity
Marcos Aguinis and the Democratization
of Argentina
By
Dalia Wassner
LEIDEn • boSTon
2014
The publication of this book was supported by Tel Aviv University’s Elias Sourasky, Chair of
Iberian and Latin American Studies.
Cover illustration: Courtesy of Mirta Kupferminc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wassner, Dalia.
Harbinger of modernity : Marcos Aguinis and the democratization of Argentina / by Dalia Wassner.
  p. cm. — (Jewish Latin America ; 3)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISbn 978-90-04-25992-8 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISbn 978-90-04-26132-7 (e-book)
1. Aguinis, Marcos—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Aguinis, Marcos—Politial and social views.
3. Intellectuals—Argentina—History— 20th century. 4. Argentina—Politics and government—1983–
2002. 5. Jews—Argentina—Intellectual life. 6. Politics in literature. I. Title.
 PQ7798.1.G814Z83 2013
 863’.64—dc23
2013028850
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters
covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the
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ISSn 2211-0968
ISbn 978-90-04-25992-8 (hardback)
ISbn 978-90-04-26132-7 (e-book)
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For David

ConTEnTS
Acknowledgments  .......................................................................................... ix
Introduction  ..................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1 The Historical and Literary Context of the Argentine
Public Intellectual  ...................................................................................... 5
I. The History of the Public Intellectual in Global Context  ...... 5
II. Latin American Public Intellectuals  ............................................. 15
III. Marcos Aguinis  ................................................................................... 34
IV. Global Intellectuals Confront the Failures of Democracy  ..... 40
V. Aguinis and Latin American Cultural Democracy  ................... 42
Chapter 2 Aguinis and Alfonsín: Public Intellectuals and the
Argentine Government  ............................................................................ 45
I. PRonDEC according to Aguinis  .................................................... 46
II. Aguinis, one of Many  ....................................................................... 59
III. PRonDEC after Aguinis  ................................................................... 64
Chapter 3 Aguinis and the Essay: The Argentine Erasmus?  .......... 67
I. Elogio de la culpa  ................................................................................ 67
II. Anti-Semitism in Argentina  ............................................................ 68
III. The Essay in Latin America  ............................................................ 71
IV. The Chosen Tradition  ....................................................................... 73
V. Erasmus, Complicated  ...................................................................... 79
VI. Essays on Argentina’s Shortcomings  ............................................ 88
Chapter 4 Dialogue: Leading by Example  ........................................... 93
I. Dialogue Partner, Monseñor Laguna  ........................................... 94
II. other Works of Dialogue in Latin America  ............................... 97
III. The Mission of Dialogue in Latin America and beyond  ........ 99
IV. Inside Aguinis and Laguna’s Work  ............................................... 102
V. Diálogos Completos: A Local Work, a Global Message  ........... 108
Chapter 5 Jews and the novel: Aguinis’s Means to an End  ........... 111
I. Jewish Targets, national Victims  ................................................... 112
II. Aguinis, the new Latin American Intellectual  .......................... 114
viii contents
III. Themes and Methods  ....................................................................... 116
IV. Aguinis the novelist Surrenders to Aguinis the Psychologist  129
V. Asalto in the Context of Aguinis’s other novels  ...................... 130
Conclusion  ........................................................................................................ 141
Appendices
 Appendix 1  Literary Works by Marcos Aguinis  ............................ 149
 Appendix 2 newspaper Articles by Marcos Aguinis  ................... 150
 Appendix 3 Scholarship on Marcos Aguinis  .................................. 155
bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 157
Index  ................................................................................................................... 169
ACKnoWLEDGMEnTS
over the past few years, I have had the pleasure of developing this manu-
script with the help of valued colleagues who began as mentors to my
doctoral dissertation. Stephen Sadow’s expertise in the field of Latin
American Literature, particularly in Argentina, proved invaluable. I am
immensely grateful for his guidance; he is truly a gentleman and a scholar.
The joy and intellectual edification that I derived from a close collabo-
ration with Karin Vélez were foundational to my book, and her interest
in interdisciplinary scholarship is reflected throughout. Heather Streets-
Salter has provided me with important insights into contextualizing my
project within a world historical framework, and I thank her for applying
her wide vision to my manuscript. I also owe a great debt to Ilan Stavans,
who helped inspire my interest in this field, and whose unfailing support
I have valued tremendously throughout the preparation of this study.
Finally, I am delighted to thank Raanan Rein for his interest and endorse-
ment, Katelyn Chin, who has helped guide the publication process, and
Michael Helfield for his careful copyediting. A final word of gratitude is
owed to my husband Ari Wassner and our children Aviv and Keila, who
have traveled this road with me.