The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction

321 Pages·2011·4.546 MB·English

by  Rachel Haywood Ferreira

THE EMERGENCE
OF LATIN AMERICAN
SCIENCE FICTION
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wesleyan university press
Middletown, Connecticut
wesleyan university press
Middletown CT 06459
www.wesleyan.edu/wespress
© 2011 Rachel Haywood Ferreira
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Wesleyan University Press is a member of
the Green Press Initiative. The paper used in
this book meets their minimum requirement
for recycled paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haywood Ferreira, Rachel
The emergence of Latin Amercian science fi ction /
Rachel Haywood Ferreira.
p. cm.—(Early classics of science fi ction)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8195-7081-9 (cloth : alk. paper)—
isbn 978-0-8195-7082-6 (pbk. : alk paper)
1. Science fi ction, Latin American—History and
criticism. 2. Science fi ction, Brazilian—History
and criticism. 4. Science fi ction, Mexican—History
and criticism. I. Title.
pq7082.s34h39 2011
863(cid:2).087620998—dc22 2010034595
5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations / vii
Acknowledgments / ix
Introduction: Latin American Science Fiction Discovers Its Roots / 1
chapter 1. Displacement in Space and Time:
The Latin American Utopia and Dystopia / 15
F ósforos-Cerillos, “Mexico in the Year 1970” / Joaquim Felício dos
Santos, Pages from the History of Brazil Written in the Year 2000 /
Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, The Marvelous Journey of Mr. Nic-
Nac . . . / Eduardo de Ezcurra, In the Thirtieth Century / Godofredo
Barnsley, São Paulo in the Year 2000 . . . / Eduardo Urzaiz, Eugenia
chapter 2. The Impact of Darwinism:
Civilization and Barbarism Meet Evolution and Devolution / 80
A ugusto Emílio Zaluar, Doctor Benignus / Eduardo Ladislao
Holmberg, Two Factions Struggle for Life / Leopoldo Lugones,
“Essay on a Cosmogony in Ten Lessons,” “The Origin of the Flood,”
“Yzur” / Joaquim Manuel de Macedo, “The End of the World” /
Aluísio Azevedo, “Demons” / Amado Nervo, “The Last War” / Martín
Luis Guzmán, “How the War Ended in 1917”
chapter 3. Strange Forces: Exploring the Limits of Science / 130
E duardo Ladislao Holmberg, Two Factions Struggle for Life [coda] /
Carlos Olivera, “Death at a Fixed Hour” / Leopoldo Lugones, “The
Omega Force,” “Psychon,” “An Inexplicable Phenomenon,” “Viola
Acherontia,” “Metamusic” / Miguel Cané, “The Harmonies of
Light” / Juana Manuela Gorriti, “He Who Listens May Hear—To His
Regret: Confi dence of a Confi dence” / Pedro Castera, “A Celestial
Journey,” Querens / Amado Nervo, The Soul-Giver, “The Sixth Sense”
chapter 4. The Double: From Science to Technology / 172
E duardo Ladislao Holmberg, “Horacio Kalibang or The
Automatons” / Alejandro Cuevas, “The Apparatus of Doctor
Tolimán” / Horacio Quiroga, The Artifi cial Man, “The Portrait,”
“The Vampire”
Conclusion: A Global Genre in the Periphery / 217
Chronology: Latin American Science Fiction through 1920 / 225
Notes / 231
Bibliography
Primary Texts / 257
Secondary Sources / 266
Index / 283
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure I.1 Figure 2.1
The Arts in This Century by J ourney of Doctor Benignus
Aurelio Giménez, Caras y (map) / 89
Caretas, 1901 / 2 Figure 2.2
Figure I.2 Arachnids by Eduardo Ladislao
Housework in the New Century Holmberg, 1881 / 94
by Urtubey, Caras y Caretas, Figure 3.1
1901 / 4 Prolonging Life, advertisement
Figure I.3 for Magneteopathy, Caras y
Locomotion in the 20th Century Caretas, 1910 / 134
by Francisco Fortuny, Caras y Figure 4.1
Caretas, 1901 / 7 D onissoff, Sivel, and Ortiz
Figure 1.1 create a rat, The Artifi cial Man,
C hart on the Evils of the 1910 / 196
Corset, São Paulo in the Year Figure 4.2
2000, 1909 / 62 T he three scientists and the
Figure 1.2 subject to be tortured, The
C eliana on the cover of Artifi cial Man, 1910 / 201
Eugenia, 1919 / 71 Figure 4.3
Figure 1.3 B iógeno, The Artifi cial Man,
T he male gestators of the 1910 / 203
twenty-third century, Eugenia, Figure 4.4
1919 / 73 D eaths of Donissoff and
Figure 1.4 Biógeno, The Artifi cial Man,
E ugenic couple, Ernesto and 1910 / 205
Eugenia, Eugenia, 1919 / 75
Figure 1.5
T he end of war, Eugenia,
1919 / 77
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book has been over ten years in the making, and writing it would
have been impossible without an especially broad network of people. I
owe many debts of gratitude for the materials, information, enthusi-
asm, and intellectual and moral support of more people and institu-
tions than can be listed here.
I would like to thank Iowa State University and Yale University for
supporting this project from the research through the publication
stage. An Iowa State University Publication Subvention Grant has been
immensely helpful, along with an ISU Center for Excellence in the Arts
and Humanities Fellowship for Scholarship and Creativity and fi ve Col-
lege of Liberal Arts and Sciences Small Grants. Support from Yale in-
cluded a Cleanth Brooks Fellowship in the Humanities, a John Perry
Miller Award, a C. Malcolm Batchelor Award in Memory of Adalenie
Morales, and a Hewlett Award.
I owe special debts to the following librarians and libraries: César
Rodríguez, Curator of the Latin American Collection, and Jeffry Lar-
son, Librarian for Romance Languages and Literatures, Linguistics,
and Classics at Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University; Marta Pal-
chevich and Luis Pestarini at the Biblioteca del Congreso, Buenos Aires,
Argentina; the Academia Argentina de Letras; the Biblioteca Nacional
do Brasil, in particular the Divisão de Informação Documental, di-
rected by Eliane Perez, as well as the Secção de Periódicos and the divi-
sion of Obras Raras; Regina Porto and the Casa de Rui Barbosa in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil. In the Interlibrary Loan unit of Parks Library at Iowa
State, the efforts of Dr. Wayne Pedersen and his staff in obtaining rare
primary source materials have been nothing short of heroic.
A number of texts consulted in writing this book are available only
in private collections. Much information about Latin American science
fi ction is archived only in the memories of individuals. In all my re-
search in Latin America and the United States, no one has ever refused
an interview (or two, or three), and I am overwhelmed by people’s gen-
erosity with their time and their materials. Particular thanks are due to
Eduardo Carletti, Braulio Tavares, and Roberto de Sousa Causo, with-
out whom the remainder of this list would be much shorter.
ix