The old and the new Peru

by Marie Robinson Wright

Dr. Palma is one of the best known writers of South America, as well as a devoted bibliophilist, and his knowledge of Spanish literature has been gained through years of acquaintance with the best authors of Spain and Spanish-America. In restoring the National Library, he has given particular attention to the acquirement of noted works and rare editions. With especial pride in the genius of his compatriot, Don Pablo Olavide, whose literary productions had a tremendous influence in stimulating liberal thought among the Spanish-Americans a hundred years ago, Dr. Palma is now engaged in getting together a complete collection of the eleven existing editions of that author’s El Evangelio en Triumfo, the greater part of which he had already secured. Don Pablo Olavide was a native of Lima, where he was born in 1725. When a young man, he went to Europe, became an enthusiastic friend of Voltaire and an admirer of the Encyclopædists, and was a special mark for the surveillance of the Holy Office until his death in 1803. His books were read with avidity by the youth of Peru and the other Spanish colonies, and they may be said to have prepared the way for the patriotic movement which later won the independence of Spanish-America.

During the last days of the viceroyalty the sentiment of freedom was the predominating note in the national literature, and the stirring period of the independence brought many gifted orators and writers into prominence. In the columns of the Mercurio Peruano, politics and poetry were themes that divided honors about equally, the style in which a political essay was written in those days being hardly less flowery than the language of verse. In this periodical also appeared articles on philosophy, history, and science. Don Hipólito Unánue, of Arica, one of the editors of the Mercurio Peruano, exerted a powerful influence in favor of republicanism during the last years of colonial rule. He wrote under the pseudonym of “Ariosto,” and, after the inauguration of the republic, continued to contribute to the national literature, at the same time taking an active part in the government as Minister of Finance in the cabinet of President Riva-Agüero. Contemporary with Unánue, Bernardo Alcedo, a noted writer and musician, fought in the war of independence and celebrated the victory for the patriot cause by composing the national hymn of Peru, the music of which is inspiring and triumphant. Mariano Eduardo de Rivero, the author of Antiguëdades Peruanas, José Gregorio Paredes, a celebrated astronomer and mathematician, Mateo Aguilar, whose panegyric on Ignatius Loyola has been translated into several languages, and Manuel Lorenzo Vidaurre, an eminent jurist, the first president of the Supreme Court of Peru, were among the celebrated writers who flourished during the early years of the republic. Miguel Garaycochea, author of Calculo Binomial, was a noted scientist of that time.

The literature of Peru reached a period of prolific expression about the middle of the past century, when the inimitable satirists, Felipe Pardo y Aliaga and Manuel Ascencio Segura wrote their comedies on the national manners and customs. Felipe Pardo, the grandfather of President José Pardo, was a statesman as well as a poet, and was representing his government as minister to one of the European courts when he was made a member of the Spanish Royal Academy. His best known work is called El Espejo de mi tierra—“The mirror of my country,”—and gives an entertaining picture of Peruvian life fifty years ago. Segura’s comedies, written about the same time, were clever satires on the prevailing creole customs, especially his La Saya y Manto, Ña Catita, El Resignado, and Lances de Amancaes. Another writer of the same period, Manuel Atanasio Fuentes, who satirized the political and social foibles of his day in a periodical called El Murcielago—“The Bat,”—found in literary work a pleasing diversion. He was a noted jurist and wrote treatises on constitutional law, administration, and similar subjects. The Peruvian critic is often satirical in his treatment of men and books, a keen sense of humor giving piquancy to his judgment. In this art, Don Pedro Paz Soldán y Unánue excelled, his pseudonym “Juan de Arona” being known throughout South America. He was a member of the Spanish Academy and a distinguished Latin and Greek scholar. In El Chispazo, a humorous periodical which he edited, his crisp epigrammatic style was at its best. He was born in Lima in 1839 and died in 1895, having employed his talent ably and successfully through the difficult periods when his country was facing the greatest crises that could arise to impede the progress of a young nation.

PATIO OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY, LIMA.

Many of the intellectual leaders of Peru were nurtured under the strenuous regimen which the unsettled conditions of the first thirty years of republican rule made necessary, their genius shining out with brilliancy during the period of peace and prosperity that followed. It was not unusual to find a general of the army, whose war record was the pride of his country, devoting himself to literary work later, when quiet reigned. One of the most celebrated historians of Peru, Don Manuel Mendiburu, whose monumental work, Diccionario Biográfico del Peru has made his name immortal, fought in the patriot ranks during the war of independence, was made Minister of War by President Gamarra, became a general of the army, and was president of the commission that reformed the military laws, as they exist to-day. He was a statesman as well as a soldier, and presided over the assembly which, in 1860, promulgated the present constitution of Peru. As Minister of War, Minister of Finance, and Diplomatic Minister to England, he served his country with honor and distinction, being one of the most illustrious men of his day, in war and peace. It was only in the intervals of his public career that Dr. Mendiburu found time to pursue his biographical studies, the results of which are most important to Peruvian literature. For, though this great work is called a dictionary, its sixteen volumes are so complete in historical information as to be entitled to rank among the best records of the colonial period of Peru. Of the eighty years that covered the lifetime of this great man, from 1805 to 1885, more than three score were spent in public service. He led the vanguard in the last war, was War Minister in 1880, and at the time of his death was president of a commission charged with the reorganization of the National Archives. It is not often that human activity extends over so many years, and one is accustomed to think that in Latin countries, and especially in the tropics, the spirit of youth is of short duration, the precocious child arriving early at the zenith of his possibilities, and declining at an age when the slower native of a less favored zone is in his prime. There are remarkable exceptions to this rule in Peru, where the years have passed lightly over many a viejo verde, as the “green old age” is called. Don Francisco de Paula Vigil, the liberal philosopher of Tacna, prominent for half a century in politics and literature and director of the National Library for forty years, died in 1875 at eighty-three years of age. Luciano Cisneros, an eminent orator, jurist, and writer on constitutional law, was a member of the Academy of Jurisprudence in Madrid, a judge of the Superior Court, Minister of State, Diplomatic Representative of his government in Europe, and held his own among the leading statesmen of Peru until his death in 1906, at seventy-four years of age. Francisco Garcia Calderon, a member of the Spanish Academy and a writer of note on legal and other subjects, as well as a statesman of renown, was one of the most active leaders in promoting his country’s progress at the time of his death, in 1905, though he had already passed his seventieth year. The present director of the National Library, though still one of the younger generation in spirit and sympathy, published his first book, Anales de la Inquisicion de Lima, forty-five years ago, and was at that time already prominent in political affairs. As consul to Brazil, secretary to President Balta, and Senator of the republic in three legislatures, he early proved himself one of the most brilliant young men of the nation, and when he went abroad in 1865 after leaving Brazil, his genius shone with lustre in the highest intellectual circles of Europe. The fame of Ricardo Palma rests chiefly on his masterpiece, Tradiciones Peruanas, the only literature in existence which gives local color to the history of the viceroyalty in Peru, and preserves for posterity the very life and essence of its fascinating social annals. The Lima of the Tradiciones has survived the change of government and, though one no longer sees the viceroy and his court, it is still possible to visit many places made familiar by Dr. Palma’s stories. The charming Limeña does not now appear in saya y manto, it is true, but she is as clever and bright as of old; the Franciscan friar is still in evidence, and the little zambo wears the same contented countenance that distinguished his ancestors a hundred years ago; the Indian is sad and patient, as the author of Tradiciones paints him. The characters that live and move in Ricardo Palma’s book are real and immortal. Up to the present time no other author in America has been able to paint such vivid and intimate pictures of colonial times. The work was originally published in six volumes, in 1870, though many editions have since appeared, and a new volume has recently been added, entitled Ultimas Tradiciones Peruanas. Ricardo Palma is a member of the Royal Spanish Academy, the Hispanic Society of America, and other leading historical and scientific societies of Europe and America. The author of the present work has just completed the translation of Tradiciones Peruanas into English.

If the more intimate features of colonial society are to be understood only through a perusal of Tradiciones Peruanas, a general idea of the viceroyalty is best obtained from the works of Don Sebastian Lorente, who wrote the first complete history of Peru, in five volumes, published in 1871, giving an especially interesting description of the colonial period. He made a lifelong study of the history of the country, and for forty years lectured on his favorite theme in the University of San Marcos. Another historian, Don Mariano Paz Soldán, contributed a most important geographical work to the literature descriptive of his country, and wrote several books on historical subjects. His Atlas del Peru and Diccionario Geografico y Estadistico, published thirty years ago, contained the first complete description of the political divisions of the republic, and afforded valuable information regarding the physical features, climate, resources, and population of Peru. Dr. Paz Soldán was a statesman of noted ability and rendered invaluable services to the cause of education and in behalf of prison reform. As Minister of Justice and Public Instruction in the cabinet of President Balta, he founded a school of sciences and reorganized the Universities of Arequipa and Cuzco, besides establishing numerous secondary schools. The illustrious patriot died in 1886 at sixty-five years of age, his funeral being conducted with State ceremonies, and attended by the highest officials of the government. The historian, Dr. Eugenio Larrabure y Unánue, pronounced the funeral oration, and the assemblage at the bier of the lamented scholar was representative of the best intellect of Peru. Dr. Larrabure y Unánue is the author of a number of historical works, of which his studies relating to ancient Peru possess especial interest and value. He is also a statesman and diplomatist, literature being his favorite diversion in such hours of leisure as an active public career affords. Another celebrated Peruvian authority on the antiquities of the country, Dr. Pablo Patron, is a scholar of international renown, whose archæological study, La Lluvia, read a few years ago before the Congress of Americanists at Stuttgart, attracted general attention among antiquarians. Dr. Patron has rendered important services to his country in scientific research and has made the study of Peruvian textiles and potteries a specialty, giving them a fascinating charm, which ethnologists as well as lovers of decorative art are quick to appreciate.

DR. JOSÉ ANTONIO MIRÓ QUESADA, THE NESTOR OF THE PERUVIAN PRESS.

Several students of the literature of the Incas have devoted themselves to the task of preserving Incaic legends and musical compositions. The drama Ollanta has been translated into Spanish by three well-known scholars, Don José Sebastian Barranca, Dr. José Fernando Nadal, and Dr. Gavino Pacheco Zegarra. Don José Maria Valleriestra, a musical composer of note, is the author of two operas, Ollanta and Atahuallpa, which have been presented in Lima and elsewhere with success. The greatest Peruvian writer on the subject of Incaic civilization and history—the most celebrated chronicler of his people—was the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, who was born in Cuzco in 1539, and died in Spain in 1618. He spent the first twenty-one years of his life in Peru, his father Garcilaso, one of Pizarro’s followers, having married a native princess of the royal line of Incas. His Comentarios Reales are still regarded as the most authentic source of information existing in reference to prehistoric Peru.