Literature and politics in Argentina have always been closely related.
Pens such as those of Mariano Moreno or Dean Funes gave content to those first steps of national formation based on all the events prior to and after May 25, 1810.
Two key and antagonistic pieces of Argentine literature such as Martin Fierro and the Facundo They were written by figures who came from politics, such as José Hernández and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento.
The man from San Juan was a man of letters who came to occupy the most important position in the institutional life of the country: the presidency.
In the 20th century, politics was discussed through literature with its groups, magazines, personal positions and works. Our greatest literary heroes date from that time.
Jesuit legacy
The case of Córdoba was no exception. The Jesuit influence and the National University of Córdoba that made these lands “the Learned” since colonial times nourished us with excellent writers.
One of them was José Rivera Indarte. A poet and journalist who went from being a fervent Rosa supporter to one of his biggest opponents.
He was born in Córdoba in 1814. As a child he went to live in Buenos Aires, where he studied at the University of Buenos Aires. He wrote a series of poems and writings in which he defended the Buenos Aires governor. He even wrote the hymn to Rosas.
He also held debates with liberal figures such as Alberdi and wrote requests to Queen Isabel II of Spain.
His fanaticism for Governor Rosas, whose government lasted, with intervals, 23 years, at one point faded. He went into exile first in the United States and then ended his life in Brazil. He was accused of an attempt on Rosas’ life: a package opened by his daughter, Manuela, which failed to explode.
Later in time, religion, public life and letters were once again united in the figure of the one who was to become the first Cordoban saint.
José Gabriel Brochero, in addition to being a priest, had intense civic and foundational work in the infrastructure of the Traslasierra Valley as we know it now. There are many documents that reflect his thoughts and his work.
controversial characters
The 20th century gave us other intellectuals who combined politics with literature, such as the case of Raúl Barón Biza, an eccentric writer and aristocrat linked to the Radical Civic Union, with his tragic end full of sexist violence.
From those years is another writer linked to politics, Gustavo Adolfo Martínez Zuviría, known by his pseudonym: Hugo Wast.
He became Minister of Education in the de facto government of Pedro Ramírez in 1944. Some of his novels were adapted to film and many of them were translated into several languages. Various controversies circulated about the author who died in 1962.
Regarding the street that bears her name, in 2010 the Inadi proposed changing the name to that of one of the representatives of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, Sonia Torres, but it did not prosper. Among the arguments put forward by Inadi, the alleged anti-Semitic nature of some of Wast’s works was highlighted, especially book 666. In the Deliberative Council it was discussed again after the death of Quito Mariani.
From right to left
Since the return of democracy here, the phenomenon of literati entering party politics no longer occurred in Córdoba, at least in the expected places.
But of political leaders who combined their militancy or public function with artistic practice.
Obviously, without counting those who wrote texts related to their activity. Proposals, autobiographies, essays on issues of his specific activity. There the list becomes broader.
Among those who dedicated themselves to literature from politics, the ideological and party spectrum has been wide. Some are far from active politics and others occupy central positions.
Prudencio Bustos Argañarás is the author of numerous works: Mazes and scorpions, Until death do us part: nine stories of crossed loves, Burlesque anthology: satirical poetry in Córdoba, Stories that were told to us wrongamong others.
He was a prominent leader of the traditional Democratic Party of Córdoba, which later became the Ucedé. Because of that center-right force he came to occupy a seat in the then provincial Senate, where he was a leading voice in the Córdoba opposition.
Today he continues to participate in public affairs, but without partisan militancy.
Bustos Argañarás first left medicine to dedicate himself to politics, and from there he coexisted with literature and history. “I suppose that medicine is human, but it is not very humanistic, especially in relation to transcendent humanism, because death is the enemy of a doctor, it is defeat; History, however, goes further, it is the politics of those who are no longer here,” he once reflected on his activities.
Another prominent political leader who writes about history is Esteban Dómina. Always a leader of Justicialism, he was a senator and provincial deputy, Minister of Economy of Córdoba and Santiago del Estero, president of the state bank Bice, candidate for mayor of the city of Córdoba and councilor.
Now removed from the dispute over spaces of power, in which he was at the small decision-making table, he continues to be a source of consultation for his colleagues and for leaders of other spaces.
Dómina is the author of more than 20 history books, as well as essays and journalistic articles.
“In my case, they were overlapping vocations from an early age, not incompatible, but, I would say, naturally empathetic and indivisible,” the leading historian told The voice.
“Both had a shared time in my life, and today, one of those vocations, that of writing, with more time at its disposal, remains active; while the other, politics, endures in a passive mode,” she added.
Rodrigo Agrelo is currently one of the main references of the provincial opposition in the Legislature. He was already a provincial legislator when he was young, when he was a member of the Ucedé, as well as a municipal official.
For some time now, it has belonged to Encuentro Vecinal Córdoba, the space founded by Aurelio García Elorrio.
Agrelo has written a compilation of his poems in love slowly and the novel The theft of the perfect poemset in Villa del Totoral.
“I write mostly when political time loses intensity, either because I am not in office or because it is not election season,” says the legislator.
And he adds: “The novel is a long-term career that requires prolonged creative concentration. It asks for time to be written and also to be thought about. For this reason, the two that I have written, of which I only published one, have been in times of little political activity. Poetry, on the other hand, is like a hundred-meter race. Explosive and demanding.”
“But in my case, the risk of poetry is that it plunges me into a certain melancholy from which I need to escape. That’s why I try it very sometimes. In any case, the creative process always allows us to get closer to beauty, which is common to all, regardless of our political positions,” she reflects.
Another who followed the path of poetry is Gustavo Santos, professor of Literature. Santos began militating in radicalism. He was secretary of Culture of the province, municipal official in the years of Rubén Martí, councilor and provincial legislator. He later served as head of Tourism under the administrations of José Manuel de la Sota and Juan Schiaretti. He held that same position at the national level as Mauricio Macri’s minister.
He stopped being a national deputy to become regional director for the Americas of the World Tourism Organization. He continues to be an active leader of PRO Córdoba, despite residing much of the time in Madrid.
A reader of poetry as a child, Santos founded the Taller Sol Urbano as a teenager, along with other young people. He remembers that his first book was called Without turning red.
In 1979, he headed another project: the magazine Platform for culturefrom which three issues were released.
From another sector, one of the most active union members today, the head of UEPC Capital, Franco Boczkowski, has books of poetry.
He arrived in Córdoba from Chaco in 1983 and began serving in the Partido Obrero. His point is that “literature is a way of turning reality upside down.”
His most recent book is A noise in the streetpoems inspired by fragmentary scenes from the life of the Irish writer James Joyce, author of Ulysses.
