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Modernity in Transition: Roberto Arlt’s Aguafuertes porte�as

Abstract

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Argentina becomes a key player in the global market by turning into a major exporter of natural resources. As it secures economic prosperity, the country enters a period of accelerated modernization. Hence, by the first decades of the twentieth century, Argentina will witness the spectacular growth of Buenos Aires, the rapid commercialization of the city, and the drastic increase of its population—with the mass influx of immigrants arriving on its shores. The changes brought about by the country’s transition into modernity contributed to the increasing sociopolitical, socioeconomic and sociocultural tensions that mark this period and were lived out as crises by the porte�os.

In my dissertation, I will study Roberto Arlt’s Aguafuertes porte�as in light of two modern sociocultural crises—national culture and gender relations—and the respective debates emerging during the first decades of the twentieth century about both. I will argue that his aguafuertes point to the rise of an alternative model of literature and gender relations.

The issue of national literature as part of national identity has mostly been examined through the works of the martinfierristas; however, Arlt’s intervention in the debate via his aguafuertes is gaining critical attention. Critics have mainly focused on his use and defense of spoken language, but also on his alternative representation of Buenos Aires and the porte�os to underscore how he combats cultural nationalist ideologies. In the process, they have contributed to our understanding of the modern qualities of his writing. However, in my present work, I propose that against the backdrop of this debate, Arlt formulates a modern theory of national literature: national literature is that which is read (purchased) by its people. By conceptualizing literature in terms of a relationship with its readers, Arlt points to culture’s entrance onto the marketplace and its impact on the value and function of literature. Aside from his foreword to Los lanzallamas, which is widely read as his literary manifesto, Arlt did not write a literary manifesto per se. Yet a close reading of his aguafuertes that deal with the question of what is national literature allows us to reconstruct his proposed modern concept of literature, previously unexplored, which I define in chapter 2.

Critics have already observed that Arlt systematically dedicates three months to the subject of marriage and courtship and that he is critical of traditional gender relations. Yet by highlighting his critical treatment of women, they have tended to minimize the position of the author vis-�-vis the conservative sector on the issue of gender relations. However, by reading these aguafuertes in light of the sociocultural transformations set in motion by Argentina’s transition into modernity and the discourses proliferating on family, love and sex, I argue that in contrast to the leading intellectuals, statesmen and public health physicians who defend the traditional gender relations paradigm by singling out women’s entrance onto the public sphere as the source of the current crisis of the family and nation, Arlt calls for its revision by portraying the crisis as a conflict between the established and an alternative gender relations emerging during this period, which I call modern love and is subject of many of his aguafuertes. I also address Arlt’s contradictory position on women—where he simultaneously targets women for the crisis and advocates for the liberalization of women—and question critics’ commonly held assumption that he is misogynist. Signaling the impact that Argentina’s transition into modernity was having on everyday practices and the concept of gender relations, the street of Buenos Aires turns into a stage of modern love. Inspired by Walter Benjamin’s and Marshall Berman’s interpretation of Baudelaire’s poetry, I examine the seemingly clich� imageries associated with modern love registered in his aguafuertes as well as in his novels—sudden (dis)encounter and public display of affection—and propose that the street was not merely a stage but also a catalyst of modern love.

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