A Transpacific Voyage: The Representation of Asia in José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi's El Periquillo Sarniento

This essay seeks to explore the representation of Asia in José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi's El Periquillo Sarniento (1816), which is often considered the first novel produced in Latin America. Although many scholars have examined the picaresque element as well as the nationalist aspect of the novel, the Asian presence in Fernández de Lizardi's narrative has not received the attention that it deserves. My analysis focuses on the main character's voyage to the Philippines and the fictional Pacific island of Saucheofú, two places through which the author envisions an alternative model of society for colonial Mexico. The Philippines represents an ideal space in two ways: first, the protagonist begins the process of becoming an upright individual in Manila; and second, the discourse of antislavery can be articulated in an Asian country while it is prohibited in Mexico. Furthermore, Saucheofú symbolizes the idea of "utopia" to some extent, because of its exemplary system of productivity and the highly controlled mechanism of law and punishment. By studying the importance of these countries in the Far East, I propose a reading of El Periquillo Sarniento as the first transpacific novel in Latin American literature.