La imprenta enterrada: Baroja, Arlt y el imaginario anarquista (review)

262 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies One of the first artists we meet is the late Raúl Vásquez, a blacksmith whose work from a half century ago can still be seen at San Xavier in the snake-shaped handles on the mission's front door and othet wrought iron embellishments at che church. We soon meet famous songwriter and musician, Lalo Guetieio, who was born in Tucson's Barrio Viejo in 1916, and Mexican-born Nicolás Segura, founder of the Poblano Hot Sauce Company , who got his start in the 1920s. The three sections of the second chapter are titled el hogar (the home), eltalhr (the workshop ), and h comunidad (the. community). The objects made in these different locations, from knitted wotks to furniture, all contribute to the community in their practical value, as cultural enrichment, or both. In the short final chapter Griffith touches on the issues of religion, ethnic identity, and cross cultural connections that have made these crafts a "rich and complex body of art." Hecho a Mano is a result of the exhibition, "La cadena que no se corta: las artes tradicionahs de h comunidad méxico-americana de Tucson, "which Griffith and folldorist Cynthia Vidaurri presented at the University of Arizona Museum of Art in 1996. The book is not a buyei's guide. As the author notes: [it] is intended to serve as a report of what the traditional arts of Tucson's Mexican American community looked like at a certain time to a specific group of investigators. The foreword is by Tucson authoi Patricia Preciado Martin, who aptly sums up the book's subject: "It is an expressed exuberance that arises spontaneously from the wellsprings of heritage, history, culture, and spirituality that is boundless ." Hecho a Mano offers ample evidence of how folk artists create the practical, celebratoiy, and religious objects that eniich the entire community . In a vety few pages, Griffirh and noted photographers José Galvez and David Burckhalter, among others, acquaint us with a central part of Tucson's Mexican and Chicano cultures. It is a sensitive and instructive presenration of the work and people involved in Tucson's traditional arts. Tom Gelsinon The University of Arizona La imprenta enterrada: Baroja, ArIty el imaginario anarquista Beatriz Viterbo Editora, 2000 Por Glen S. Close La definición de lo que constituye un "imaginario anarquista" en este libro es algo vaga y exclusivisra . La lectui a del volumen parece sugerir al lecror que los anarquistas crearon una cultuÃ-a revolucionaria —primero en Rusia y después en el resto de Europa—dedicada primordialmente a la violencia y a la conspiración nihilista a fin de derrocar el régimen capitalista establecido. La otra premisa que sostiene la tesis del libio es que el modernismo (no el término en su aceptación hispana sino el movimiento europeo llamado "modernism") artÃ-stico coincide epocalmente con el auge del anarquismo conspirativo y que esto es demostrable con un examen comparativo de la obra del español PÃ-o Baroja y el argentino Roberto ArIr. De esta manera , Glen Close trara de examinar varias obras de ambos autores que se ajustan a su tesis para subrayar que la estética y temática de estas novelas coinciden con el movimiento general llamado "modernism." En nuestra opinión la tesis de Glen Close es aceptable aunque con varias excepciones que vamos a señalar: la primera es que una lectura de las fuentes teóricas primarias del anarquismo (los utópicos franco-ingleses, Kropotkin, Bakunin, Goodwin, Ricardo Mella, Anselmo Lorenzo, la familia Monrseny y orros) nos muestra que el ideario libertario no se restringÃ-a a la violencia conspirativa sino que el énfasis primario era la regeneraci ón de la conducta del ser humano hacia una vida más natural y sana. Un adagio muy popular entre la juventud ácrata del siglo XTX decÃ-a: "mente sana, cuerpo sano." El legendario Anselmo Lorenzo se hizo portavoz de la mayorÃ-a del movimiento anar- Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 263 quista cuando escribÃ-a en Criterio libertario que "Tenemos una humanidad degeneÃ-ada, deformada , moralmenre anquilosada por causas que radican en tiempos anteriores...