Abstract

Este trabajo examina el papel que jugó Simón Bolívar en la literatura peninsular después de la pérdida de las colonias americanas. Se estudian los ensayos de Joaquín Costa y Miguel de Unamuno para analizar la inclusión del Libertador en el repertorio de héroes nacionales españoles. Sugieren estos escritores que las guerras emancipadoras fueron contra el gobierno español y no contra el pueblo español, y marcan así una separación entre las acciones del gobierno y los deseos del pueblo. Las guerras, por lo tanto, no tenían la intención de suprimir los lazos que existían entre peninsulares y americanos, sino de rescatar a ambos de la tiranía política que los afligía. Costa y Unamuno hallaron en la figura del Libertador un representante reciente de los valores que admiraban en los héroes legendarios españoles, valores que consideraban necesarios para elevar la moral y el patriotismo que suponían perdidos en España.

Abstract

This paper examines the assessment of Simón Bolívar’s accomplishments by the Spanish writers of the end of the 19th century after Spain had lost its vast American empire. We propose to analyze the inclusion of Bolívar in the repertoire of heroes that Spain had produced throughout its history in the essays of Joaquín Costa and Miguel de Unamuno. They suggest that Bolívar had acted in accordance with the wishes of the Spanish people—though not of its government—when he declared war on Spain. By separating the people’s wishes from the government’s actions, the authors were able to make a convincing argument that the Wars of Independence and subsequent political struggles never intended to hurt the relations between the two peoples. Moreover, both peoples were aware of the Hispanic heritage that united them. We conclude that in the face of a low national morale, the writers sought out contemporary personalities whose actions resembled those of the legendary heroes of the Spanish past to awaken a patriotism that had diminished with the loss of the empire.

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