Humans and Nature in Texas and Tamaulipas Shaded by Sentimental Exoticism: Emmanuel Domenech’s Depictions of North America

Abstract

Active as a Catholic priest in Texas and northern Mexico from 1846 to 1852, Emmanuel Domenech had the opportunity of traveling and collecting a good amount of information about the geography and population. Endowed with narrative skills, this Frenchman wrote several books describing the landscapes and the inhabitants of the so-called “American solitudes,” which led him to look principally at Mexico’s Indigenous peoples in their natural habitat. This article exposes the influence of the so-called “sentimental exoticism” on Domenech´s descriptive exercises, which can be recognized not only in his emphasis on the theme of solitude but also in the emotional involvement he exhibits when narrating his experiences. Although attempting to comply with the typical scientific and distantiated spirit of his age, his pages reveal a clear aesthetic orientation that can only be explained by the influence of an intellectual current represented by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre and François-René de Chateaubriand.