Romanticising the Nation: Allegory, Ambiguity and Unity in José Mármol’s Amalia

Abstract

The Argentine journalist and writer José Mármol (1817–71), famously known as “el verdugo poético de Rosas”, offers one of the most effective literary exposures of the Rosas regime in his novel Amalia (1851). Written during Mármol’s exile in Montevideo (1846–52), it is set in 1840 during the French blockade and covers the months leading up to Lavalle’s anticipated but failed invasion and subsequent withdrawal in September of that year. Amalia is considered one of the most prominent anti-Rosas texts as it depicts the dictator as a force of evil and emphasises the plight of the people living under his rule: “with Amalia, Mármol consciously attempts to initiate a canon of representation of the Rosas era as ‘la tiranía’ as he directs his novels at a future public” (Rea 29). Amalia was considered “the novel of triumphant liberalism” (Sommer 111) and is celebrated to such an extent that it is considered to be the first Argentine novel to seek to unite a divided country. This article offers an original analysis of how Amalia is considered a more progressive novel in comparison with other works such as Esteban Echeverría’s divisive El matadero (1871), in that it seeks to encourage national reconciliation between the Unitarians and Federalists and end a tumultuous political conflict, which Mármol argues was exacerbated by Rosas. I explore the way in which Amalia aims to promote political unity, addressing Mármol’s positive and compassionate, but likely inaccurate representation of Manuela Rosas, while shedding light on his – and other Unitarians’ – problematic depictions of race and gender, which disempower and dehumanise Federalist women, thus proving detrimental to the pursuit of national harmony.