First half of Facundo

So here goes my first shot at a blog.

I joined the class late, and was able to buy my books 2 weeks later than the beginning of class. Therefore, I am behind and have read up to the beginning of Chapter 6, La Rioja since Thursday. Is this blog to be formal or informal?

I found the chapter about the rastreador and the baqueano interesting. Such skill you do not find in the people of UBC! It was a nice mental holiday to read about these amazing skills, I hope guachos or other people still practice these today.

Sarmiento surely likes description - to delay 90 pages until even discussing the title character. These pages of description I am sure will help explain the rest of the book, as I have yet to find out. It is interesting to read a bit of history about Argentina, after visiting Buenos Aires last summer. Unfortunately I was not able to visit out into the campos but I believe Sarmiento does a fantastic job of explaining his country to the foreigner, presumably the readers in North America and Europe. Perhaps all of his histories and anecdotes will come together in the second half, but as of yet, a good load of his information seems disconnected with the whole book, with many random facts and paragraphs that perhaps add to visual aid but do not help the continuity of the whole book.

I question Sarmiento's view upon Facundo and the dictatorships. It is obvious he sees the caudillos and the rise of the campo provinces to rule as a barbaric turn for the cities (as per the 4 page description about the cultural and intellectual fall of San Juan), however he speaks with a dignified respect for each of the certain types of guachos, and in particular, Facundo: "I see in him a great man, a man of genius in spite of himself and without knowing it, a Caesar, a Tamerlane, a Mohammed. He was born this way and it wasn't his fault..." (p 100). While Sarmiento explains what he deems necessary for the reader to know about Facundo's youth, which was as well unruly and violent, Sarmiento still attributes his inexcusable actions with the sort of "boys will be boys" attitude, and that since it is just how Facundo naturally acts, Facundo therefore ought to do as he please. And what is this about Facundo being, once upon a time, "an image of the God of the final judgement' (p 101)?? I understand Sarmiento is trying to prove Facundo's unworldly skills, but this comment stopped me in my tracks and made me say out loud, "WHAT?" For considering Facundo a destructive character who jeopardized his country, I believe Sarmiento actually feels inferior to Facundo's skills, no matter how destructive they were, the attraction to power does not escape even Sarmiento in his writings.

I would like to comment a bit further on Sarmiento's writing style. Perhaps it was the time period, or the translation, but as interesting as his book may be I find it to be an incredibly slow read. I am 100 pages through, and have spent a good chunk of last week and my weekend reading this, but to no avail can I read any faster and still absorb what he is trying to convey. It is obvious he writes from an educated position, and that his 'target audience' is those of educated peoples with his extensive language and paragraph structure, not to mention social commentaries. Although now the text is in plain English, often I may read a paragraph and then need to re-read it to understand it fully. This isn't a problem, except when you're behind two weeks in class and would like to read this as smoothly as possible.

I sort of look forward to the rest of the book. It seems to continue on with no real purpose yet, just bumbling as it goes. I am sure I'll learn a few interesting facts but I hope something springs up which keeps me turning the page with more enthusiasm. It's probably only going to become more gory and detailed from here on out, but by my judgements on the world today, we love reading about other people's horrors and pitfalls.