THE ND‘JEUSHC EVOLUTEDN OF
ALFREDO PAREJA DEEZCANSECO

Thesis for the Degree of M. A
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSE‘EY
KARL H. HEiSE
1987

L-
L I B RA R Y

33151132311 cm (:3
University

     

Z’hm‘w

q 873 was

THE NOVELISTIC EVOLUTION OF

ALFREDO PAR EJA DIEZCANSECO

BY

Karl H. Heise

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Romance Languages

1967

To Dr. Carlos M. Teran

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: THE MAN, THE EPOCH, AND THE RESULT . .

Chapter I: THE EARLY EFFORTS AND ARTISTIC
ADOLESCENCE .......... . ........

LAS CASA DE LOS LOCOS ...............
LA SENORITA ECUADOR ................
RIOARRIBA........... ............

Chapter II: NOVELISTIC COMING OF AGE--
THE MARITIME CHOLO .............

Chapter III: THE URBAN ZAMBAm—BALDOMERA . . . .

Chapter IV: THE TRAGI-COMEDY OF AN IDEALIST“
DON BALON DE BABA ......... . .......

Chapter V: BEHIND THE BARS AND INTO THE MIND--
HOMBR ES SIN TIEMPO .................

Chapter VI: THE BALANCED NOVEL-~LAS TRES RATAS . .

Chapter VII: A BOLD EFFORTu-LOS NUEVOS ANOS .....

LA ADVERTENCLA ............... . . .
EL AIRE Y LOS RECUERDOS ......... . . . . .
LOS PODER ES OMNI‘MODOS ..............

Bibliography ...........................

ii

Page

00o.“— ._.

15

l7
29

44

61

80
91

108

112
123
129

139

IN TRODUCTION

THE MAN, THE EPOCH, AND THE RESULT

In order to undertake a truly meaningful study of an artist's
work it is first necessary to arrive at some understanding not only
of the artist as a man, but also of the social and cultural epoch of
which he is a product. Once that understanding is achieved, it is
then possible to comprehend at least to a limited extent the manner
in which that social and cultural environment surrounding the artist
nurtured the germ of his early creative inclination, in such a way
that it would later flourish into a sensitive and mature expression
of his talent. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco is indeed an artist. As
we shall observe, his novelistic trajectory is one of constant
improvement and maturation based upon past experience significant
to his formation as a man as well as an artist--a process not of
revolution, but of evolution.

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador,
on October 12, 1908, of an Ecuadorian father (Fernando) and a
Peruvian mother (Amalia). All of his adolescent years were spent
in that city, and its atmosphere of the trOpics, of the river Guayas,
of the Ecuadorian coast, and of its toiling inhabitants left an influence
on the young man so deep that he would never cease to feel its effect.
His early novels all have as their principal settings the'city of
Guayaquil and its surrounding rural and coastal areas; his later
novels may show more of Quito than they do of Guayaquil, but the

port city is always reflected through the characters in the works.

iii

Although a youth of aristocratic bearing and ancestry, Alfredo
found it necessary to face the harsher side of life at a rather early
age. When he was only 11 his father died, and the boy was only able
to finish primary school. By the time he was 13 he was already
making his own way in life as a salesman for a German businessman.
In spite of these early setbacks, young Alfredo ". . . without the help
of a teacher . . . went through the high school curriculum and enrolled
in the university faculty of law and social sciences. "1 It has been
said of Pareja's education that "La suya es el tipo clasico de la
formacién cultural autodidafctica. "2 It is not an entirely unlikely
conjecture that the fusion of his aristocratic breeding, the experience
of earning his own living while still young (thereby coming into direct
contact with members of all the social classes), and the sensitive
nature of his acutely critical character enabled him to observe the
social conditions of the working and middle classes with the air of
sincere identification tempered with objective detachment that has
come to be characteristic of his work. As Kessel Schwartz so
aptly points out:

"Pareja has demonstrated that he would call

ethical sympathies in his work, but he has insisted

that he does not wish to use his art as an instrument

of propaganda. He desired, he said, only to show the

realities which cried for justice, as he denounced the

corrupt and unjust. Pareja has denied being a left

winger, but his best novels have a socialistic goal.

Unlike most of the contemporary Ecuadorians, however,

emotional considerations do not destroy his objectivity
in some of his portrayals of the proletariat. "

 

w

1. Lilo Linke, "The People's Chronicler," Americas, Vol. 8,
No. 11 (Nov., 1956), p. 8. l

2. Quie’n es Quién en Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia,
p. 479.

3. Kessel Schwartz, ”Alfredo Pareja y Diez Canseco, Social
Novelist," Hispania, Vol. 42 (1959), p. 220.

 

iv

Our novelist's early and genuine concern for the less
privileged members of his society is coupled and paralleled with
a keen interest in politics and in history. After a relatively brief
participation in politics during his years of early manhood he has
since confined his interest to the passive. Harry Kantor, quotes him
as saying that “the intellectual should be a witness, not an active
participant in politics, except in times of acute crisis, "4 and on
at least one occasion he has added, “Everyone knows how Thomas
Mann stood up for his convictions when Hitler came to power. But
in the ordinary course of events, the writer's task is too demanding
to permit ties with a political party. Art and literature admit no
amateurs. And in his own way the writer makes his contribution
to the course of progress. "5 However, his interest in history has
never been subject to the same restrictions. Since his student
days when he would migrate from Guayaquil to the less extreme
climate of Quito during the school vacations, and became influenced
by that city's preservation of the past and of tradition, Pareja has
maintained a sense of viewing the world in historical perspective.
Not only his works of fiction and of history, but also his works of
literary criticism and his essays betray him as being an historian
as well as a writer of fiction. This dualism of the novelist-historian
appears throughout his work. At times his treatment of history

and its personalities is done with novelesque vigor, as is plainly

 

4. Harry Kantor, "Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, " La America

 

Latina de Hoy (New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1961), p. 53.
. 5, Linke, p. 10.

 

seen in his ”biografia novelada" of the life of Eloy Alfaro, La Hoguera

 

Barbara, and at other times his works of fiction are pregnant with a
feeling for and an awareness of history, as is so evident in his last

series of novels, Los Nuevos Afios.

 

Pareja's interest in politics was already reflected in his

first youthful attempt at a novel, La Casa de los Locos, which was

 

printed when he was 21 years of age. Lilo Linke points out that
"Although the book was immature, two of the author's tendencies
were already apparent in its pages: his passion for politics and

his keen but detached observation of the world around him. "6 Indeed,
the book was so politically oriented that it never did enjoy a public
scanning, due to making enemies in influential circles.

His second novel, La Senorita Ecuador, was published

 

when the author was only a year older. This novel, which Kessel
Schwartz correctly calls "a mixture of fantasy and realism" and
says “exhibits little artistic preoccupation"7 is a highly idealized
biography of a proletarian lovely who manages to win an important
beauty contest of the day in spite of the aristocratic Opposition
personified by the other contestants.

Up to this point, Alfredo Pareja had not left Ecuador. While
still only twenty-two, however, he managed to find passage to New
York aboard an oil tanker. As Lilo Linke points out in her

excellently written article, the experience was not the most enjoyable

 

6. Linke, p. 8.
7. Schwartz, p. 221.

Vi

for our author. 8 Due to the oncoming depression work was becoming
ever scarcer, especially for a non-English speaking person. None-
theless, the ambitious young man was able to find enough employment
to maintain some level of subsistence. Rather in keeping with his
democratic character, Pareja performed tasks ranging from those
of a somewhat meanial nature, as a busboy in a cafeteria, to those
offering a certain amount of prestige as a Spanish teacher at
Berlitz. At one point he even earned some money writing a short
story for a Spanish-language newspaper. The merits of that story
are perhaps best described by Pareja himself, whom Linke quotes
as saying:

”They accepted my story and paid me fifty

dollars on condition that they might cut and

change it as they saw fit--and that I would never

come back for another assignment. "

"An insignificant piece about a drunkard that he remembers
only vaguely, "10 that story has long disappeared into what the
author might consider a welcome oblivion, and we were unable to
read it for ourselves.

Pareja's stay in New York was only of a year's duration,
but the experience serves as a definite landmark in the maturation
process of the novelist as well as of the man. Upon his return to

Guayaquil the young man attacked life in a no -nonsense manner.

He took employment as the representative of a pharmaceutical firm,

 

8. Linke, loc. cit.
9. Linke, p. 8.
10. Linke, loc. cit.

Vii

and his days were spent in devotion to his new successful occupation.
His nights, however, were spent in devotion to writing, an occupation
which he had always exercised successfully, at least in the spiritual,
if not the material sense. Pareja's trip to New York was only the
first in what was to be a long and constant series of journeys that
parallel the increasing complexity of the social, professional, and
literary aspects of his life. The momentum adopted by his life
beginning with that trip to the United States has continued to gain
energy up to the very present, and that momentum is evident
throughout the trajectory of his novels.

However, the first novel Pareja published after his return

from the northern metroplis, Ri’o arriba, although superior to his

 

earlier attempts, is still somewhat lacking as a mature expression
of the author's ability. Schwartz says of the novel that it ”turns

to Freud, sex and abnormal psychology, as Pareja indulges in a
long series of philosophical discussions. "11 In a less flattering
and much quoted comment Arturo Torres-Rioseco once said of

Pareja that he is ”hasta su novela Ri’o arriba (1931), un escritor

 

superficial en quien e1 supra-realismo se limita todavia a1
florecimiento del disparate. "12 As we shall observe later, _R_f_o
arriba does possess many of the vices of the author's earlier
endeavors, but at the same time it is a sort of breeding ground

for the virtues which were to come later. Rio arriba, in the

 

 

ll. Schwartz, p. 221.

12. Arturo Torres-Rfoseco, "La Novela de Tema Indi'gena en el
Ecuador, " La Novela en la America Hispana (Berkeley: U. of Calif.
Press, 1941), p. 235. T

 

viii

trajectory of his novels, like his first trip to New York, in the
trajectory of his life, represents a landmark. It is the point at
which Pareja's novelistic work gains that momentum of ever
increasing maturity and perfection which has not ceased up to
his very latest writings.

Two years after the appearance of Rio arriba Pareja

 

published El Muelle. The critics gave this novel virtual ”rave"

 

reviews, and from then on Alfredo Pareja never had to bear the
cost of his own publications. Hestigious names such as Ercilla
of Chile and Losada of Argentina grace his list of backers. In
the same commentary cited earlier Torres-Rioseco further says:
". . . En Muelle (1933), novela de ambiente yanqui
y ecuatoriano, se hace macizo, intenso; se preocupa de
problemas sociales y econo’micos con un sentido
revolucionario y en estilo ya mas depurado y una

.2 a
fuerza de observacion mas real."

In El Muelle we see concrete evidence of the effect of his

 

stay in New York, since Pareja uses that city as the setting for
part of the novel's action. In the succeeding years his never ending
cosmopolitan experiences shall be reflected in eight more novels,
each one the equal, if not the superior, of the one preceeding it.
These cosmopolitan experiences are more evident in terms of adding
to the artistic maturity of the novels than they are in terms of offering
geographic variety to the settings, since with rare exception the
action of all of Pareja's novels transpires right in Ecuador.

As pointed out earlier, Alfredo Pareja's novelistic trajectory

is one of evolution and refinement by Virtue of experience. The

 

l3. Torres-Rfoseco, p. 235.

ix

variety and the amount of his experiences in life after his first
stay in New York assume near-monumental pIOportions. The
following is only a partial list of the events in his life and the
occupations he has performed which form the principal landmarks
in his total life experience, and therefore have some bearing-~be
it an active or a passive one--on the maturation procsss of his

novels:

1926-30 Student at the University of Guayaquil, Faculty of Law,
Political and Social Sciences.

1932-33 Professor of History and Literature, Colegio Nacional
Vicente Rocafuerte, Guayaquil.

1934 Marriage to Mercedes CucalOn.

1935-36 Inspector General of Secondary Education, Ministry of
Education, Ecuador.

1936-38 Persecuted under the dictatorship of Federico Paez and
exiled to Chile, after first being jailed. Lived for a year
in Chile working for the Ercilla Publishing Company, then
travelled to Bolivia he was the first exiled Ecuadorian of
the epoch.

1938 Returned to Ecuador, and became a Deputy to the National
Constitutional Assembly. Dr. Aurelio Mosquera Narvaez
dissolved the assembly, and Pareja was taken to the ”Garcia
Moreno'l pennitentiary. He was in jail for thirty days.

1944 Chargé d'Affairs, Ecuadorian Embassy in Mexico.

1945 -47 Representative of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Agency in Mexico, Central America, Argentina, Uruguay
and Paraguay.

1952-53 Member of the Consejo Nacional de Economi'a, Quito.

1948-61 Member of the Board of Directors, Casa de la Cultura

Ecuatoriana.

1953 -61 Member of the Board of Directors, Banco Central del
Ecuador.

1951 -53 Editor of a daily newspaper, El Sol, of Quito.

1960 Member of the Central Campaign Committee of Galo

Plaza for President of Ecuador.

1953-61 Professor of History and Political PhilOSOphy, Central
University of Ecuador, Quito.

1961 -62 Professor of History and Political Theory, Institute of
Political Education, San Jose, Costa Rica. Also acted
as Director of Studies, a position which would correspond
to a Dean of Academic Affairs.

1962-65 Professor of History and Political Science at the University

' of Florida.

1965- Professor of Government at the University of Miami,
Florida. *

If Alfredo Pareja had never done anything other than the
above, his life would have to be considered a full one by any standards.
Nonetheless, he always managed to find time to write. If we ignore
the numerous articles that he has published in the United States,

Latin America, and Europe, and only concern ourselves with his
principle publications we would find listed among his non-fiction
works two "biograffas noveladas, “ one on Eloy Alfaro, and the other
on Miguel de Santiago, the well-known painter from colonial Quito;

a complete History of Ecuador; a critical treatment of Thomas Mann;
and essays on art, painting, and the struggle for democracy in
Ecuador. Discounting his two short stories referred to by Linke,
between 1929 and the present he has published no less than twelve
novels:

La casa de los locos, Guayaquil, 1929.

La Senorita Ecuador, Guayaquil, 1930.
Rfo arriba, Guayaquil, 1931.

 

 

 

 

*Other than the biographical material furnished by Alfredo Pareja
himself and the information drawn from Linke's article, the following
sources were consulted:

Ronald Hilton, Who's Who In Latin America, Part LLl (Stanford:
Stanford U. Press, 1951), pp. 103-4.

Quién es Quie’n en Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia
(Bogota: 1952), p. 479.

Eugene Schuttner, Vida y Obras de Autores Ecuatorianos (La Habana:
Editorial ”Alfa", 1943). pp. 33-35.

World Biography, Vol. 2 (New York: Inst. for Research in Biography,
1948). p. 3644.

 

 

 

xi

El muelle, Quito, 1933.

La Beldaca, Santiago, Chile, 1935.
Baldomera, Santiago, Chile, 1938.

Don Balon de Baba, Buenos Aires, 1939.
Hombres sin tiempo, Buenos Aires, 1941.
Las tres ratas, Buenos Aires, 1944.

La advertencia, Buenos Aires, 1956.

El aire y los recuerdos, Buenos Aires, 1958.
Los poderes omnimodos, Buenos Aires, 1964.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regardless of whatever critical evaluation we may give to
Pareja's novelistic production, the mere fact that so many of his
novels have been re-edited and that some of them have been honored
with translations indicates that his work is worthy of study. When
we consider the chronological appearance of his novels, and then
consider the dates of the main events in his life, it is difficult not
to ask ourselves how these two phenomena correlate. Certainly,
there is a correlation. However, the nature of that correlation is
not one of action and reaction, but one of cause and effect. In other
words, the events in Alfredo Pareja's life are not necessarily re-told
"blow by blow” through the pages in his novels. There is no doubt
that some biographical material of himself does appear occasionally
in his work, but the effect of his varied and harduearned experience
on his novels has manifested itself in a somewhat different light.

As we review Pareja's novels we shall see that they are a produCt
of a talented, sensitive, and critically observant character that
tends to view all of life's phenomena in an ethical and an historical
perspective. The combination of the nature of his character and
of the variety and uniqueness of his experiences has caused Pareja

to constantly re-examine his values, even to revise them if necessary.

xii

This unceasing process of change within the novelist has been
reflected in his work, thus giving us a novel with an evolutionary
trajectory.

The epoch during which he was born is significant to the
overall picture of our author as being a true man of the century.
1908 was early enough so that he could be fully aware of the First
World War and its nearly universal effect. By the time he was a
young man he witnessed two major social and political upheavals
in his country (1925 and 1932), felt the rumblings of the political
turmoil in Europe and North America, had first-hand acquaintance
with the Great Depression of the United States, and observed the
coming of World War 11. At the same time that he was viewing
these events of rather transcendental importance, however, he was
also painfully aware of the social problems relative only to Ecuador
and similar parts of Latin America. At first material for his
novels was drawn primarily from the latter source, but as he
matured he was able to tie both sources together more and more,
until in his last novels there is a happy marriage between the
regional and the universal perspectives.

During those dramatically important years of the thirties
Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco had already budded into a full-fledged
novelist. It was also during those same. years that Ecuador produced .
at least 16 other important novelists, who were divided into three
principal groups according to their geographical location: "el grupo

de Quito, " or ”de la sierra;" "el grupo del Austro;"* and "el grupo

 

*According to Jorge Icaza (below), the "Grupo de Quito” consisted
of Fernando Chaves, Humberto Salvador, Jorge Fernandez, Enrique
Teran, and himself, while Pablo Palacio, Angel F. Rojas, G. Humberto
Mata, and Alfonso Cuesta y Cuesta form the "Grupo del “Austro. "

xiii

de Guayaquil, “ or "de la costa. " Alfredo Pareja, along with Enrique
Gil Gilbert, Demetrio Aguilera Malta, Joaquin Gallegos Lara, and
José de la Cuadra formed the "Grupo de Guayaquil," which has been
quoted as proclaiming, “Somos como los cinco dedos de una mano
para golpear en la conciencia nacional. "1

Although these three groups of writers worked independently
of each other, it is curious to note that for the most part they were
all preoccupied with social problems. While those in the "Grupo del
Austro" concerned themselves principally with the EM, those in
Quito brought the indian into a grim spotlight, and those in Guayaquil
used the montubio** for their focal point. Jorge Icaza says of the
latter group that they_"subrayaron lo fecundo y tragico de su manigua
tropica1,subrayaron asi mismo, junto a1 duro trabajo del montubio,
su hambre, su dolor, su supersticic’m, su lujuria."15 The other
groups did much the same with the indian and the 92112.

It is difficult to speculate as to exactly why these young
writers so frequently chose such similar subject matter and method
of expression. Perhaps it was due to a universal and simultaneous

awareness on the part of these new intellectuals of the social anguish

 

**
A cholo is principally a mestizo, but the term is frequently

applied to any member of the lower classes; a montubio is a member
of the lower classes who lives along the hilly Ecuadorean coastal
sections.

14. Jorge Icaza, "Relato, Espiritu Unificador en la Generacian
del Afio 30, " Letras del Ecuador, No. 129 (1965), p. 10.

15. Jorge Icaza, p. 10.

xiv

long suffered by their homeland--a spontaneous intellectual revolution
of sorts--, or perhaps it was due to mere chance. Influences from
abroad reaching all of them at about the same time certainly may
have also played some part in the movement. The most likely
conjecture is that a combination of these and other phenomena acted
as the catalyst for the writers' production. Regardless of the
reasons, one fact remains firm: the turbulent years of the Thirties
produced an entire generation of novelists and short-story writers
in Ecuador who served to stimulate the letters of their country in
such a way that it nearly re-created the national literature. In
effect, the narrative writings of these young artists gave them a
spiritual unity stronger than any physical or geographical proximity.
Jorge Icaza refers to their writings as "obras todas. . . en las cuales,
a pesar de sus diferencias regionales, latia un fondo unificador, un
espiritu de emociOn pr0pia que era a la vez el espiritu del continente
hispanoamericano. "16 In his penetrating article on this literary
phenomenon Icaza further states:
”Parece imposible que se pueda hablar de

expresion unificada 0 de un solo espfritu en un pa‘is

como el nuestro, dividido hacia lo largo de su geografia,

hacia lo profundo de su inconformidad 1ntima, hacia lo

alto de su politica regionalista. No obstante,

fue 1a literatura--especia1mente e1 relato en lo que se

refiere a novela y a cuento--, la que, adelantandose a

la sociologia, a la filosoffa, a1 ensayo, advirtié con

claridad meridiana--claridad que no quisieron o no

pudieron ver los criticos del pais--1a(posibilidad y la

existencia de un contorno y de un espiritu definitivos.

En esas obras. . . e1 contenido emocional era mas
transcendente y sincero que cualquier experiencia

 

16. Jorge Icaza, p. 10.

XV

estética llegada de Occidente. Era mas elemental,

mas nuestro--a pesar de su pobreza de recursos

tecnicos, a pesar de su ingeniiivdad primitiva, a

pesar de su prec1p1tac16n--. "

It would appear that Mr. Icaza is correct when referring to
“pobreza de recursos tecnicos, “ ”ingenuidad primitiva, " and
"precipitacién. " True, many of the writers of that period were
somewhat lacking in the artistic finesse that we came to know in
the modernist school which preceeded their movement. These
Ecuadorian writers of the Thirties, not unlike many of their
contemporaries in Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico, were interested
in a literature of pragmatism, rather than escapism. For the
most part theirs was a literature born of urgent necessity, of
indignation, and of anger. They were little concerned with a
nostalgic colonial past, with ”noble savages, " with distant
princesses in ivory towers, or with the gentle eroticism evoked
by a woodland nymph. Their world was one of brutal landholders
exploiting their underlings in a state of neo-feudalism, of indians
laden with disease, overwork, short mortality, and the complete
absence of nobility, of no ideal more important than the next meal,
and of sensualism born of desperation and resembling the conduct
of beasts. When these novelists of thegThirties put their cries of
horror in the form of prose fiction they made a shocking impact
on the literary world from Moscow to New York. It must be
admitted that the novelists of that generation at times emphasized

the sordid aspects of their society to such an extent that the final

product had little more resemblance to reality than did the modernists'

 

17. Icaza, pp. 10-11.

xvi

excursions into fantasy and exoticism. As Enrique Anderson Imbert

p oint 3 out:

”lenguaje crudo, exageracion de lo sombrio y lo
sordido, valentia en la exhibicién de verguenzas
nacionales, sinceridad en el proposito combativo,
dan a esta literatura mas valor moral que art1stico. "

l8

Arturo Torres-Rfoseco is of much the same opinion as the
critic from Argentina:

". . . el tema indigena ha sido casi completamente

acaparado por un grupo de novelistas militantes que

se han dedicado a exponer los despiadados aspectos

de la esclavitud india--generalmente mas con justa

indignacién que con destreza 1iteraria--. Estos

jovenes escritores, ecuatorianos en su mayor1a,

muestran un categOrico menosprecio por la gramatica,

por el estilo, por la sintaxis y hasta por el sentido
comun. . . . Mezclan e1 socialismo a la psicopatolog1a,

a tal punto que algunos de sus personajes nativos

parecen ser casos freudianos. . . Sin embargo, sus

libros tienen e1 mérito incuestionable de mostrar un

estado de cosas espantoso y real. . . "

As we may observe from the above commentaries, both of
these eminent critics are in agreement that the socially-oriented
literature of the Thirties owes its value much more to content than
it does to form. Indeed, there may well be certain men of
erudition who would even deny that such writings even merit the
title of "literature" because of their so frequent lack of delicacy.
Nonetheless, we must bear in mind that the generation of which
Alfredo Pareja was a part was composed of young men, in what

was in reality a very young country. They were only just creating

a national identification and individuality, and as Pareja himself

 

18. Enrique Anderson Imbert, Historia de la literatura
hispanoamericana (México: Fondo de la Cultura EconOmica, 1961),

p.—253.

l9. Arturo Torres-Rioseco, Nueva historia de la gran literatura
iberoamericana (Buenos Aires: Emece Editores, 1961), p. 191.

 

 

 

xvii

points out through a character in one of his later novels, “Nuestra
novela de hoy es una formidable novela, aunque recien nacida. Y
es de suponer que mejorara. Porque un punado de muchachos no
puede hacer mas en el primer momento. :Experiencia, sagrada
experiencia! “20 Ecuador, like all of her sister nations in this
hemisphere, does not possess the ten centuries or more of
indigenous literary traditions that the European nations possess.
With the exception of an occasional effort during the romantic and
the naturalistic movements, the first genuine appearance of an
entire literary movement completely indigenous to Ecuador and
only applicable to Latin America did not arrive until the Thirties,
with Alfredo Pareja and his contemporaries. Experience has
effected a change not only in Alfredo Pareja, but also in many of
the other members of his generation. If we could follow the
novelistic trajectory of all of these authors we would find that in
many of them the fury and the militancy of youth has given way to
the patience and the measure of age and experience.

Nevertheless, it is still the work done during and just after
the Thirties that has left the greatest impact on the literary world.
Of the three groups of writers appearing in Ecuador during the
Thirties the one from Guayaquil was the most prolific. As stated
by Lilo Linke, "Of the seventy works of fiction that Angel F. Rojas
lists in La Novela Ecuatoriana as published between 1930 and 1944,

twenty-one were written by members of the Guayaquil Group. "21

 

 

20. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, El aire y los recuerdos (Buenos
Aires: Ed. Losada, 1959), p. 35.
21. Lilo Linke, p. 8.

 

xviii

Of all of the members not only of that group, but of the entire
generation, Fernando Alegria believes that:
"Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco (1908), es, tal

vez, quien mas cerca ha llegado en el Ecuador a un

ideal de novela en que los fundamentos sociales no

danen 1a expresion literaria ni la limiten en marcos

exageradamente locales. Pareja posee un amplio

dominio del lenguaje; su prosa es grafica, impulsada

a veces por un impresionismo de buena ley que no

1e hace perder la sobria cualidad de su sentido lirico.

Su sensibilidad y perspicacia 1e permiten calar hondo

en sus personajes, dando especial relieve a las figuras

femenina’s sin perder su equilibrio basico que es la

caracteristica de su arte realista. "

We may infer from the above commentary that Alfredo
Pareja is the most enduring novelist of his generation. His work
is the most lasting because it is the product of the most thorough
evolutionary process. The experience gained through every day
of his life is always reflected to a greater or a lesser degree in
his next novel. It is also certain that he benefited from his close
association with the other members of the "Grupo de Guayaquil, "
with whom he was united not only by mutual intellectual interest,
but also by the bonds of friendship. "Frequently the group met
in Alfredo Pareja's apartment. . . the young men would argue
heatedly until the cries of the breadsellers announced the dawn.
The talk focused on literature fr om the four corners of the
world--the great literature of the day, with passionate debates

. 2

about values and trends--and on their own prOJects. " 3

Thus far we have had a brief glimpse of the social,

intellectual, and artistic mileau of which Alfredo Pareja

 

22. Fernando Algeria, Historia de la novela hispanoamericana
(Mexico: Eds. de Andrea, 1965), pp. 265-66.
23. Lilo Linke, p. 8.

 

xix

Diezcanseco is a product. We have seen that his novels are the
result of a sensitive personality which deveIOped during years of
great world, hemispherical, and national stress; of a constant
association with contemporaries who were members of the
intellectual vanguard of their society; of an artistic alignment
with elements both pragmatic and idealistic; and of a continuous

process of maturation, evolution, and re-examination of values.

XX

CHAPTER I

THE EARLY EFFORTS AND ARTISTIC ADOLESCENCE

It is not an uncommon phenomenon among Spanish-American
novelists that they begin their literary careers with a collection of
short stories, or perhaps a book of poetry, before entering the scOpe
of the novel. Indeed, it is worthy of note when a novelist appears
who actually began his production with a novel, as is the case with
Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco. As Edmundo Ribadaneira notes, "lo
que mas llama la atenciOn es su fijaciOn vocacional, pues se radica
en la novela sin ninguna transicién, caso sin duda notable entre
nos otros. "2

As suggested earlier, however, Alfredo Pareja's first novels,

La casa de los locos, La Senorita Ecuador, and even Rio arriba

 

 

hardly possess the artistic quality and maturity enjoyed by his later

. .’ .’ .
works. Benjamin Carrion believes that La casa de los locos "occupa

e1 lugar del libro de poemas de todo joven letrado suramericano. "25

 

The next two novels must be included in the same category; although
they may well be the evoloutionary superiors of the first one, they
still must be classified as fledgling efforts.

La Casa de los Locos is long out of print, and we were unable

 

to obtain a copy for this study. Nonetheless, Benjamin Carr16n says

 

24. Edmundo Ribadeneira M. , La Moderna Novela Ecuatoriana
(Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958), p. 75.

25. Benjamin Carrién, El Nuevo Relato Ecuatoriano (Quito: Casa
de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1950), p. 174.

 

 

of it that it is an ”obrilla terriblemente polémica, combativa, como
. . 26 . . . L .. .
pedrada en Vitrina, " and in his introduction to La Senorita Ecuador
Adolfo H. Simmonds states:
"He dicho que Pareja es’autor de otra novela:

'La casa de los locos.' Causara sorpresa esta noticia.

gDonde esta esa obra, que no se conoce? Pues, esta

guardada en los cajones en los que el impresor entreg6

1a edicion. Nadie la ha comprado, nadie la ha leid6.

Era una novela de clave, en la que se lastimaba a mucha

gente. Los ofendidos hicieron una conspiraciOn de silencio

a1 rededor de la obra. Y Esta, claro esta, no pudo circular.
Sin embargo, . . . es una produccién de extraordinario
mérito. Un corte original, un estilo nuevo, un lenguaje
sobric’J y, entre lineas, todo el espiritu del siglo. Esta
novela, que enfoca un asunto intrascendente y local, en

cuya trama quedan muchos hilos sueltos, escrita sin e1

menor cuidado artistico, es . . . el mas valioso ensayo

de novela moderna hecho en el Ecuador. "

It would appear that the above critic is being excessively kind
to his friend, the young author, when he states that the latter's very
first attempt at a novel is the most worthy effort to date at achieving
a modern novel in Ecuador. We must bear in mind, however, that
the novel dealing with contemporary themes in Ecuador did not come
into existence until Alfredo Pareja and his young intellectual
contemporaries began the impetus during those early years in
Guayaquil. Pareja's first effort may have been a frail one, but
it was an effort.

Surely, we would no more judge the author solely on the

basis of his first novel than we would judge man on the basis of the

 

26. B. Carrién, loc. cit.
27. Adolfo Simmonds, in Pareja y Diezcanseco, A. , La Senorita
Ecuador (Guayaquil: Ed. Jouvin "La Reforma, " 193 0), pp. III-IV.

monkey. In an evolutionary perspective, we must regard La Casa

de los Locos and the two novels following it as mere seedlings--

 

although they may contain all of the necessary elements for the
development of what may someday have the strength of an Oak,
they are still nothing more than seedlings.

In a commentary published in 1934 José de la Cuadra
suggests that Pareja "resulta e1 mas costeno entre los escritores
mozos de Guayaquil . . . adora la emociOn del agua. "28 We see
evidence of Pareja's consciousness of the water on the very first

page of his second novel, La Senorita Ecuador:

 

"A las siete de la noche debia llegar 1a canoa
de pieza con periOdicos de Guayaquil. ’
El rio era correntoso y de muy dificil navegacidn. "

29

As we noted in the introduction to our study, Pareja's native
area has always occupied a place of keen interest for him. Not
only does the geographical area hold his a:tention, but the inhabitants
of that area along the Ecuadorian coast are also of eminent concern
to him. In the opening pages of this early work we may witness the
objective and sympathetic manner with which the young author already
observed his toiling countrymen:

"Tipico aspecto era el que presentaban los

montuvios, unos con los musculosos y morenos

bustos desnudos, otros con la simpatica cotona de

céfiro, abotonada hasta el cuello, y la inevitable

espuela ajustada en los talones sudosos y cubiertos

de una piel dura y amarilla, resultado de la falta
de uso de calzado. . . . "

 

28. José de la Cuadra, 12 Siluetas (Quito: Editorial America,
1934), p. 55.

29. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, La Senorita Ecuador (Guayaquil:
Ed. Jouvin "La Reforma,” 1930), p. l.

30. Pareja, La Senorita Ecuador, p. 3.

 

 

 

Thus, within the first few pages of this very early novel by
Pareja we already see two of the essential elements influential to
his develOpment--his sensitiveness towards his surroundings and
his sympathy toward the lower classes. Nonetheless, the novel
loses impact because of its rather inconsequential ”rags to riches"
(or poverty to fame) theme of a pretty proletarian girl winning a
beauty contest against aristocratic competition. Because it was
a " 'frivolous' novel that he felt everyone would enjoy"31 and only
contained a limited number of elements offensive to certain powers
(in this case, the United States), the work enjoyed a greater public

reading that did La Casa de los Locos. It was hardly an international

 

best-seller, however, and for its very frivolity the novel lost in
prestige among the author's peers. Adolfo Simmonds offers his
candid Opinion in his introduction to Pareja’s novel:

”. . . se propuso hacer una obra para que todos la
leyeran, y cosechar con élla baratos laureles.

Esta produccion, de utilitarios fines, es 'La Senorita
Ecuador'. iPobre Parejal Una prostituciOn como
cualquiera otra.

La eleccién de Sarita Chacdn 1e ofrecié el
tema ideal. . . No era posible encontrar un asunto
mas novedoso, sugestivo y populachero. Y se
puso al trabajo, sin olvidar un instante su propésito
de darle placer a1 pfiblico, de que se refocilara éste
en sus paginas, de que ideas y palabras no se elevaran
del medio nivel de comprension comun. "3

In spite of being “una prostituciOn como cualquiera otra, "

La Senorita Ecuador does contain elements demonstrating serious

 

 

31. Schwartz, p. 221
32. Simmonds, p. V.

thought, albeit thought at times extravagantly idealistic and betraying
the author's youthful immaturity. Kessel Schwartz notes that:

". . . Even here . . . there appear serious themes, as

he discusses the Montuvian in city and country and

contrasts his agility and grace in his native environment

with his torpor and stupidity in the city. "33

The montubio, however, does not offer the principal

ammunition for the author's sentiments toward his land and its

people in La Senorita Ecuador. We have perhaps our most accurate

 

glimpse of Pareja's feelings through his femenine protagonist,
Sarita ChacOn. Sarita seems to represent a synthesis between the
young writer's still romantic tendenc1es and his concern for the

future of his country:

"La chiquilla tenia algo misterioso en su
alma que la ligaba fuertemente con sus "cholos, "
con su tierra. . 3. . . .

No queria verla en forma de ciudades.

La huerta, la canoa, el machete, las corvas,
e1 potrillo alegre, sus vaquitas, los cantos de
amorfinos, todo aquello habia llegado a convertirse,
merced a una elaboraciOn subconsciente, en partes
integrantes de su personalidad psicolégica.

(LQue sabia élla de cuestiones de raza y de
luchas de civilizacidn y continentes?

No obstante, su fina perceptiva mental se
lo gritaba arcanamente.

Era un grito de tierra, un amcr ultradivino
por sus cosas, por la. madre naturaleza, por la
generosidad espléndida de su tr Opic o. . . . . "

Although he does it in a rather romantic,even naive manner,
Pareja presents Sarita as a type of natural beauty silently crying
to be rec0gnized. She is the incarnation of the masses of industrious

but backward montubios of her land, and she finally achieves

 

 

33. Schwartz, p. 221.
34. Pareja, La Senorita Ecuador, p. 14.

 

appreciation once her innate good qualities are allowed to come to

light, as the author would suggest that the Ecuadorian masses she

represents might also oneday achieve their proper recognition and

appreciation:

"Si triunfaba, seria un himno de gloria para
esa regiOn de su amada America que se llama Ecuador.

A America se la imaginaba como la amante para
todos los que no eran profanos a sus ideales: una
hermosa y fecunda mujer de caderas de anforas y
amplios pechos que invitaban a1 beso, a ese beso que
haria enloquecer de furor y de lucha a los hijos de la
Patria Grande.

Y su Ecuador era un trozo, un pedazo de carne,
de esa mujer. "

The above commentary is offered through the thoughts of

the male protagonist, Juan, Sara's compaign manager. As the

following fragment indicates, Juan is quite obviously the young

Pareja:

”El porvenir de América, de su América india,
1e obsesionaba. Adorador ciego de Jose Vasconcelos,
queria llegar a ser también un paladin de su raza.
Pero, por desgracia, sin talento para éllo y con malos
versos por armas, no podria llegar jamas.

Desde muy joven sintiO la inquietud de subir. . .
Era entonces case nifio. Escribir, defender a1
humilde, a su pueblo, a sus "cholos, " eran sus mas
fuertes anhelos. . . . . . Un convenc1miento profundo
de su sangre le decia que 61 era como ellos: nacido
entre los campos costenos enlazados por los encajes.
purisimos de sus mares, entre el pescador y el
vaquero, entre huertas de cacao y selvas seculares
de esplendor esmeralda. . . . . .

ICémo amaba a su tierral Su tierra, su alma
mejor dicho, constitui’ la ilusion i e1 cariiio‘ mas
sagrado de su Vida. " i

‘

In addition to being a Inoving and accurate seifq—portrait, the

a.

above paragraphs show open evidence of the mighty influence

 

35.
36.

Pareja, La Sefiorita Ecuador, p. 57.
Pareja, La Senorita Ecuador, p. 18.

 

 

Vasconcelos had exercised on the young Latin-American men of
letters after the turn of the century. A while later in the novel we
witness the very obvious effect of Vasconcelos' idea of the "fifth
race" on our young novelists:
”El mestizaje grandioso, i’inico en la historia,
pero imperfecto que entre espanoles e indios--dos
razas etnicamente opuestas-- se efectuara, completariase
a1 fin con una ola de inmigracién total.
Entonces America, madre para todos los huérfanos,
engendaria a1 hombre maximo, a1 hombre hecho de sol y
espuma, de viento y de selvas calientes, de volcanes
gigantes y de llanuras limpias como un plato de luz, de 37
supremo gesto de Vida y de pureza astral de aurora. . . . "
The influence of Jose Vasconcelos on the young Pareja is
indisputable, but there appears to be an additional influence,
although not so blatant, of another great Spanish-American thinker
and essayist, the Uruguayan Jose Enrique Rod-5. We have no
concrete evidence in the novel that Rodd had exercised a direct
influence on Alfredo Pareja, but at times elements appear which
are indicative of at least a spiritual affinity with the masterful
author of Ariel. The following paragraph, critical of the United
States and its alleged decadence of esthetic values, might point
out a link between the theories of the Mexican and the Uruguayan:
"Los yanquis se reian. . . . . Bien. Que siguieran
riéndose, con la risa del ignorante y del estfipido, que
negocia con almas, con mujeres, con vicios, ante la
elevacién espiritual de razas y de hombres. . . . . . . “3

The attitudes expressed here which are so critical of the

United States are filled with the idealism of the vanguard of the

 

37. Pareja, La Senorita Ecuador, p. 128.
38. Pareja, " " " , p. 43.

 

Latin-American youth of the first decades of the century, an idealism

which mmolded to a great extent by Vasconcelos and Rodd. Nonethe-

less, in Pareja's case it is an inexperienced and still untravelled

youth, who had not yet made that first important trip to New York.

The criticism of the United States that he voices here was probably

so similar to that voiced by his contemporaries that it may well have

had the ring of a cliche. As we shall observe, Pareja's later novels

offer a considerably more objective and constructive form of criticism.
A detailed account of the action of this little novel would hardly

be worth our while here, for La Senorita Ecuador is of little value to

 

us other than as an instrument with which we may gain insight into
the author's develOpment as a novelist. We may View the work as
representative of Pareja's artistic childhood. Nonetheless, in the
words of Adolfo Simmonds:

"Alfredo Pareja y Diez-Canseco tiene madera
de novelista. Su facil concepciOn, e1 movimiento
preciso de sus personajes, la ensambladura de los
elementos argumentales, y, sobre todo ello, e1
sentido de Vida nueva, extravertida, captadora que
alienta en su producciOn, ponen en sus manos un
oro de porvenir. aPodra manana realizar la gestaciOn
perfecta? No somos capaces de hacer vaticinios. Pero
Si podemos acreditarfique él es una esperanza, una
legitima esperanza. "57

N'a IJ. «I;
My. «9. ’1‘.

Some critics would like to View Rio Arriba as the landmark

 

indicating the beginning of our author's novelistic maturity. Although
it is clearly a notch or two on the arbitrary ladder of values above

his first two novels, it is still several notches below El Muelle and

 

39. Simmonds, p. IX.

the novels following that one. Rio Arriba is really a work of artistic

 

adolescence. It represents the point at which Pareja's novelistic
evolution reaches puberty, but not manhood.

Rio Arriba is a much more intense novel than the one

 

preceeding it. It was published after the author had returned from
New York. In that it indicates a point of view less concerned with
retelling the author's subjective impression and Opinions than does

La Senorita Ecuador, it is a more mature novel. We will have to

 

wait two more years (until 1933), however, for the appearance of

El Muelle before we actually see concrete evidence of the impact

 

that Pareja's stay in New York had worked on him. Rio Arriba is

 

an early attempt at writing a. psycholOgical novel; the setting for
the action is in the minds of the characters, and geographical
location is of relative insignificance (in this case all of the action
transpires in Guayaquil). There is little doubt, however, that
Guayaquil and the river did lend impetus to Pareja's writing the
novel. When José de la Cuadra discusses our author's early
writings he explains Pareja's obsession with water and wanderlust
in the following manner:

"Pareja. . . era casi un muchacho cuando se dic’)
cuenta de que Guayaquil es tan chiquito que se recorre
de punta a punta en media hora de tranvia, y el Guayas
tan angosto que se cruza en media hora de vapor.
Entonces, empezé a sentir el ahogo de los limites. A
sentirse inc6modo. Ganoso de rutas y horizontes.

Este rio nuestro 1e indicaba la direcciOn.

Y Pareja la siguic’): rio abajo . . . .

’ Iba haciendo su aventura, saboreandola como
la hacia.

Estuvo en Nueva York. . . .

10

A113, en las calles neoyorquinas. . . la vida no
se dejaba vivir. Peleaba contra el hombre. For 10
general, ganaba la pelea. . . .

La lucha se volvia infructuosa. a For qué?
éPara qué?

Sus anhelos profundos eran otros que habitar
en la capitalidad mercantil del orbe. De haber
perseverado Pareja en el combate cuerpo a cuerpo
que libraba en Nueva York contra la vida, habria
quizas conseguido e1 triunfo de no regresar, 0 sea,
de enraizar en la tierra ex6tica.

Pero su ambiciOn no se compadecia con eso.

Y emprendiO la vuelta.

Cuando trepaba por el Guayas con rumbo a la
ciudad natal, encontré e1 titulo de su pr-Oximo libro:
'Rio Arriba'. Ya esta. Se 10 escribe. Se 10 publica.
Se 10 vende. "

De la Cuadra goes on to suggest that after publishing Rio
Arriba Pareja still had not quite found himself as a novelist. The
preoccupation with the psycholOgy of the abnormal, with sex, and
with Freud so obvious in his third novel was not really his forté;*
his final destination would entail. a much broader view of the world,
which would encompass both regional and universal elements in
his novels.

If we remove the abundant philOSOphical discussions from
the novel we are left with a plot that: is quite simple: Bernardo
Acufia, an extremely sensitive student, has a friend, Luis
Barrezueta, who is neurotic: and emotionally unstable:

". . . mi ami o era un degenerado alcohOlic-o, enfermo

de melancolia progresiva, un inadaptado. El estigma
. . 1' ..
hereditario habiase manifestado de repente, a causa

 

*Pareja's later novels do show a good deal of excellent psychological
study of characters, but not done with roots among the Freudian
psychologists and the writers of the naturalistic school, as is the

case with Rio Arriba.
40. De la Cuadra, pp. 57-59.

 

11

- . . 4
del crlmen que Luis cometiera. Este caso de melancolia
era complejo i digno de estudio: Luis, e1 mas alegre,
ironico, elocuente, festivo, saturado de una intensa

. . 4“ l
robustez de Vida, sufria un ataque de melancolia aguda,
I a , a
que era, despues de todo, la cualidad d1ferenc1al de su
caracter. Su anterior forma de vida pudo ser mui bien
. . / i .
un periodo histérlco o erotomano. Recordé que de mui
joven padecié un reumatismo articular bastante fuerte,
lleno de complicaciones cardiacas, localizadas en
a o o u ’ u ’ .
1nsuf1c1enc1a aortica. Paso esta enfermedad 1 luego
. I . . .
volv1o a ser el mismo de Siempre: alegre, mui alegre.
Mas ahora comenzaba e1 periodo de crisis. Mui pronto
su dolencia iba a manifestarse en aguda depresic’m mental,
caracterizandose una melancolia estupurosa. "

Pareja's description of Luis clearly shows the young novelist's
concern with abnormal psychology and heredity. Less than one -fourth
of the way through the novel we are already aware that Luis is pre-
destined to a tragic end, which is a technique commonly employed by
the naturalists.

Bernardo meets a girl, Carmela Nufiez, who turns out to be
of no great importance to him. Carmela, however, has a cousin,
Petra, to whom Bernardo introduces his friend. Luis and Petra
fall violently and passionately in love. Once their love affair has
passed the proverbial point of no return, Petra's mother, Doiia
Laura Villegas, agonizingly informs Luis that Petra is his half-
sister:

"-— iOhi INol 31250 1101 Usted no se casara

nunca con éllal No se casare’i porque se lo voi a decir

todo. Escuche, dijo con una voz temblorosa que

amenazaba llanto.

--Pregunte usted a su padre por Laura Villegas.

Si, e1 puede contarselo mejor que yo. Hace muchos

anos. é, Comprende usted? Ya e1 estaba casado. . .

Lo conoci. Yo era mui pobre. . . Después. . .
Comprende usted lo que paso despues?

 

41. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, Rio Arriba (Guayaquil.
Talleres Graficos, 1931), p. 69.

 

12
-- INo, senora, no entiendo, no puedo entenderl
-- Algun tiempo después nacio Petra. "4
By presenting a tragic situation for which the society at
large is to a great extent responsible, Pareja touches on a theme
of monumental importance to Latin America. As suggested by
Kessel Schwartz, however:
". . . Pareja discusses the problem of illegitimacy,
but his theme, especially in the love between sister
and brother, recalls Aves sin nido, and hardly
resembles a contemporary problem. Pareja's

idealism and love forj'ust’ice triumph over his
artistic talents here. "

 

Nonetheless, what is of greatest concern to us at this point
is not so much how well Pareja exploits a theme of hemispherical
impu'tance as is the mere fact that at the age of 22 (he finished the
novel in July) he was aware of such problems. Although in an
admittedly melodramatic manner, he does present a theme which
could easily be paralleled in real life.

The novel ends with Luis committing suicide, Petra learning
that she is pregnant and leaving the city, and Bernardo going insane
at the loss of his friend and the inability to accept the tragedy of the
situation. In the course of his insanity Bernardo does not wash,
shave, or cut his fingernails for a month (a rather ”stock” picture
of a madman) and develops a love -hate ambivalence toward Petra,
first wanting to make love to her and then desiring to kill her. By
the end of the last chapter Bernardo is in a state of complete madness,

travelling up the river in search of Petra, until unconsciousness

 

—— . fi-r

42. Pareja, Rio Arriba, p. 139.
43. Schwartz, p. 221.

 

13

finally overcomes him and in an unlikely manner he dies:

"Después ya no sentf dolor. Lo finico era
una sensacion enorme de ligereza, de abandono.
Iba haciéndome cosmico. Tuve un momento de
absoluta plenitud. Grande i multiple, uno, uno.

La belleza del cosmos entraba en los misterios
de mi psiquis.

5610 pude ver hacia adentro. Note que me
nacieron alas. Note’ que algo mio hacia un esfuerzo
por desatarse de otro algo.

El color negro se perdio. Pero no vino otro.
No hubo colores. Dejé de sentir fri'o; dejé de tener
sensaciones.

Me habia quedado muerto, profundamente
muerto. "44

We can plainly see that young Alfredo Palreja's interest in
psychology at this point did not match his artistic ability. None-

theless, Rio Arriba does indicate a sincere attempt on the part of

 

the young artist at delving into the human mind, 9understanding
what he sees, and relaying his finding to the printed page. The
diamond is there, but it is still in its rough and unpolished state.

Although not so indiscriminately as in La Sefiorita Ecuador,

 

we do see the author's own subjective opinions expressed through

the male protagonist of Rio Arriba. The following thoughts of

 

Bernardo show what the young Pareja might do if he were in
command of world politics:

". . . Yo. . . remediaria la crisis universal. Jalaria
a Hoover las orejas por malcriado, le afeitaria los
bigotes a Briand, le haria un carihito a Mc Donald
1 meterfa en un calabozo a Mussolini i a Hittler,
mancornados I desnudos, untandoles miel en el
cuerpo para que se los comieran las hormigas. A
Gomez de Venezuela no le permitir‘i‘a hablar sino en
quechua; a Ibafiez de Chile le obligarfa a hablar,

 

44. Pareja, Rio Arriba, pp. 289-90.

 

14

andar, comer, hacer sus necesidades sobre un caballo,

sin poder desmontarse jamas; a Olaya Herrera lo

dejaria en su puesto; i 1e prohibiria a Vasconcelos que

se volviera a meter en politica, fabricandole un palacio

de cristal i de oro, con una tribuna hecha de piedras

preciosas, desde la cual podri‘a hablar a los americanos,

i en cuya mansion se dedicar'ia al estudio, al trabajo

intelectual. Haria que Gandhi triunfase, pero antes 1e

pondria encima una corona de espinas i una cruz. "

While the above paragraph gives evidence of Pareja's early
awareness of history and world events, coupled with an idealistic
sense of justice, it also indicates the major defect of this early
novel-wan overabundance of philosophical and political digressions.
However, the combination of these elements, still youthfully
subjective here, will gradually become refined in his novels until
it reaches the stage of objectivity and intellectual sophistication
that we find characteristic in his last novels, especially in the

Los Nuevos Afios series.

All in all, Rio Arriba is not a “bad” novel. Nor is it a

 

“good"novel. It is an unsophisticated novel, or as we affirmed
earlier, it is a novel of artistic adolescence. While Alfredo
Pareja's first two novels were completely subjective, regional,

and combative, Rio Arriba does reach toward the transcendental,

 

albeit through a haze of ornamental rhetoric. The next two years,
however, find our young author making the transition from the
world of a university student to that of a teacher (1931 -33). Those
two years must have given our emerging novelist time for a good
deal of reflection, for upon their completion Pareja wrote the novel
that was to completely eclipse his earlier efforts, and in terms of

popularity, many of his later ones-"El Muelle.

 

45. Pareja, Rio Arriba, pp. 189-90.

CHAPTER II

NOVELISTIC COMING OF AGE
THE MARITIME CHOLO

While in Alfredo Pareja's first relatively successful novel

La Senorita Ecuadorjwe are clearly shown his interest in his cholos,

 

the novel accomplishes little more than merely making us aware of
that interest. The author's view of the cholo in that novel is for
the most part a youthfully romantic one, and says relatively little
of those aspects of his living conditions which are not on the
picturesque side.

Although Rio Arriba, appearing after Pareja's first trip to

 

New York, does show more artistic maturity than is evident in La

Sefiorita Ecuador, we still have no conrete indication as to whether

 

the author's trip significantly increased his perspective of the world
or whether the process of merely living for another year or so
brought about the additional maturity in a natural manner. In _13_‘i_c_>_
Arriba the author is much concerned with problems of the mind
perhaps the after-effect of a catharsis manifested by his leaving

his homeland, struggling for a living in a not entirely friendly
environment, then returning home somewhat disillusioned. There
is little room in the novel rooted in abnormal psychology for a
penetrating look at society and a defending of the rights of the
downtrodden.

In the four years between the publication of Rio Arriba (1931)

 

ElVMuelle (1933), and La Beldaca (1935), however, Alfredo Pareja

 

 

15

16

Diezcanseco passes from novelistic adolescence to full manhood.
Now we are clearly able to see the tremendous effect that Pareja's
broadening of his horizons in New York had upon him. We now see
not just an increase in maturity, but a maturity perhaps ahead of
its normal chronological order and based upon eye -witness
experience so dramatic that it must be expressed in a strong and
crystal voice. No longer do we witness a mere youthfully nostalgic
interest in the picturesque aspects of the cholo, but a sincere and
conscientious concern for his sorry manner of living.

The nearly inaudible detonations produced by Alfredo
Pareja's first novels were totally overshadowed by the literary

explosion brought about by El Muelle. The critics received this

 

novel with remarkable enthusiasm. Fernando Diez de Medina

suggests that after he reviewed E1 Muelle “America ya tiene

 

novelistas: Eustacio Rivera, Romulo Gallegos, Ricardo Giiiraldes,
Pareja y Diez Canseco. "46 Benjamin Carrion affirms that if José
Eustacio Rivera gave us the novel of the tropical forest, with its
heat, dangers, and suffering indians, and diseases, Pareja ”nos
hace hoy 1a novela del tropico mestizo, del trcipico litoral, espirante
a mala vida urbana, con luz eléctrica, burdeles y periodicos. "

Luis Alberto Sanchez feels that the novels immediately following

E1 Muelle and La Beldaca are not of the esthetic quality of those

 

 

 

vv—v ,—

46. Fernando Diez de Medina, “Tres Libros de América--
El Muelle, " Atenea, XXVIII (1934), p. 38.

47. Benjamin Carrion, in Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco,
El Muelle (Mexico: Fondo de la Cultura Economica, 1945), p. 7.

 

17

two, 48 and Angel F. Rojas refers to El Muelle as being "acaso su

49

mejor novela. "

Indeed, E1 Muelle's enthusiastic reception is not an unwarranted

 

one. The author offers us a parallel between the poor man's lot in
Guayaquil and in New York that holds our interest even today. He
presents us with a view of characters in the ruling and in the working
classes that is accurate, objective, and not tainted by rabid dogmatism,
while he still accomplishes his goals of seeking social change. As
stated by Kessel Schwartz:
"E1 Muelle. . . is the first novel in which
without denying his social consciousness, he makes

it an important element of rather than a substitute
for his art. "50

 

By offering the settings for the novel in two urban centers
which are greatly dissimilar (New York and Guayaquil), yet showing
that the societies contained by them affect pe0ple in a like manner,
Pareja approaches the universality which the Spanish American

novel has been able to boast only sporadically. El Muelle may not

 

be a novel of universal significance in the manner of the novels of
Thomas Mann, but it certainly does have hemispheric meaning.
The problems brought to light in this novel are applicable to nearly
all of the Americas. The characters portrayed think and act in a
fashion that is indigenous principally to that area between the Rio

Grande and Tierra del Fuego.

 

48. Luis Alberto sanchez, Proceso y Contenido de la Novela
Hispano-Americana(Madrid: Gredos, 1953), p. 267.

49. Angel F. Rojas, La Novela Ecuatoriana (Mexico: Fondo de
la Cultura Econémica, 1948), p. 194.

50. Schwartz, p. 221.

 

 

 

18

The story opens in New York. Here we find Juan Hidrovo,
an adventurous, hard-working, but not especially intelligent
Ecuadorian cholo. Juan is an appealing young man who carries
the flavor of his land in his semblance:

”Juan Hidrovo no era un sujeto feo ni mucho

menos. Buena estatura, las espaldas anchas y,

aunque las manos estaban endurecidas por el trabajo,

eran largas y bien formadas. El cabello 1e caia

ensortijado sobre las orejas, y unas amplias entradas

en la frente daban a1 rostro aspecto varonil y atrayente.

Los ojos, negrisimos, y alba 1a dentadura. En su cara

morena sobresal‘ian los p6mulos y la nariz aguilefia. Su

labio inferior, algo cai‘do y grueso, decia de su temperamento

sensual, y el otro, nervioso y delgado, era como una linea--
expresion de voluntadu-qigc-i se arrugaba en cuanto e1 enojo
haciale brillar los ojos. "

Juan's physical appearance may make him a prototype of
his race. His dark, handsome complexion, his aquiline nose, and
generally masculine bearing are well in keeping with the portrait of
the mestizo.

Juan is principally a sailor in the novel, but he also performs
tasks ranging from working on the docks to gathering cacao in his
homeland. It is while doing the latter that he meets Maria del
Socorro Ibafiez, an attractive and simple girl from Guayaquil just
barely reaching womanhood. As Juan may appear the model of an
Ecuadorian coastal mestizo, Maria del Socorro is the picture of a
chola:

“Maria del Socorro Ibanez era una mujer bajita.

Maria del Socorro er morena, pajiza la cara, lustroso

y negro e1 cabello, con su peineta a1 comienzo de la

trenza y su lacito blanco en la punta que se movi'a al
andar de un lado a otro. No parecfan muy grandes los

 

51. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, E1 Muelle (México: Fondo
de la Cultura Econ6mica, 1945), p. 34.

 

19

ojos: negros, si, muy negros, y las pupilas dilatadas

de tanto mirar e1 sol. Las ojeras si que eran grandes,

unas hermosas ojeras amoratadas. Los labios de

Maria del Socorro no llamaban nunca 1a atenci6n:

gordezuelos, ni corcortos ni largos, no tan rojos y

sin otra expresion que la expresion de todas las bocas.

Lo que menos gustaba de ella, su nariz, se achataba

aplastando a los lados las ventanas. Después de todo,

no era una nariz muy fea.

En Maria del Socorro Ibafiez se admiraban tres
cosas bonitas: las orejas diminutas, perfectas, las

piernas y los pechos redondos. "

The proud masculinity of Juan and the combined simplicity
and sensuality of Maria del Socorro do seem representative of the
Ecuadorian coastal mestizo, or for that matter, of practically any
mestizo, and the hardships they endure do demand justice for their
entire race. Nonetheless, neither Juan nor Maria are prototypes.
In this first great novel of Pareja's he has managed to give his
characters levels of significance that allows us to appreciate them
not only as representatives of their race and their social class,
but also as carefully drawn and believable human beings.

Maria del Socorro was an illegitimate child, and she never
knew who her father was. Since her mother died when she was very
young, she was raised by her Tia Jacinta. When Maria del Socorro
grew old enough to work Tia Jacinta manages to get her employed
where she herself works, in the upper class household of Dofia
Florencia. Although Dona Florencia at times pulls her hair, pinches,
and cuffs Maria while shouting orders at her, Pareja does not paint

the high born lady in an entirely unfavorable light, thus showing us

his ever present objectivity. When Juan takes Maria del Socorro

 

52. Pareja, El Muelle, p. 41.

 

20

away from Dona Florencia's household, the lady shows genuine
and sincere concern for Maria del Socorro's future, and offers
her heartfelt good wishes.

Due to a lack of money and of knowledge of cutting red tape,
Juan and Maria del Socorro never do officially marry. Their life
is far too simple to worry about the social stigma of a common-
law marriage, however, and their first days together are nearly
idyllic. Maria del Socorro does not work and looks after their
humble dwelling while Juan works and brings home the provisions
quite regularly, with the exception of an occasional drinking bout
with "the boys" on payday. They take long walks together, dream
of a happy future, and seem literally to live on love. The author's
construction of the young married couple is done in such a way that
the story is by no means limited to Ecuador, and it may indeed be
applied to simple people in love anywhere.

Suddenly, the couple's idyllic world becomes one of grim
reality. A mysterious cacao blight ruins the cr0p, and Juan is
left with all of his co-workers in the streets without work.
Frustrated at his inability to earn a living, he quite understandably
becomes irritable and is at times cross with Maria del Socorro.
The girl bravely goes to work again, but the pittance she earns as
a cook hardly suffices for the two of them. In desperation, Juan
takes a position on a steamship which carries him first all along
the coast of the Pacific down to Valparaiso, and finally leaves him

in New York.

21

Under the impression that he would find a vertiable "land of
milk and honey" in New York, Juan is sadly disillusioned. He has
arrived just in time for the Great Depression. Even the occasional
five-dollar bill he was sending Maria del Socorro from his earnings
as a sailor must cease. Barely able to eke out an existence from
an occasional bit of work that comes his way, he joins a group of
Latin-American workers who stage a demonstration in front of
City Hall to protest job discrimination against them, which results
in their lack of the Opportunity of earning a living. His good friend
from Venezuela, Claudio Barrera, is brutally killed by the local
police during the melée resulting from the demonstration.

Juan's final hope lies in "el Tio, " a picturesque, pipe-smoking,
seagoing, and discretely wealthy character. El Tio acts as the
champion for the rights of the Latin-American workers, and is a
key organizer in the abortive demonstration. El Ti‘o's main source
of income, however, comes from smuggling. Through him, Juan
joins a small band of liquor smugglers and is able to earn a sizeable
amount of money in one night. Nonetheless, el Tio is deported due
to his role in the worker's demonstration, which was supported
actively by the local communist party, and Juan has no recourse
but to use his last dollars to buy his way into the crew of a ship
heading for Ecuador. Life has been so difficult for him in New York
that he forgets his original reasons for leaving his homeland.

While Juan is in New York, Maria del Socorro is enduring
her own share of hardships. Her Tia Jacinta becomes ill, and the

girl leaves her job to care for her, totally exhausting the savings

22

that she and Juan were building in order one day to open a small
business. With her Tia Jacinta's improvement, Maria del Socorro
finds work as a laundress for the Marino family.

At this point the author introduces us to the third principal
character of the novel, this time a prime representative of the upper
classes, Angel Marifio. The son of a landholder, we see Angel as
an ego-centered and somewhat sadistic youth:

". . . cuando cumplio el nino los diez afios, lo 11ev6

a una de la haciendas con el objeto de hacerle tomar

e1 gusto a las huertas. Pero el nifio Angel se

aburria en la hacienda y odiaba e1 cacao y el sol.

Entreteniase, eso si, riéndose de los peones, y

palmoteaba con entusiasmo cuando su padre derribaba

a alguno de un pufietazo o hacia flagelar a otro 0 meter

a la barra al fulano que habiase descuidado en la

vigilancia de los tendales de cacao o resultaba
c6mplice del hurto de un quintal de la preciosa

pepa.”53

Although this charicature of an excessively indulged member
of the upper class may not be entirely objective, Pareja does insert
a wry note of humor that seems to soften the innate bestiality of
the young Marifio, who almost seems to be a likeable little sadist.

Refusing to become the landholder that his father wanted
him to be or the cosmopolitan diplomat of his mother's wishes,
Angel finds his delight in contracting for all types of construction
projects. By using inferior materials, not building strictly to
specifications, and giving "kickbacks” to certain officials, even
in municipal projects, such as a new dock for Guayaquil, he has

been able to amass a considerable fortune.

 

53. Pareja, El Muelle, p. 132..

23

Always very indulgent of his appetites, when Angel meets
Maria del Socorro he becomes fascinated by her physical attributes
and appears at her door under the pretense of paying her for his
laundry. With a candorous faith in human nature, Maria del
Socorro only with slight misgivings allows him to enter. Marifio
forces the trusting girl to commit adultery with him, and then
leaves her a few sucres. From then on the girl becomes his
steady plaything, rationalizing that Juan is probably enjoying
other women in the United States. Marifio descends to bringing
his business associates to Maria del Socorro, thus using her as
a tool of his trade, and the young woman practically becomes a
prostitute.

Upon Juan's return, however, Maria del Socorro returns
to his side; much to Marifio’s chagrin, she ceases all adulterous
activity as soon as she learns that Juan is returning to her.

Life for the young couple is now no less difficult than it
was before Juan became a sailor. Due to Angel's embitterment,
Maria del Socorro loses her job with his family. Work is every
bit as scarce in Ecuador now as it was earlier, and Juan is unable
to provide a steady income. Through the urging of one of his
friends, Pedro, Juan is strongly tempted to become a thief. Pedro
offers Juan some convincing arguments for turning to robbery.
Here we see the two of them talking after Pedro has exercised

his skill in an inn run by a woman from the mountains:

24

”--Le has hecho trampa a la serrana y te has robado

un maduro.

--IAdi6$1 Las cosas no son de su duefio sino del que

las necesita. Y con estos tiempos, hermano.

--Pobre longa.

--IQue pobre ni que longa! Mas pobres somos nosotros.
La serrana hace plata con su puesto. Ella tambien mete
uiia cuando puede, pero conmigo se vara, porque creci
mas rapido, aunque ella haya nacido antes que yo.

--Mal hecho, Pedro. Yo no 36 robar.

--Hermano, si eso no es robar: se llama finanza. Fijate
en los del gobierno: puros financistas no mas son, y nadie
les dice nada. Tanto que te quejas, y tfi llevaste la mejor
parte. “54

A short time later Pedro further affirms:

"--Miro Hidrovo -—respondi6 Pedro, con el acento ahora

rapido y enérgico--, dicen que robar es una falta, pero

cuando se hace por necesidad. . . Todos roban, menos los

pobres, que son los unicos que deberi‘an robar. Asi, gro

no creo que sea malo. Nos meten miedo iverdad?”5

Juan is unable to reconcile himself to a life of crime, however,
and resolves to struggle untile he finds steady employment. When
Mariho begins construction on the new dock, Juan manages to
become one of the laborers, and the outlook for him and Maria del
Socorro appears to brighten. Maria has become pregnant, and the
aspect of another mouth to feed while he is without work causes

Juan to exclaim:

"--é,Para que ha de mandar Dios los hijos si no
tenemos nada?“56

Not only does she become pregnant, but Maria del Socorro

also contracts tuberculosis. She goes to a physician, and in a

 

54. Pareja, El Muelle, p. 175.
55. Pareja, El Muelle, p. 188.
56. Pareja, E1 Muelle, p. 215.

 

 

 

25

statement laden with irony he tells her the following:

". . . Cuidate. No debes trabajar. Buena alimentacian

y reposo. Mucha carne, leche, huevos. Y un viajecito

a la sierra."57

Never in her entire life has Maria del Socorro been able
to realize even one part of the Doctor's well-intentioned suggestions.
Confident in his new job, however, Juan decides that the money he
earns will be devoted to the well -being of his wife and child, and
that Maria del Socorro will make her trip to the mountains. The
very next day they meet on the dock in order to go shopping for
some things for their coming child. When Maria del Socorro
arrives at the dock she comes across Angel Marino, who is
inspecting the work. Upon realizing that her husband is working
for him and still embittered over Maria’s rejection of him, he has
Juan fired on the spot. The novel ends on a pessimistic note,
with Maria del Socorro wishing to do nothing but escape from the
world which has become so excruciatingly intolerable:

". . . sintié un misterioso deseo de fugarse, de huir

de esa ciudad llena de maldiciones, de irse con su

marido y con su hijo a1 campo. a vivir con los

animales, araiiando la tierra, comiéndose la fruta

de los arboles y recogiendo e1 arroz de las vegas

abandonadas en la noche. . . Fué como un golpe el

recuerdo de su madre, que habia venido del campo,

de la tierra, . . . Si, tomar’ia de la mano a Hidrovo y

tendrian que correr y no regresar mas, nunca mas,

nunca mas. . . "

Thus we see that El Muelle is not only a social tragedy,

 

but also a very human tragedy. The hardships suffered by Juan

and Maria del Socorro are indeed due to the state of the society

 

57. Pareja, El Muelle, p. 219.
58. Pareja, El Muelle, p. 224.

 

 

26

in which they live, but we tend to pity them more as individuals
who are victims of a cruel turn of events than as mere pawns in
a capitalistic exploitation of the working classes. It is this very
element of what we may loosely call "good taste“ in the novel that
makes Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco stand out so sharply from his
contemporaries.

Neither Juan Hidrovo nor Maria del Socorro have an
educational or intellectual level that would permit them to discourse
believably on Marxist dogma, and the author never allows them to
do so. Nor do they stand as members of silent and suffering masses
who show us the ugly squalor of their way of life in order to evoke
our righteous indignation in their favor, as is often the case in the
work of another well-known Ecuadorian author, Jorge Icaza.
Alfredo Pareja champions the cause of the lower social strata
represented by Juan and Maria del Socorro by artfully telling us
their personal stories. Never does he sacrifice form for force;

yet when we finish El Muelie the socialistic goals of. the novel

 

are discreetly obvious. The characters remain foremost in our
minds not as instrumental “types, “ but as human beings who
deserve and receive our sympathy. We would like to see their
situation bettered not because they are members of an exploited
class brought brutally into focus, but because they are good pe0ple
whom we have come to know--we feel that they deserve a better

chance in life. As so aptly stated by Lilo Linke:

27

". . . Pareja feels that a forceful style does not require
machismo, . . . Even his villains, such as the ironicall
named 'Angel' Mariiio, remain human and credible. "5

 

It must be admitted, however, that the character of Angel
Marifio does fit to a large extent the picture of the prototype upper-
class villain of the Spanish-American novel of social change. None-
theless, even Marifio is presented objectively. We see Angel more
as an overgrown, self-indulgent child who gives poor treatment not
only to his social inferiors but also to his family and his business
associates.

In this novel Pareja touches on contemporary problems,
such as the need for birth control (see note 56) and the reasons
behind the growing urban crime rate (as shown through his treat-
ment of Pedro, notes 54 and 55). Jose A. Portuondo feels that
Pareja shows a contrast between the manner in which North and
South American workers react against unjust treatment on the part
of their superiors:

". . . Pareja. .ha realizado con 'El Muelle' una vigorosa

denuncia de la explotacion de los trabajadores. . . Y esto

. . . realizado con generoso sentido de universalidad. . . .

La obra muestra, en logrado paralelo, los dos aspectos

extremos de la explotacion burguesa en. . . Nueva York, y

en. . . Guayaquil. En la primera, e1 desempleo y el hambre

no pueden achacarse a un nombre propio individual.

Trituran las empresas, grandes personajes colectivos

que se apoyan en la autoridad venal, el sistema mismo,

en fin. En la ciudad iberoamericana, la autoridad sirve

a los intereses de un empresario que afin no alcanza la

categoria de los grandes explotadores capitalistas, punto

de transicién todavia entre e1 bodeguero y el gran senor

de las finanzas. La solucién es tambié‘n distinta. En la
gran ciudad capitalista los explotados reaccionan

 

59. Linke, p. 9.

28

organizandose, llevando a cabo acciones colectivas,
actos de masas. En la ciudad peque'fia de un estado
semicolonial, el explotado se rebela haciéndose
1adr6n.“60
The greatest universality achieved by the novel lies not
in the parallels drawn between two distinct urban centers, however,
but in the human construction of the characters who struggle to live

in those centers. Although it was written over thirty years ago,

El Muelle still holds a great deal of interest for today's reader.

 

In El Muelle we see not only the acute awareness of his

 

surroundings that was evident in his earlier novels, but also a
very successful weaving of what he has experienced and the .lesson
it holds into the telling of a good story. The scenes in New York
could not have been so vividly written had he himself not struggled
for a living there; he had already been struggling for many years
in Guayaquil. No longer do the author's own personality and Opinions
shine through the characters in his novels; now the characters have
their own individualities, and whatever the author tells us through
them really seems of their own origin. The haze of youthful
romanticism and amateur psychology is forever lifted from the
pages of his novels. As José de la Cuadra affirms:

“Pareja comienza a ser novelista con 'Rio

Arriba'. Con 'El Muglle' comienza a ser novelista
a1 modo de hoy dia. " 1

>3 >.<>§<

 

60. Jose A. Portuondo, ”Una Novela Ejemplar, " Letras de
Mexico (May 1, 1945), p. 68.
1. De la Cuadra, p. 61.

 

29

With the appearance of La Beldaca (1935) we see a

 

reaffirmation of Pareja's ability to inter-weave the keen perception

of his surroundings into the artful construction of a story and the

masterful creation of characters. In this novel we also see

definitive evidence of the author's awareness of and interest in

history, and his talen for constructing the characters and the

story of the novel within the framework of an historical perspective.
Although Kessel Schwartz believes that in La Beldaca “the

characters lack the stature of those of El Muelle"62, we must admit

 

that we are in diagreement with his affirmation. To the contrary,

the two main characters of La Beldaca, Jesus Parrales and Armando

 

Vélez, are given a careful construction beginning with childhood or
youth and going into old age; we do not find the characters in _E_Il
Muelle constructed that completely. While Jesus represents the
lower classes, Armando is representative of society's upper strata.
By creating this dualistic approach to the novel through two very
completely drawn characters we not only enjoy a very objective
view of their culture, but also one that peers down to the roots of
where changes might and should be made in that ailing society.

We are not suggesting, of course, that the characters of La Beldaca

 

are more or less human or believable than those of El Muelle.

 

They are merely more complete; by that virtue they are at least
equal in stature to those of the latter novel. Edmundo Ribadaneira

affirms that:

 

62. Schwartz, p. 222.

30

". . . Alfredo Pareja no ama ni odia a sus personajes
sino que los mira desde arriba. En ”La Beldaca",
Jesus Parrales, con su humanidad rustica y profunda-
mente significativa, es tan simpatico como Armando
Vélez, explotador y truhan, mala hierba del jardfn
familiar, en contraste con Alfonso Veléz, el hombre
bondadoso y respetable, para quien acumular fabulosas
fortunas no constituye motivo de maldad ni lo diferencia
en nada de sus semejantes desheredados. "

We might say that La Beldaca has all of the virtues of

 

El Muelle with the addition of a more SOphisticated plot and a more

 

acute historical awareness. We are by no means suggesting that

history does not play an important part in E1 Muelle. The Great

 

Depression (which also appears in La Beldaca) and the resulting

 

world economic crisis in that novel are historical facts that do
affect the destinies of the characters; on the other hand, the 1896
fire and entrance of Alfaro into Guayaquil affect the characters of

La Beldaca in a way that is more in keeping with their society.

 

These historical facts are part of the creation of twentieth century
Ecuador, and the novel is primarily concerned with an Ecuadorian
milieu.

La Beldaca raises its author several rungs on the ladder of

 

literary prestige. It was the first novel for which he himself did
not have to pay the cost of publication. The renowned house of
Ercilla, of Santiago de Chile {this was the period of Pareja's
political exile), honored the novel with its name. In addition,

La Beldaca has been offered in a French edition (1949), a Polish

 

63. Ribadaneira, p. 82.

31

edition (1951), and a second edition in Spanish {1954).

As is the case in all of his later works, Pareja writes
about life situations with which he has personally come into
contact:

". . . Alfredo Par eja knew both the people and the
landscape. For a time, as paymaster of the
Guayaquil-Salinas Railway, he had traveled every
week to the terminus on the beach. Nothing had
changed much since the turn of the century when
the action of La Beldaca takes place. "64

 

As we saw it in E1 Muelle, La Beldaca has a strong tie

 

with the sea, or in this case, with the coastal waters and the
. e f “I ., . .
r1ver Guayas. Benjamin Carrion believes that there is a kind
of mystical and sensual attraction between the sea and Alfredo
Pareja:*
“En la Beldaca, Alfredo Pareja, el hombre
litoral que movia sus figuras 'en el asfalto de la
- ; q t ’

c1udad caliente, hace su de:laracion de amor a1

mar. Su idilio ancestral y presente. Una especie

de homenaje filial, qalido, lleno de ternura. Sensual,

casi sexual. . . . . . "' 3

Most of the action of “La Beldaca, however, takes place in
the urban setting of Guayaquil or in the rural setting around the
area of Santa Elena. and Salinas. Angel F. Rojas affirms that
it is in La Beldaca "donde Par eja hace su primera y unica

,66

I
incursion por el campo. “

 

 

* In La Beldaca, the character of Jesus Parrales' feeling for
the sea, his ship, and hls land is somewhat reminiscent of the
mystic communication between the hero, the water, and the great
mangrove trees along the "costa montuvia“ in Don Goyg, another
novel by another eminent member of the "Grupo de Guayaquil"
during the same period, Demetrio Aguilera Malta.

64. Linke, p. 10.

65. B. Carrion, El Nuevo RelatoEcuatoriano, p. 184.

66. Rojas, pp. 1:94-95.

 

 

32

The opening chapter of La Beldaca sets its stage in the
birthplace of one of the principal characters, Jesus Parrales.
We are in the countryside along the coast, in Santa Elena. The
very first paragraph shows us the author's feeling for and
consciousness of the sea:

“El mar no tiene akin coloracion celeste.

Parece, a veces, tenuemente dorado, tenuemente

gris, tenuemente negro. Arriba, en el cielo, se

ha abierto una hendidura. Poco a poco, se alarga.

Luego, se redondea a los lados. Es ya ovalada.

Es un plato de luz esa hendidura. No hay mas

ruidos que el del agi-ia, sin colores precisos, que

choca impaciente contra algo, algo que puede ser

una piedra. Sobre la arena, es leve el mar, tan

leve que apenas se siente un susurrar de bronce,

un largo chasquido de lengua. "07

The scene is of daybreak along the coast. Jesus Parrales
and the other cholos who work his ship (La Beldaca) with him make
their way through the colorful countryside to the sea, where they
enter their craft and cast. off. Jesus is already an old man when
we first meet him. He is still firm and strong for his nearly
seven decades, but blows of misfortune have left an air of sadness
about him. His unmarried daughter, Juanita, is giving birth.

After setting a mocd combining local color with pessimism,
Pareja employs a relatively modern technique to fill us in on the
remainder of the story--the flashback. We go back some sixty
years to the time of Jesus' infancy, and from there the action

continues nearly until the end of the novel, when the author blends

the remainder of the story With the original point of departure.

 

67. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, La Beldaca (Quito: Casa
de la Cultura Ecuadoriana, 1954), p. 7.

 

33

We learn that Jesus is the son of an interesting coastal
woman, Tomasa, and an old cholo, Cipriano Parrales. The
charicature of Tomasa is another one of Pareja's well-constructed
female characters, full of simplicity and human feeling. Cipriano
Parrales passes by only briefly, for he is forced to die of starvation
in prison, because the salt mine he was guarding was robbed one
night, and he had. to suffer the loss through being unjustly punished,
quite early in the novel.

Our introduction to Jesus Parrales as a small child shows
the vividness with which Pareja describes the poverty of his early
life:

“Un nino desnudo anda a gatas. Es en el corral.

E1 corral. es sucio. Hay comida de puercos e inmundicias

de chivos, y el agua turbia que la n‘iujer echa por la

puerta de la covac-ha. Pero e1 nino se arrastra por

sobre todo eso. El. niho es agil. Los mfisculos de su

cara prieta se ajustan. Parece un pito su boca. La

boca es dirninufta y le brillan los ojos.

-. I a‘ . .
A1 1111 llega adonde esta la chiva parada, Junto

a la canas del corral. La chiva lo ha visto venir y ha

abierto sus patas traseras. El nino se mete debajo de

las patas. Dulcemente el animal se acuesta de lado.

Con sus manitas morenas, el nino ha cogido la teta, y

asi, sucia defitierra y getter-col, la lleva con avidez

a su boca.. " 5

Tomasa, a hardaworking and sensual woman, does all that
she can to give her son an opportunity to earn a living. She and
the local water-seller, Don Ciro, have an agreeable understanding.

In spite of having a family of his own, Don Cer acts as an adopted

father for Jesus, and Tomasa rewards him with the favors that

 

68. Pareja, La Beldaca, p. 26.

 

34

would have been directed to her absent husband. Don Ciro takes
Jesus with him to the sea, and the boy falls in love with the water
and the little sloops--las balandras--that are common in that
area. From then on his greatest desire is to own or at least
pilot one of the little ships. For him, to be a balandrero is to
live.

Don Ciro assumes the responsibility of arranging Jesus'
baptismal. The author shows us that in terms of economics a
baptismal is no small thing for the poor cholos. Here we see a
scene almost humorously critical of the provincial clergy, in
which the local priest extracts the baptismal fee from Don Ciro:

"--No tengo plata, Padrecito.

--Idiota, bellaco. Pues, entonces, no hay bautizo.

IQué vamos a hacer! Hay que ayudar a la Iglesia:

Dios lo manda. Largate. Por tu culpa se quedara

moro ese muchacho y se ira ail infierno por ti, ffjate
bien. Largate.

--Pero es que tengo gallinas, Padrecito. . .

--Aja. Eso ya es otra cosa. Cuantas me das?

--Le dare tres, padrecito.

-- éQué cosa? gTres'. c'. Est’as loco? Por nada. . .
Siquiera dame seis gallinas y una docena de huevos.
--Le dare cuatro, Padrecito.

--Seis y los huevos.

--Es que no tengo muchas, Padrecito.

-- iSeis y los huevosl Ni una palabra mas. é. Entiendes?
Y si no, puedes mandarte a cambiar con la musica a
otra parte.

--Bueno, pues, Padrecito. Le doy las seis y los
huevos. 69
--Aja. Ya sabia yo que tu eras un buen cristiano. . . . "

Jesus does get his baptismal, and after the ceremony the
priest imbibes with his parishioners to the point of imbalance. The

priest obviously represents a corrupt segment of society, but the

 

69. Pareja, La Beldaca, p. 47.

 

35

humor with which the author treats him makes us critical of only
him, and not the religion that he represents.

The scene of the baptismal party is demonstrative of the
unique moral values held by the poor people of the countryside.
An event that is taking place for supposedly religious reasons
turns into a veritable orgy after the priest has left and more
liquor is consumed:

"Don Ciro canta y toca e1 alza que te han

visto. * Es mas atolondrado afin este baile. Pero

los invitados no se cansan de bailar ni don Ciro de

tocar la guitarra.

Al fin, muy tarde, cuando 1a fatiga los vence,

se apagan las llamas de los candiles. El pollino

rebuzna debajo de la casa. Cada hombre agarra a

una mujer. . . Don Ciro ha encontrado entre las

sombras a na Tomasa, y se acuesta con ella en un

rincon. Candelaria se va a1 corral con su cufiado.

Nadie dice nada. Es la costumbre cuando se esta

borracho. Alguno, completamente ebrio, se lleva

a su propia hermana. Acaso un hombre pega78 su

hembra, por gusto, por hacerla sentir. . . . "

Truly, the above scene is indicative of a society in which
the poor are so culturally deprived that they can not afford the
moral values and practices which we assume their society would
condone. Rarely, however, does Pareja paint a scene with more
scatalogical content than the one cited above. Even the above
scene is detachedly objective, and certainly contains none of the
detailed, nearly nauseating, descriptions that we have come to
expect as commonplace in the modern Latin American novel of
social reform.

When he reaches his early teens, Jesus finds employment

in the provincial town of Chipipe, with the family of Don Rodolfo

 

70. Pareja, La Beldaca, p. 54.
* The "alza que te han visto" is the title of a popular Ecuadorian
song. Constant repetition has caused it to become a part of the

1--“1 1n_~--n “A

 

36

Gomez. The Gomez family teaches the young cholo the ways of
cultured city life:

"También a Jesus hubo que civilizarlo. Le
prohibieron muchas veces que tratase de tfi a los
nifios. Le ensenaron repetidamente el nombre de
los muebles. Le indicaron el uso del verbo abrir
y de otros. Pero como Jesfis no era bruto, aprendi5
ligero. Don Rodolfo 1e enseno a contar. El nifio
Augusto se hizo su amigo y con e1 aprendi6 Jesus
sus primeras letras. Pudo, muy pronto, firmar
su nombre. . . . "

Jesus meets his first love in the Gomez household--the
cholita servant-girl, Vicenta Agapita. Vicenta, who has already
learned to make love from Augusto, the worldly-wise eldest son,
teaches Jesus her newly acquired art. When Vicenta becomes
pregnant by Augusto, Jesus believes that the responsibility for
her condition lies solely with him,until he sees her visiting
Augusto's room late one night. Upon learning of Vicenta's
state, the Gomez family blames Jesus and dismisses them both
to go their separate ways.

The most logical direction for Jesus to take is toward the
sea. His fascination for the little balandras has continued to
grow during his years with the Gomez family:

"A Jesus Parrales 1e gusta su mar y su playa,

su pesca y su chola Vicenta Agapita. Pero hace

mucho tiempo que a Jesus Parrales 1e ha nacido otro

amor: el amor adoracion por la balandra. Un amor

que lo impulsa hacia el encanto de lo que no se conoce,

que lo invita a caminar. . Cuando pasea por la playa y

esta solo, se queda largos ratos inm6vil mirando las

balandras, el ancla que se trepa como un cangrejo por

el costado de proa, e1 humo sabroso que sale de la

cocina, las velas que se desenvuelven blancas para
robar el viento. "

 

71. Pareja, La Beldaca, p. 79.
72. Pareja, " " , p. 88.

 

37

It is hardly unlikely that Jesus' maritime wanderlust is
much the same as that felt so often by his creator during his
younger years.

Upon leaving the Gomez household Jesus convinces Don
Asuncion, a wise old riverboat pilot, to take him on as an
apprentice sailor. The craft Don Asuncion commands is a
balandra called La Beldaca.

La Beldaca belongs to Don Alfonso Vélez, who runs a
successful salt-shipping business on the Guayaquil river. The
son of a hardworking immigrant from Colombia who built a
sizeable fortune and married into an aristocratic family, Don
Alfonso retains his industriousness of his father and the culture
of his mother. He, too, has married a girl from an upper-class
family, Laura. The total picture of Don Alfonso is one of an
industrious and good-hearted businessman, who finds finances
more interesting than family. Having successfully ventured into
the business world himself, Pareja is rather well-equipped to
give accurate charicatures of businessmen.

One day Don Alfonso and Dofia Laura receive a letter from
a nephew they have never seen, Armando. Coming from a “poor
but honorable" branch of Alfonso's family, Armando wishes to
travel to Guayaquil to work at the side of his uncle. Being childless
and good-natured, Alfonso and Laura receive him with open arms.

Armando is a handsome and shrewd youth in mid-teens at
the time of his arrival in Guayaquil. With hardly any apparent

effort he wins the hearts of his uncle and aunt. Alfonso soon has

38

complete confidence in him, and allows him to handle many of the
important aspects of his business.

Meanwhile, Jesus Parrales, who is now in his early twenties,
has been becoming a skilled sailor under the tutelage of Don Asuncion.
His life is now the difficult buy lusty one of a sailor, and when in
port there is an abundance of song, liquor, and women. Although
he is a simple man, however, he is not a vulgar one. He still
thinks about his first love, Vicenta Agapita, and does not really
enjoy the revelries of his shipmates.

From now on we see a parallel develOpment between Jesus
Parrales and Armando Velez. We see that Armando:

”Es el hombre de confianza en los negocios

de don Alfonso. Ya maneja la Caja de la oficina

y es el jefe de la contabilidad: han transcurrido

dos afios desde su llegada: La Beldaca sigue

haciendo viajes para llenar de sal las bodegas de

don Alfonso. Pero ahora es Armando quien recibe

1a carga, quien paga a Asuncion, quien establece

la infaltable merma por la sal que se moja.

’ Jesus Parrales es ya un marinero en regla.

El mas fuerte, el mas conocedor, e1 mas valiente.

Y es, también, el hombre de confianza de don
Asuncion. “73

 

Although there is practically no direct contact between Jesus
and Armando until the end of the novel, we are able to see how the
author thoroughly develops these two characters, offering us an
effective contrast between the lower and the upper classes of

Ecuadorian society.

 

73. Pareja, La Beldaca, p. 124.

 

39

When La Beldaca is in Guayaquil, Jesus occasionally does
odd jobs for the Vélez family. There he meets his second sweet-
heart, the servant -gir1 Manuela. At first he is faithful to the
memory of Vicenta, but something happens to soften his resistance.

While anchored in port, La Beldaca catches fire one night
and burns, taking Don Asuncion with her. Jesfis is seriously
injured while bravely fighting the fire, and must spend several
weeks in the hospital. While he is recovering from his injuries,
Manuela visits him faithfully; Jesus develops considerable
affection for her.

At the same time that Jesus is in the hospital a revolution,
headed by Eloy Alfaro, is erupting against Ignacio de Veintemilla:

"El dia que Jesus Parrales sale del hospital, as
produce e1 contacto de las tropas. La refriega lo coge
por las afueras, por las calles inmediatas a1 Estero

Salado. Alfaro da 1a vuelta por el cerro del Carmen.

Desciende con todo el impetu de su caudillismo, con

toda su fuerza combativa que se hace incontenible.

Los caballos arafian con sus pezufias los caminos

abruptos de los cerros. Sus tropas se han unido con

los que vienen por el Salado. Se pelea con furia, con

salvajismo. Don Eloy, a1 frente, con su tfpico sombrero

manabita de cinta tricolor, contempla impasible e1 ataque.

Antes de entrar en accion ha tornado sobre el caballo una

taza de café puro. Fuma cigarro. Sus 6rdenes son

precisas, justas, decisivas. "

Here we have an excellent example of Pareja's ability to
recapture the spirit of a character from history and put him in a
novelistic framework. The above picture of Alfaro differs very

little from the style with which Pareja wrote his ”biografia

novelada'I of the same caudillo (La Hoguera Barbara).

 

 

74. Pareja, La Beldaca, p. 132.

 

4O

Fearing that the revolution will take him with it, Jesfis
takes a job on a ship run by an Italian captain, which takes him
all the way to Lima's port of El Callao. Upon his return he goes
to work for Don Alfonso again, and renews his relations with
Manuela. Nonetheless, he begins to feel nostalgic for his rural
home:

". . . Jesus Parrales ya no ama a Manuela, ya 1e,

tiene un desapego que lo vuelve triste cuando esta

a su lado. Jesus Parrales guarda muy adentro

un anhelo. Es el anhelo de su tierra, que tira

siempre a los cholos hacia 1a pampa. Pietinsa en

la casa en que nacio, en Santa Elena, en su madre.

Se 1e ocurre, con un poco de indiferencia, que debe

haberse muerto ya. ;Tan viejal (LY don Ciro?

Se acuerda. El barril. E1 burro testarudo.

Cuando duerme le parece ver’la pampa, 1e parece

ver el mar, la balandra moviendose. . . Ah, si

él pudiera tener una balandra! "75

Time has been passing steadily, and Jesus is no longer in
his twenties. In 1896 a huge fire sweeps Guayaquil, leaving hunger,
violence, and general chaos in its wake. Jesus can no longer endure
the city and returns to his home, to Santa Elena. Both his mother,
Tomasa, and Don Ciro have died, but he resolves to use what little
money he has saved to put his old house in order. In Santa Elena
he also meets Juanita, the true love of his life. An attractive young
girl half his age (he is now 32), Juanita represents home, woman,
and land to him, and he marries her.

During all of this time Armando Vélez has been doing well

for himself. He succeeds in having a love -affair with his aunt

Laura, and at the same time he practically controls his uncle

 

75. Pareja, La Beldaca, p. 160.

 

41

Alfonso's business. By the time the fire hits Guayaquil he has
embezzled a sizeable amount of money and left for Santa Elena
to go into business for himself. With his usual shrewdness,
however, he remains in good standing with his aunt and uncle.
He leaves them a note saying that the missing money was due
to a bad business investment on his part, that he is consequently
too ashamed to face them, and that he will oneday repay them.

In Santa Elena Armando receives business competition
from a local power figure, Dona Dolores Cerro. He soon strikes

an entente cordiale with her, however, and both of them increase

 

their wealth. With the passing of the years Armando's uncle,
then his aunt, die, leaving him their entire fortune. Already
60 years old, he marries Dona Dolores' coquetteish seventeen
year old niece, Cristina, thereby cementing his control over the
entire area.

While Armando has been amassing wealth and power,
Jesus has been living the rugged life of a cholo. His children
have dysentery and one of them even dies. Both work and food
are often scarce. One day, however, Jesus and his oldest son,
Apolinar, discover a treasure of Spanish gold and silver doubloons.
At last Jesus will be able to realize his fondest ambition and buy
a balandra!

Jesus takes his find to the richest man in town--Armando.
Armando pays him less than half the value of the doubloons, and
Jesus scarcely has half enough money to have a boat constructed.

Armando lends him the rest of the money at an astronomical

42

interest rate, and the old cholo is momentarily content. He gets
his balandra, and christens it La Beldaca, after the first ship
he worked with Don Asuncion.

Unfortunately, Jesus is a far better sailor than he is a
businessman, and his little cargo enterprise barely scrapes along.
Unable to repay Armando, the interest on his loan soon deprives
him of ownership of La Beldaca, and he is reduced to being merely
the pilot of the ship that he once proudly called his own.

The final blow to Jesus comes with the Americans building
the Guayaquil-Salinas railway. Two of the Americans trick his
daughter, Juanita, into accompanying them in their car in order
to show them directions. When they get her alone they rape her,
and she becomes pregnant. We are now at the point where the
first chapter left off.

With La Beldaca laden with an expensive cargo, Jesus,
ship, and crew disappear. Armando is left an old man with a
sizeable business loss and a coquetteish young wife. Thus the
novel ends as it began, in the sea.

La Beldaca shows us once again that Alfredo Pareja

 

Diezcanseco has deveIOped a great capacity for combining
various elements and creating an artful and meaningful novel.
The humanity and the careful construction of the characters,
the credibility of their situations, the historical framework
within which they act, and the author's combined sympathy and
detachment toward them, coupled with his sincere feeling for

his land and the sea and his communication of that feeling to

43

us, make La Beldaca at least the equal, if not the superior, of

 

the novel preceeding it.

It may be a matter of personal tast and choice from now
on to decide which is Pareja's greatest novel since El Muelle,
but what most concerns us here is that every novel does reflect
at least to some extent the ever-increasing maturity and
experience of the author. Be that as it may, it is more than

obvious that with El Muelle and La Beldaca behind him, Alfredo

 

Pareja Diezcanseco has joined forever the ranks of the

professional novelists of the world.

CHAPTER III

THE URBAN ZAMBA

With Baldomera76 Alfredo Pareja has created perhaps his

 

most colorful novel. This story of a massive, fierce zamba and
a diminuitive, plucky thief in the torrid and odorous barrios of
Guayaquil shows a formidable acquaintance with lower class
Ecuadorian life.

Some of the scenes presented in this novel may seem
incredibly realistic to those who may not have had the opportunity
personally to experience the ways of the Ecuadorian lower classes, or
for that matter, of the lower classes from practically anywhere in
the world. The cultural values, the morals, and the general
manner of living of many of the characters in this novel, as in
Pareja's earlier novels, offer a picture somewhat alien to that of
the middle and the upper classes. As Ricardo A. Latcham so
aptly suggests,however, "debemos considerar que la moral
mestiza,imperante en el tropico, esta muy distante de todos los

convencionalismos. "77 Baldomera gives us the sketch of a sub.

 

society which, although falling within the framework of a larger
society, lives by a set of values which are completely its own.

The values of Ecuadorian society, as defined by the upper classes

 

76. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, Baldomera (Santiago de Chile:
Ercilla, 1938).

77. Ricardo A. Latcham, "Baldomera, Novela, por Alfredo
Pareja Diez-Canseco, " Atenea, Afio XV, Tomo Lll, No. 156
(Concepcion: Universidad de Concepcion, Junio de 1938), pp.
426-28.

 

 

44

45

and as would be imposed on the lower classes present a goal so

unattainable for the latter that they have little choice but to live

in the manner best suiting their circumstance, regardless of how

much they may desire to live like their upper-class examples.
Pareja sub-titles this work "La tragedia del cholo

americano". Like the two novels before it, Baldomera is a

 

social tragedy. In terms of types of characters and elements of
society presented, and the photographically realistic manner with
which the author exposes them, this novel resembles a great
many other novels of social tragedy. As Antonio Montalvo says
of Baldomera's realism,“su crudeza. . . no es sino 1a crudeza, e1

dolor, de toda tragedia social. "78

 

Regardless of the elements that may or may not make it

a "form" novel, Baldomera is outstanding for the intense humanity

 

that flows from its pages. Antonio Montalvo further states that:

". . . Sus personajes quedan grabados, con vida
propia en el escenario vernacular, con proyeccién
de ecumenidad, sin embargo, f5: gracia de la fuerza
de humanidad que los anima. "

As Pareja continues in Baldomera the elements of social

 

realism and credible humanity that were characteristic of him in

El muelle and La Beldaca, he also continues to show us that he is

 

 

always aware of the historical circumstances surrounding his plots.

 

78. Antonio Montalvo, “Baldomera," America, Afio X111, Vol.
X11, Nos. 66 y 67 (Quito: Imp. Mtrio. Gbrno. , Trimestre 4 de
1938), p. 256.

79. Montalvo, op. cit., loc. cit..

46

The characters in Baldomera take part in the well-remembered

 

strike of November 15, 1922, in which members of the working
classes of Guayaquil swarmed into the streets in demand of a
better living and were shot down by the score in answer to their
protests. Kessel Schwartz notes that ”Pareja, fourteen years
old at the time, was vividly impressed by the murder of his
fellow citizens and writes with the warmth of a horrified eye
witness. “80 Once again Alfredo Pareja makes good use of his
personal experience in order to give his novels a more multi-
faceted significance.

The proletariat portrayed in Baldomera is somewhat
different from the one in Pareja's earlier novels. Although
still characteristically ignorant, we see elements appearing
that challenge its simplicity. The lower classes,as personified
by Baldomera and her husband Lamparita, now demonstrate an
agressive spirit that tells them they must do battle to proclaim
their rights. It appears that Pareja would suggest in this novel
that social improvement for the working classes will not come
about through a change of heart by members of the ruling classes.

Although the working classes in Baldomera do not achieve social

 

vindication, the author now shows us that they are no longer
content to silently accept their subservient condition.
We are treated to a vivid picture of Baldomera's environ-

ment from the very first pages of the novel. As the big zamba

 

80. Schwartz, p. 223.

47

peddles her snacks and tidbits in the streets of Guayaquil she
introduces us to people from all of the social stratae. When she
barters with the Italian storekeeper who supplies her little
business, or when she stOps in the local bar after work to down
one or two bottles of hard liquor until the women of the night begin
to ply their trade, we are witness to an accurate portrayal of the
harsher aspects of Ecuadorian life. Baldomera's world could
have only been presented by someone who knew her city from
every angle.

Pareja's other characters in this novel are by far dwarfed
by Baldomera's towering stature. Although a rather uncouth
character, we enjoy being in her company. Her portrait is a
far cry from the simple and gentle heroines of the two novels
proceeding this one:

". . .Sentada, se la ve mediana. Pero si Baldomera
se levanta, hay que ver. Parece tener mas de un
metro ochenta de estatura. . . 5610 quien contemplara
los pies de Baldomera, metidos en las chancletas,
podri’a calcular su coruplencia. Son unos pies
descomunales. . . . Un traje. . . que no dibuja ninguna
forma. Porque Baldomera hace tiempo que no tiene
cintura. Es cuadrada. Sencillamente cuadrada.
Sobre 1a barriga, casi 1e cuelgan los pechos. Los
pechos de Baldomera son largos y, al mismo tiempo,
gordos: dos masas de carne embutida. . . . Su cara
chata que mantiene constantemente una expresion

de furia. Los ojos son peque'fiitos; casi no tienen
pesta'fias. . . Su nariz, roma, de muy abiertas
ventanas, se enrojece en la punta. De la boca de
Baldomera no hay mucho de que hablar: es ancha,
carnosa, abultada. En cambio, su barba es
llamativa. A1 terminar, es redonda, regordeta.
Mejor dicho, no termina nunca. . . . Viéndola un
poco de lejos. . . se apostari'a que no tiene barba.
Pero, no. Es inconfundible: sus pelos. Son
pocos pelos, verdad. Pero qué pelosl Largos,
duros, gruesos. Y cuando Baldomera esta con
rabia, su gesto revelador y caracterfstico es

48

tirarse algunos y luego sobarse 1a barba nerviosa-

mente con la palma de la mano para calmarse la

picaz6n. “81

The author introduces us to Baldomera when she is
already in her later life, and later employs a long flashback to
fill us in on the background of the story. By the time we first
meet her, Baldomera has already given birth to several children
and is pregnant with another. Let us review the action of the
novel from this point.

While Baldomera is in a bar one night, nearly asleep
from the quantity of alcohol that she has consumed, some men
enter the bar with several prostitutes in their company. One of
the men begins to make sport of disturbing the slumbering
Baldomera until, infuriated, she attacks him, knocking him to
the ground with a powerful blow. Even when the fallen one's
companions join in the fray, Baldomera gives a very good
account of herself. She is only subdued when several police-
men arrive and brutally beat her. When she is taken to the
police station, one of the policemen kicks her in the abdomen
before pushing her into her cell. Baldomera consequently
aborts, and nearly dies due to the inadequate medical attention
given her. As an anti «climax to this unpleasant episode,
Baldomera's children must pay the dishonest policeman in
charge of her a considerable sum of money which he falsely

claims to be her fine.

 

81. Pareja, Baldomera, pp. 10~ll.

 

49

Scorn, violence, brutality, and injustice have been nearly
the daily fare for Baldomera during her entire life. Our zamba
is not alone in her plight, however, for she is representative of
an entire social class. Ricardo Latcham feels that she is ”un
si'mbolo de la familia chola que, sin destino claro, busca e1
suyo de cualquier modo, por las cabales o por la violencia. "82

Although no other character in the novel reaches the
stature of Baldomera, one character does approach it--
Lamparita--thereby lending a harmonious balance of personalities.
Lamparita is a famous cuatrero in the highlands, whose name is
derived from a little light that he carries with him during his
cattle-rustling adventures. In order to tell us his story Pareja
once again employs the flashback, taking us back a number of
years and into the countryside.

Lamparita's physical picture is nearly the antithesis of
Baldomera's:

. ~ I
". . . Lamparita era un hombre pequeno. Tema las

piernas abiertas en el medio, curvadas, separadas
casi hasta los talones, donde se volvian a unir.

Era flaco. Se 1e veian los huesos pegados a la
piel. El cabello, liso. Las manos, extremadamente
largas y huesudas. La nariz de Lamparita era fina
y un tanto ganchuda. Las cejas abundantes daban
mas profundidad a sus ojos, ya de por si grandes

y negros. No tenia casi ufias en las manos, porque
todas se las com‘i'a en ratos de nervios. Andaba un
poco inclinado hacia adelante, y no tanto, que no se
adivinara un cuerpo agil y dispuesto a la carrera.
Y sus hombros sobresalian en punta por la espalda.
Lamparita era, en verdad, un hombre chiquito y
encogido. “83

 

82. Latcham, p. 427.
83. Pareja, Baldomera, p. 46.

 

5O

Lamparita is a fearless little man who only robs out of
necessity. Somewhat in the fashion of a Robin Hood criollo he
usually steals only the cattle of the rich hacendados. Only out
of desperation would he steal from a traveler. There is a close
relationship between Lamparita and his horse, a spirited stallion
called Escorpién. Here we see a man-beast relationship told with
such finesse that we wonder why Pareja never again exploits that
side of his literary talent.

However, Escorpion is not the only one to share his master's
affections. Lamparita has a girlfriend named Candelaria, who,
with her sister Agustina, runs a rural general store. While
Lamparita's band is at the girls' establisMent one day, the rural
police surround them and a fight ensues. Only Lamparita escapes,
because he happens to have been with Candelaria in a solitary spot
some distance from the action. After that point the rurales seem
to be everywhere, and it is no longer safe for Lamparita to live
in the countryside. Reluctantly, he sells his beloved Escorpi6n
and goes down the river to Guayaquil, leaving Candelaria behind
him and promising her that he will one day return for her.

When Lamparita reaches Guayaquil, he readily adapts
himself to his new urban surroundings. Making a transition from
cattle-rustler to first pickpocket, then night-time thief, he is able
to maintain a standard of living several notches above starvation.

It is at this point that Pareja unites Lamparita with

Baldomera. While she is working as a dance-hall girl of easy

51

virtue, the ponderous zamba is promptly enamoured by the brisk
little cholo, who by this time has nearly forgotten Candelaria.
Lamparita is the only man who has every been able to knock
Baldomera off her feet in a "fair” fight:

”. . . rechinandole los dientes, Baldomera agarro
una silla. Y ya la iba a lanzar contra Lamparita,
pero él tom6 impulso y en el mismo instante en

que Baldomera levantaba la silla sobre los hombros,
Lamparita la embistio de una cabezada. Cayo
Baldomera cogiendose con ambas manos la barriga.
Qued6 un momento en el suelo. Lamparita, muy
tranquilo, dijo:

--Y no te he querido dar duro de verdad.

Baldomera, levantada ya, pretendio volver a
golpear. Ahora, Lamparita, riendose, le cruz6 el
pie entre las piernas de ella y lanzola a1 suelo.

Esta vez, Baldomera, al caer se dio un fuerte
golpe en las costillas. Fruncio los labios. Y alli’
mismo, en el suelo, hablo:

--Eres el unico hombre que me ha tumbado. . .
Y con 10 garrapata que pareces. . .

Despues, se sento en una silla, sobandose las
costillas. A1 cabo de un momento, mirando a Lamparita,
que, de pie, esperando, reia, le dijo:

--Vamonos adentro, Lamparita. "

From that time on Baldomera and Lamparita have a relation-
ship marked by the paradoxical violence and tenderness of their
first encounter. Although she already has an illegitimate son,
Inocente, Lamparita marries Baldomera, with the simplicity of
a civil ceremony. Shortly after their marriage Baldomera bears
the first of Lamparita's children, Polibio. The difficulty of the
new family's domestic situation is complicated by Inocente's
animosity towards his stepfather, as well as by the normal problems

of economics.

 

84. Pareja, Baldomera, p. 86.

 

52

Shortly after his marriage to Baldomera, Lamparita comes
across his old sweetheart, Candelaria, who informs him that after
he abandoned her in the country an unfortunate chain of events
brought her to the city, where she earns her livlihood as a
prostitute. Lamparita momentarily forgets about Baldomera
and undertakes a brief residence with Candelaria. His memory
is refreshed, however, when after four days Baldomera seeks
him out in the red-light district and administers a fierce beating
to his girlfriend. After Baldomera reflects on Candelaria's
situation, she quite believeably and humanely realizes that the
young country girl has had little more choice in deciding her fate
than she herself has had, and she apologizes to Candelaria, crudely
offering her friendship and understanding. As the story progresses,
Baldomera becomes more. and more the embodiment, as well as the
sympathetic but ignorant spokesman, of her class.

Alfredo Pareja, faithful to his historical consciousness,
now introduces the revolution of November 15, 1922. Although the
story could well progress without the inclusion of this historical
incident, it does serve as an instrument to draw more fully the
principal characters and their social class in a more complete
perspective.

Baldomera herself is caught up in the fighting, and once
she begins to fight, she does so fiercely. We already know that
Baldomera's character is a violent one, but now we see it going
to the extreme of homicide during that. bloody strike. Edmundo

Ribadeneira suggests that Baldomera's chief motivations for

53

fighting are her innate hate for authority symbols coupled with no
understanding of the transcendental significance of the strike:

". . . Baldomera toma parte en la lucha impulsada,

segfin el autor, por su inexplicable temperamento

belico, por su odio innato a1 uniforme pretoriano

que tiene que ver mucho con su costumbre de armar

escéndalos fenomenales; en cambio, Baldomera no

comprende, al parecer, e1 verdadero significado

de los acontecimientos de noviembre, no llega a

sus ojos ni Siquiera una vislumbre del despertar

popular que se Opera en la fecha fatidica del 85

calendario guayaquileno y, por ende, nacional. "

Mr. Ribadeneira further suggests in the same commentary
that Baldomera is not a true symbol of her social class, that she
is perhaps too picturesque, that she is endowed with too many
individual characteristics to give an accurate picture of her
segment of society. Although Baldomera may possess as many
elements that evoke our laughter and our admiration as she does
those that arouse our pity or our indignation, we must not view
her as an inadequate instrument for inciting social reform. By
creating a character with interesting--albeit extraordinary--human
qualities, Pareja has in Baldomera a useful and a credible example
not only of the lower class as an unfortunate entity that is often
exploited by certain representatives of the ruling classes, but

also of that class as being composed of very human beings. We

find Baldomera a novel that successfully juxtaposes these two

 

qualities of thesis and careful attention to character construction,
in order to tell an interesting story involving unforgetable per-

sonalities while it still manages to relay an important message.

 

85. Ribadeneira, pp. 83—84.

54

Up to this point we have seen how Pareja has in a relatively
short time completely drawn and blended the two principle characters,

following much the same pattern set in El Muelle and La Beldaca.

 

 

At the same time he has gently introduced elements for sub-plots,
which he then continues to develOp with the progression of the
story.

Inocente has grown into manhood, and the rift between him
and his stepfather, Lamparita, has grown ever wider. Consequently,
Inocente spends most of his time away from home, looking for an
opportunity to improve his condition. That Opportunity comes one
evening when Inocente is able to save Jose Luis, the son of don
Honorario Paredes, the owner of a local sawmill, from getting a
beating in a cabaret. As a reward, Inocente gains employment in
the elder Paredes' establishment during the day, while in the
evenings he accompanies Jose Luis on his nocturnal excursions,
not as a companion, but as a bodyguard.

An able and quick-witted young man, Inocente soon gains
the confidence of his fellow workers. By now he has seen life in
a more attractive light than he had previously, and he yearns
for “better things“. Inocente has become a social climber.

For a while, life does indeed seem to go well for Inocente.
He meets a lovely little lady, Celia Maria, one of his co-workers
in the sawmill,who is another literary sister of Maria del Socorro

of El Muelle, falls in love with her, makes her his mistress, and

 

plans to marry her.

55

Inocente sees another Opportunity to advance his situation
when he learns that his fellow employees are planning a strike
against the sawmill, after they find out that Paredes has lowered
their wages in order to compensate for one of his own financial
losses. Playing "both ends against the middle”, Inocente pretends
to join the strikers, but in reality relays all of the happendings
to the Paredes, in the anticipation of a substantial reward.

The strikers are led by a foreigner, a Spanish Communist
called Ignacio Acevedo. Pareja follows the precedent he set
earlier of importing a mysterious and colorful stranger (El T10
of El Muelle) to champion the exploited workers. As Kessel
Schwartz suggests, we question why Pareja does not produce a
leader for the workers from within their own ranks, or at least
from among their own countrymen:

"The standard introduction of Acevedo, the

labor agitator who suggests revolution as a solution

for ills, is artificial, and upon reading the novel one

wonders why Pareja introduced him, since the

impression which he sought to convey, that such a

solution is inevitable, arises from the situations

themselves. “86

Regardless of the national origins of the dissatisfied workers,
Inocente betrays them all. He even falsely accuses his immediate
superior, a worldly Jamaican Negro called Mister John, of being
involved in the strike, with the hope of moving into his position

upon his dismissal. Inocente's character is fast degenerating; as

final evidence of his corruption he betrays his mother, for Baldomera

 

86. Schwartz, p. 223.

56

is completely on the side of the strikers.

Let us momentarily leave Inocente, and learn what has
been happening with Lamparita. After his marriage to Baldomera,
Lamparita continues to make his living as a thief. One night he
is trapped, however, and seriously wounded before being captured.
He is taken to a hospital, where he receives disgustingly poor
treatment. The nun in charge of him only haphazardly follows the
Doctor's orders, and appears to delight in watching Lamparita
vacilate between life and death. Through Sister Leoncia's sadism,
Pareja display some of his most anti-clerical writing:

"Un dia, el doctor mandd ponerle inyecciones.

Fué la hermana Leoncia quien le puso la primera,

no obstante corresponderle al practicante de turno.

Pero la monja gustaba de poner inyecciones. Y

siempre lo hacia, con deliciosa y lenta voluptuo-

sidad. Tal vez por ofrendar a Dios esa nu’eva
prueba. . . Lo cierto es que una tarde cogio la
jeringuilla, mal hervida, agarrO el esquelético
brazo de Lamparita y le clavO una aguja despuntada.

Le corrieron por el brazo una gotas de sangre. La

monja pasO un algodOn en el sitio de la picadura. Lo

frotO reciamente. Y se fué a atender otro enfermo."87

By the time Lamparita is well and free, he is too well known
by the authorities to continue his occupation as a thief. Unfortunately,
he knows no other work, and the family's total support continues to
rest with Baldomera, who has been carrying that burden since his
capture in addition to faithfully visiting him. The zamba becomes
more alcoholic and embittered, and her family feels the pangs of

hunger. Inocente, quite busy with his own affairs, offers little

assistance. Polibio, barely leaving adolescence, decides to go to

 

87. Pareja, Baldomera, p. 120.

 

57

the country and fend for himself. When he tells Lamparita that
he can easily find work as a peo’n, he is met with a heated reply:
"--IMentira1 Pagan poco y todito se lo roban.

Son unos desgraciados. Se enriquecen con el sudor

del pobre. No te vayas. Yo no fui’ peOn. Los hombres

no son peones nunca. YO fui cuatrero -- rematO

Lamparita con un tono de orgullo. “88

When Polibo reaches the countryside, he becomes not a
pe6n, but the romantic reincarnation of his father. Pareja seems
to suggest that a life of crime is justifiable when it is in lieu of
one of ill working conditions and even poorer pay.

With her family going their separate ways, her husband
incapacitated and unable to provide any income, and her economic
situation becoming increasingly difficult, we are not surprised
that Baldomera so strongly supports the strike which her son is
helping to squelch.

Inocente, however, soon has his illusions thoroughly
shattered. His girlfriend, Celia Maria, has been seduced by don
Honorario, who wryly dismisses his advances to the girl as
"impulsos demOcratas". Jose Luis has also been taking advantage
of Celia Maria.

Inocente discovers Celia Maria's infidelity, and realizing
that his benefactors were merely using him as a pawn against his
fellow workers while they were abusing his honor, his world has
practically ended. Enraged, he stabs Celia Maria, but not

mortally, and is in imminent danger of imprisonment. Baldomera,

however, with the hazy idea that if given a bit of a chance, perhaps

 

88. Pareja, Baldomera, p. 132.

 

58

her son would be able to make a better life for himself, takes the
blame for his crime. In a perhaps incongruous note from a
character built more on actions than on words, Baldomera tells
Celia Maria not to betray Inocente:

” 'Estoy presa por lo que hizo I. No 10 delates
por nada. Serias una traidora. Si 10 quieres, debes
decir que fuf yo. Me han dicho que tengo atenuantes.
iNo me importal En cambio, as I. 10 mandarin a1
PanOptico por diez y seis afios. Tu, despues de’ lo
que hiciste, estas obligada a salvarlo. Recomiendale
a I. que se haga cargo de los muchachos. Si no lo
salvas, eres una perra (sic),una desgraciada. Si 10
dejas fregar, te juro que te mato. Soy vieja y no me
importa la carcel. Ademas, te juro que yo me escapo
pronto. Di que te quise matar porque quisiste quitarme
a mi marido. Cuidado, pues, con decir la verdad,
porque te estrangulo. --Baldomera.‘ "8

 

In the last chapter Baldomera is sent to jail for two years,
and Pareja gives us the brief glimpse of prison life that he will

later polish into a full-sized novel (Hombres Sin Tiemjo).

 

Inocente goes free, greatly the wiser for his experience.

Angel F. Rojas feels that Baldomera is one of Pareja's

 

best novels, and that its final pages constitute "una sobriedad
artistica admirable y de fuerza patética excepcional. . . . quiza
' 90

e1 desenlace mejor logrado por Pareja. . .‘ .

Mr. Rojas must have some supporters, for Baldomera was

 

Offered in a German translation (Hamburg, 1954) and edited recently
(1957) for the second time in Spanish. Baldomera has a happy
combination of local color, fast action, well-constructed and

personable characters, and a "basic theme that is transcendental

 

89. Pareja, Baldomera, p. 248.
90. Angel F. Rojas, La Novela Ecuatoriana (Mexico: Fondo
de la Cultura Econémica, 1948), p. 195.

 

 

59

and still very contemporary. That combination seems to plead
for a conscientious rendering in many other languages, for it is
a novel that could hold the interest of and give meaning to a reader
in any land where there exists a working class, a sense of humor,
and a compassion for humanity. We remember the novel for the
overall impression of lower class life in the port city, for the
message that it relays, and most of all for the personality of the
big zamba herself, who "can be found in almost any Latin American
port among the ambulant fruit vendors or cooking a typical dish
over a charcoal fire, surrounded by a mob of hungry urchins. “91
Lest we become overly effusive in our praises of Baldomera,
we must readily admit that it is by no means a perfect novel.
Although the characters are well-develOped and balanced, and the
sub-plots are blended into the main story line without excessive
friction, there is a loss of what might be called ”thesis-impact. "
This loss of possible effect on the reader (1. e. , encouraging him
to sympathize with the unfortunate protagonists) is brought about
by the abundance of anecdotal incidents and the very magnitude of
the principal characters (Baldomera, Lamparita, and Inocente)
themselves. We find that the characters and their deeds are of
more interest than is their surrounding social situation, which
would usually be expected to be brought to the fore in a novel of
social reform. Looking at the novel in this light, we could state
that purely as a novel inducive of social change, Baldomera may

be inferior to the novels immediately preceeding it.

 

91. Linke, p. 10.

60

On the other hand, it would be unfair and erroneous to judge
a literary creation totally on the basis Of what it might have been.
We must judge it for what it is. By being a novel in which the human
elements have a marked predominance over the social elements,

Baldomera achieves a more universal significance and appeal than

 

do El Muelle and La Beldaca, although those novels are by no means

 

 

lacking in human elements. From that point of view, we might hold

that Baldomera is superior to Pareja's earlier novels.

 

We should also reaffirm that Baldomera follows the trends

 

set by Pareja since the beginnings of his novelistic endeavors. The
author continues to employ his personal experience as a fountain

for points of departure, resulting in not only an historical but also

a personally compassionate perspective of his novel's milieu. None-
theless, at the same time Pareja manages to remain quite objective,
and never resorts to moralizing or flag-brandishing- We see in

Baldomera a growing complexity on the parts of the characters;

 

they are individually possessive Of more variables in their
personalities and they are collectively more agressive as the
representatives of certain social groups. Our overall opinion of

Baldomera is that it is a. solid example of Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco's

 

continually growing literary maturity, and a suitable match for his

already excellent handful of novels.

CHAPTER IV it

THE TRAGI-COMEDY OF AN IDEALIST

Don BalOn de Baba91 is a work that has brought its author

 

ambivalent success. Angel F. Rojas notes that when Pareja wrote
this novel “La critica extranjera fué severisima con el libro. “92
Yet, according to Lilo Linke it:

". . . was published by the Book Club of Buenos

Aires as one of the twelve best American novels

selected by the club in 1939, along with works by

such authors as John Dos Passos and Eduardo

Mallea. Pareja's was the only work chosen from

Pacific Coast authors. It brought him more

royalties than any of his previous books, but it

was not a success in Ecuador. Politics was

still too serious a subject for his countrymen to

enjoy Pareja's mocking treatment’of the pompous,

would-be politiaczal leader Don Balon, a native

Don Quixote. ”

As we may well deduce, not only was the author's success
with this novel inconsistent (i. e. , high royalties versus poor
acceptance at home), but the critics' opinions of the book were
also contradictory. Perhaps by creating a character that came
all too close to being a true prototype of a Latin American
political idealist, Pareja may have hit a mark very near the
feelings of the Latin American critics of the late thirties and
early forties, and was therefore unable to receive truly objective

reactions. In more recent years, however, Don BalOn de Baba

has enjoyed a more objective and favorable scanning.

 

91. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, Don BalOn de Baba, (Buenos
Aires: Club de Libro; 1939).

92. Rojas, p. 195.

93. Linke, p. 10.

 

61

62

The Quixotic overtones of Hechosl Hazafias de Bon BalOn

 

de Baba y de su Amigo Inocente Cruz are obvious, but not exaggerated.
Shortly after the novel appeared, one reviewer had this to say about
its principle characters:

"The two individuals who supply the present
novel with its title resemble two characters in Don
Quijote. Like Don Quijote, Don BalOn de Baba sees
everything in glorified form. He feels that he has
an important mission in life which he alone will be
able to accomplish: he must create a better social
order for the world. Like Sancho Panza, Inocente
suffers from limitations of intellectual endowment,
and he shares his predecessor's propensity to speak
in proverbs. Although he is devoted to his friend,
he can see things only as they are, and his fondness
for comfort prompts him to deceive Don BalOn at
times. "94

Had the reviewer examined the novel more carefully, he
would have seen that Inocente's care for his friend's well-being
was his principle motive for deceit, and that the principle
characters' psychology is far more complex than a simple

parallel on those in Don Quijote.

 

Another element of the novel that may be interpreted as
a Cervantine flavor is that "el lenguaje que emplea es impecable
y lleno de riqueza castiza. "95

Edmundo Ribadeneira feels that the principle character,
Don Balon, does not necessarily have to be from any specific

country, 95 and we may thereby deduce that like Don Quijote,

’ . .
Don Balon achieves a universal stature.

 

94. Virgil A. Warren, “Hechos y Hazafias de Don BalOn de
Baba y de su Amigo Inocente Cruz, " The Inter-American Quarterly,
Vol. 2, No. 1, Jan., 1940.

95. Rojas, p. 196.

96. Ribadeneira, p. 86.

 

63

Of course, it is impossible that Don BalOn could approach
universality in the lofty sense of his Manchegan predecessor.
Nonetheless, our hero is concerned with all of mankind, and his
chief desire is to improve the lot Of humanity not only in Ecuador,
but also on a global scale.

We title this chapter "the tragi-comedy of an idealist. "

As we discuss the novel, we shall see that the principle character
is an idealist-~a grandiose, political, paternalistic, sympathetic,
and ill-fated idealist. The ridiculousness of his approach to
solving his country's and the world's social ills and in pursuing
his amorous inclinations causes us to chuckle at him, yet the
pathetic hOpelessness of his ever achieving his goals and his
disastrous end arouse our most profound compassion. Comedy
without tragedy is apparently an unknown occurrence in the
Ecuadorian novel, for as Ribadeneira suggests, "nuestro ambiente
no justifica hasta hoy un personaje O hechos en funciOn de la

risa. ”97

The author appropriately introduces us to Don Ba16n while
he is having one of his many romantic dreams, in which he is
always a bold hero, a champion of justice and of ladies in distress,
in a world of danger and mystery. Our very first impression of
BalOn is one that shall remain constant throughout the entire novel.

He is a dreamer, an idealist, and a romantic. His ideas are too

stratospheric to be understood by the common folk whom he would

 

97. op. cit., p. 95.

64

vindicate, and he is doomed to failure. The parallel between Don
Ba16n and Don Quijote, and between Inocente Cruz and Sancho Panza
is quite apparent in its concept, but not in its manifestation. BalOn
is completely criollo and of the twentieth century, and the language
of the novel is also modern, although unimpeachably correct.

Although Don BalOn de Baba is one of Alfredo Pareja's

 

longer novels, it owes much of its length to passages flowing with
pompous rhetoric in keeping with the nature of the protagonist
which also demonstrate a successful exercise in stylistics. The
plot lines are relatively simple.

When we first meet Don BalOn he has already reached
maturity. He dreams a lot, lives in a rather unbecoming neighbor-
hood, spends long hours talking with a group of tolerantly under-
standing friends in a local Botica, and is in love with his pretty
next door neighbor. While reading the newspapers he shows great
concern for his country's future:

". . . don Balc’m se puso a leer con avidez. En

veces, dejaba el diario a un lado y lanzaba una
exclamacién:

-- IQué barbaridad!

Volvia a ver el punto llamativo para
cerciorarse y decia:

-- IPero que’ gobierno tan imbécill

Nuevamente sus ojos recorrian el diario
y al volver la primera hoja casi gritaba:

-= iPerO qué gobernador tan animal! IQue
ministro para brutol IPobre paisl "

Balon's concern for his society consumes him. He fancys

himself the head of a political m0vement, the "avanzadismo

 

98. Pareja, Don Balén de Baba, p. 29.

 

65

revolucionario socialista, " and creates a secret society (the Nolens-
Volens-Dixi) which is dedicated to furthering that movement. So
intense is his desire to take charge personally of his fellow man's
well-being, and such is the aura of mystery with which he surrounds
himself, that his maid, Micaela, worries for his mental health. He
spends a great deal of time in a secret room, which is his laboratory;
he becomes frantically upset when his grandfather clock tolls; and

his amorous overtures toward his neighbor, la Nifia candida, seem
to be favorably received. None of this is even slightly comprehensible
to Micaela. She even suspects that he may be in league with the
devil.

We should note that while Micaela is not a primary character
in the novel, we see in her more evidence of Pareja's ability to
create strong female characters. On one occasion, after Balén
had intervened in a fight between two rugged characters of his
neighborhood and was about to be carried Off by the police as a
reward for his pacific efforts, Micaela saves the day for him,
showing a resolution reminiscent of Baldomera:

"El polici'a rabioso tiraba de 6.1, cuando Micaela

que, de pie junto a don BalOn habia contemplado la

escena, adelanto un paso. ReparO en ella don Ba16n

y le dijo:

--iMicaela, Micaela linda!
Sin decir nada, Micaela lanz6 como un arieta

su puno a las manos del policia, obligandolas a soltar

el calzoncillo de don BalOn. E1 guarda intent6

agredirla, pero ella, erguida, alta, firme, con los

brazos en jarras, 5610 dijo, silabando:

--Cuidadito. . . ’
Y era tal la figura de Micaela, que el guardian

del orden quedc’) en sus enso, mientras que ella
volteaba hacia don Balon y le gritaba:

66

-~ <1 Qué se queda haciendo alli? 1Corra1
iL’arguese para arriba! “99

In spite of her strength of character, Micaela is unable to
control BalOn. Out of desperation, she sends for Ba16n's Oldest
and truest friend, his boyhood chum from Baba, Inocente Cruz.

When Inocente arrives we learn through his conversations
with Ba16n much of his friend's background.

As a young man, BalOn already demonstrated a desire to
be the political leader and social reformer of his people. His
efforts in Baba met with short success, however, and at the age
of twenty he went to Guayaquil, where he thought he might be
better appreciated, leaving behind his clumsy, solitary, and
devoted friend Inocente,who was to become himself a wealthy
exploiter of the cacao workers and the father of a sizeable family.
The desire for recognition first lead BalOn to try his hand at
literature:

". . .Sélo queria ser grande, hacer cosas dignas

de la historia. Un anhelo profundo de grandeza me
henchia e1 pecho y corria por mis venas en raudales
incontenibles de entusiasmo. Pretendf, a1 principio,
ser escritor. Queria hacer poemas, novelas, cuentos,
ensayos, filosofia, teatro, abarcarlo todo. Comencé

a emborronar papeles. Pero de pronto me di cuenta

de la miseria que es la literatura. IDiversiOn, bah!
éQué son los literatos? Gente orgullosa, pérfida,
envidiosa, capaz de matarse entre ellos por alcanzar

un jir6n de gloria, las mas de las veces o inmerecida

o tardia. i. Y qué hacen? Nifier’ias. Nada util. Mienten
diciendo cosas que jamas sintieron. Todo lo reducen a
la farsa y al engafio. . . . NO volvi a escribir mas. YO
no podia ser parte de una ética especialmente conformada
para el chisme y la mentira. Alli se quedaron mis
cuadernos y todavia duermen entre los cajones, surnidos
en polvo y en olvido. "

 

99. Pareja, Don BalOn de Baba, p. 34.
100. Pareja, Don BalOn de Baba, p. 126.

 

 

67

While he was still writing poetry, BalOn fell deeply in love
with a girl who offered him both physical and intellectual companion-
ship. Their idyllic situation was soon brought tO a more terrestrial
level, however, when the girl became pregnant. Neither of them
wishing matrimony, in spite of their mutual affection, the girl fled
to the country to await her delivery. When the baby was born-~a
son--the mother never recovered from the effects, and died in
agony. Ba16n saw little of beauty in his personal experience with
the ”miracle" of childbirth:

”. . . Ella march6 al campo. Y me hizo avisar cuando
lleg6 e1 momento, el de la tragedia, e1 del cataclismo
biolOgico de la mujer. Hay que comprenderlo: e1 part0
no es un proceso fisiolégico normal, como dicen los
médicos. Nada de eso: tiene de destrucciOn y de
terremoto, y esto no puede nunca ser normal: es
ruina, escombros, anulacién y nuevavida que surge
de las cenizas y del deshecho. é. Puede haber un
normal proceso fisiolOgico, como la digesti6n 0

1a respiraciOn, cuando todo es sangre y sufrimiento?
Es absurdo afirmarlo. T13. no sabes de esto, Inocente.
YO 10 he visto, lo he estudiado, he gritado junto a
ella, he sentido en mis entrahas todo el dolor de las
suyas. Antes de la catastrofe, mi amada se lo habi'a
dado todo: su vida, su sangre, sus energi’as. Todo lo
absorbi’a e1 peque'fio monstruo que se gestaba, e1
insaciable demonio que llevaba en su vientre
maravilloso. Y para ella, para la amada, dolor

dolor y dolor. Cuando mi hijo naci’a, lo odié. "161

Balén had to take the body Of his sweetheart and his newborn
son in a canoe to Guayaquil, where he suffered the abuses of her
family and was left with a child to raise for whom he felt no love,
only resentment for causing its mother's death. Nonetheless, as
the child began to grow older, BalOn was able to love him. The

boy's innocent, childlike ways endeared him to the embittered Balén,

 

101. Pareja, Don BalOn de Baba, pp. 127-28.

 

0.
('f)

and helped fill the vacuum left by the loss of his beloved. Life had
only just barely begun in: bright n for Balén, wie n his awakening
joy was sudder11y and brutal 11ys sh tt ered:

“--. . .Mi hijo tenfa un afic y medio. Era guapo:
tenfa la elegancia de la madre, su fino talento,
su belleza, pero masculinizada. Una tarde,
temprano air-1, lo dej6* dormido. De repente,
mientras leia yo junto a mi cama, se estir6 hacia
atras come ur. arco indio. Corri y lo tomé en brazos.
Ardfa de la 11ebre. Volé por un médico. Era el
primer ataque de perniciosa palxidica. Todavia se
contcrsiona‘ca, cuando llegS el doctor. Pusimos
grandes d.:>s:s de quinina, lavados helados, banos. . .
Quedo luego 1111:1111: (sic), aguado, amoratado,
agOnico. ntsnces, el m-édico hizo el ultimo
esfuerzo tratando de producir choques nerviosos.
Pero apenas si se estremecia. Otra vez, como
cuando ella se tug, cayo 1a tarde y ya en la noche
en un ultimo ataque se lo llevo. . . Precisamente,
cuando yo mas 1c q1eI-1a. . . . . . Y cuando, a1 fin,
quedo sin movimiento, en ese mismo instante el
reloj, ese reloj de la alzo'fca, lanzo sus campanadas
lugubres, c tt-arq‘iilamette perversas. Y recordé que
alla, en el :ampc , cashdo se me perdio la amada, un
reloj parecido c 0113 1as mismas he ras con el mismo
m: smc sonido de oracién funebre. . .

tono lento o, cor. el

¢Oyes? éOjes e1 reloj? ’lnocen te. 2Me matal

:Me mafia ese reloj! 9Ma1d1t 0 se eai (LLO oyes? IEsta
sonandol I

Cry—r1511) IC‘L1ercal tOtra vez, 'otra vez!
:Ja, 3a, 3a, "a ‘*

Thus is explained, the mystery of ther l ck, and the reason

for Balén's madness when if. 2611:. If Pareja had chosen to write

I!)

the novel with this pain": a .s ending, demonstrating perhaps a

' - ,‘ ' 1* -1-._--1 .,.,.v.1 1’.1r 111
tragic chain of ere: 3 11:21.11”; 3113.. s p

f I)
L4

esuicide, he would
have produced a novel with powerful naturalistic leanir gs that would

have been somewhat in imitation of but would have fit in well with

 

102. Pareja, Don 8111-..: de- Ba‘ba, p. 131.
>§<The verb “deje’ refe s to the maid, who left the child sleeping.

 

 

69

the Latin-American naturalistic movement at the turn of the century.
Pareja, however, is not cent nt to imitate; he is a literary pioneer.
The unfortunate events in Balon's life here referred to are merely
the point of departure for the construction of a greater character.
Upon the loss of his personal happiness, Balon seeks compensation
in working toward universl happiness. It is for that reason that
what began as a youthhl desire to win fame while working toward
bettering his fellow manis lot far exceeds normal pr0portions, and
becomes for Balon a fury that totally devours him, leaving him
tainted with a paranoi: madness. The shock of losing his sweetheart
and his son, coupled with the. steady and disappointing blows of life
that rain on his sensitive nature, cause Balon to enter the study of
science, philOSOphy, and metaphysics in an effort to seek the meaning
of his existence--to find God. Again, he is met with unreconciling
frustration:

”. . .é, Adonde esta? a, Adonde? . . . Dios, Dios, lo
busqué en la ciencia, y no lo hallé. Reproduje e1
atomo en la pantalla, y 5610 vi agitacion y calculo.
Estudié los elementos, . . . y no lo hallé. Oh,
Inocente, In .1 ente sdfinde esta Dios? De nada me
sirve la cienoia, si no lo encuentro. . . . 8610 he
visto substanoias y su‘ostarzsias. . . IDiosl IDiosl
La Nada. El vacfo. . . . Quise comprender el
significado de la nada, y iracase. . . . Es terrible.
He realizado todos ios experimentos de los sabios,
103 he comprobado, . . . IBahl Siempre basura y
miseria es lo que hallé. IAh, si la hubiera descurbierto,
yo mismo, yo mismo, yo seria Dios'.

--D:os no ex1ste. No existe, no puede existir.
— . I
No tengo ninguna prueba de su presenc1a. La cobardia
humana ha pretendido acumularlas. . . Pero todas han
sido productos exclusivos del miedo, de la misera
condicién de la ignorancia. No esta en ninguna parte
’ 1,. . " ..1" .’-,. 1 . 1" f 9
o esta en tooas. c Qu1c1- que es, pod1ia entenderlo.

70

Las palabras sonaban duras, cargadas con el
tono chillén, y sin embargo gutural de esa voz extrafia.

De pronto cobr6 animos y grito, todo él descom-
puesto: ’

--IImbéci1esl Yo lo descubriré. Yo hare el
mundo. IYo seré Diosl IJa, ja, jal Muéstrate, Dios,
si es que existes. . . sal de tu escondrijo. . . IAh, dolor!
éEres t6. e1 Dios? Los hospitales, los enfermos, los
presos, las guerras, 1a miseria, e1 hambre. . . La vida
grita y padece y Dios no se muestra. El instinto vital
es el placer, pero éste no vive sin dolor. Un
estremecimiento de goce nos acerca a lo divino, y
este goce es padecer y llorar. Es 1a descarga. éDespués?
éQué hay en el dolor?

Agito los brazos, miré a lo alto, como clamando,
y alzc’) la voz.

--INo hay Diosl INo hay Diosl INo hay Diosl

Luego sufri6 una convulsidn. Cayo de rodillas,
inclino la cabeza, salieron de sus ojos abundantes
lagrimas, y exclamo, sollozante y trémulo:

“we, Que me hago yo sin Dios? aQué hago sin
Dios? aQué soy? aQué puedo hacer?

fl-filAdO’nde estaS, por fin? éQué me hago yo
sin Dios‘? “ 3

Here we see all of the pathos and the tragedy of Don Balon
de Baba. In spite of the many humorous incidents that befall him,
and the comical way of making his way in the world that he so often
displays, Balon is basically a tragic character.

Inocente is truly concerned over his friend's state, and he
unsuccessfully plots with Micaela to put Balon under professional
attention. Balon’s thoughts and actions confound, amaze, and
fascinate Inocente, but in spite of himself, he finds himself

. . . . . - . a- . . . I
part1c1pat1ng in his triend's attairs, being swept up into Balon's

 

103. Pareja, Don Balon de Baba, pp. 210-20.

 

71

incomprehensive and fantastic world.

After Balon tells him the story behind the clock, Inocente
suggests that they dispose of the machine and aids Balon in relieving
himself of that disturbing item.

On one occasion Balon bumps into an Italian immigrant,
causing him to drop some glasses and attack him with strong words.
Ba16n's paranoid reaction is that the Italian is Mussolini's special
emissary sent to thwart his social movement, and immediately
challenges him to a duel, which never takes place because at the
last moment Balon discovers that the Italian is merely a butcher,
and of much to low a station to honor with manly combat. Again,
inispite of his better judgment, Inocente finds himself in the
position of Balon's second for the planned duel. It is impossible
for Inocente to resist the mysterious attraction of Balon's world:

"También a don Inocente Cruz de Sepedillo
tocari’ale algo de la gloria de su amigo. Aunque
fuere por antftesis. Quiso vivir en paz, y hélo
alli’ traicionado. Quiso no ocuparse mas que de
cosas necessarias, y hélo allftraicionado. Quiso
imponer su satiduri’a popular, y hélo alli’, también,
traicionado. Era doble traicién y doble la
embriaguez de verse de nuevo. La de los demas,

a cuyo juicio estaba sujeto, y la de él, que era
derrota y desconocimiento.

Compa‘fieros inseperables de un di’a, pudieron
dar, ambos, una vida entera. Se necesitaban y se
completaron. (1 Que misterioso lazo los uni6 para
siempre? Habri’a que preguntar y preguntar.

Porque ya se presenti’a e1 paso de lobo que acechaba
y algo malo se teji’a entre las sombras. . . Acaso fué
S610 1a simple obligatoriedad del contraste, de la
eterna posicién fructffera. Uno y otro eran idénticos
y distintos. Uno y otro nacieron para hacer vida. Lo
extraordinario y lo simple, lo grande y lo pequeno,

si es que puede haber pequenez en lo sencillo, 8. Como
no iban a caminar sobre las paralelas del espi'ritu en
tinieblas ? ”

 

m

104. Pareja, Don Balén de Baba, pp. 184-85.

 

72

Before he realizes what is happening, Inocente finds himself
taking part in the painful blood initiation of Balon's secret society,
the "Nolens -Volens-Dixi". The identification and uniting of Balon's
and Inocente's spirits reaches its climax when both of them have
simultaneous dreams in which each mysteriously enters the other's
dream, and while sleepwalking they awaken in a brotherly embrace:

”La verdad ha'bi’a nacido. . .

-- IBaldnl

--IInocentel

Y era que ambos amigos habi’an despertado a
una, y hallabanse abrazados con lafgrimas en los ojos
y palpitantes golpes en el corazdn.

Se miraron largo rato. Cuando lo permitié
la emocion, se dijeron, con suave y ti’mida voz:

--<'. Me has comprendido, Inocente?

--<‘.Qué paso? Yo siento que ha pasado algo
muy grande, Balon. Te he entendido. ITodo, todo!
Te vi en sueiios y hablé contigo.

--Yo también te vi y te hablé y salvé tu
espi’ritu.

--Si’, Balén, i’. EQue’ miedo siento! Es como
si hubiera estado muerto, muerto. . .

--No temas. No te amedrentes. E1 espiritu
se lanza, desdoblado en cuerpo astral, y se encuentra
con los cuerpos afines, (para las grandes causas y las
ma’ximas creaciones."l 5

Inocente's understanding of Balon is in reality more a feeling
of understanding than it is an actual comprehension. However,
Inocente is more in this novel than simply Baldn's incomprehending
companion in a nebulous march to "glory"; in a way more important
to us, he is the sad witness to his friend's gradual destruction.

Balon's Dulcinea, la Nina Cafndida, adds another cruel step

to his downfall. While she is outwardly giving appearances of

 

105. Pareja, Don Balon de Baba, pp. 276—78.

 

corresponding to Balo’n's romantic overtures, candida is inwardly
laughing at the aging Romeo. She delivers him a lethal stroke when
she arranges a meeting between him and a mysterious admirer,

"la dama del antifaz", who is an old prostitute hired by candida to
make fun of Baldn. When Balon realizes that the whole affair is

an unkind joke on him by his worshipped candida, the shock is
more devastating than a bullet to the brain.

The final disillusionment comes for Balon when he is invited
to a leftist worker's meeting nominally called to voice support for
the Loyalists in Spain’s civil war. When asked to say a few words
to the workers attending the meeting, Balon launches himself into
a pompous, discourse about the “Nolens -Volens-Dixi", the
"avanzadismo revolucionario socialista”, and his willingness to
lead them all down the path of glorious revolution. Noble though
his thoughts may be, he is met with a most harsh incomprehension,
capped by the arrival of a police raiding party:

“——Si’, compaieros, sf. Yo os 10 aseguro.
3Y0, e1 li’derl a» Y se iba exaltando, con grandes
movimientos de brazos y golpes de pui‘io sobre la
mesa. --Yo soy el que lo digo. IE1 unico! IE1
intelectual en accioni IE1 cerebro que or aniza y
manda! ISeguid-me a mi’l ISeguidme a mi! iViva
la revolucion avanzadista! IA la lucha, camaradas,
a la lucha! IYo soy el maestro de la luz!

Los trabajadores comenzaron a protestar.
Algunos se levanta ron de las bancas y lo sefialaron
con el dedo. Otro, mas osado, lo acusd a grito
pelado:

-- IAbajo los intelectuales!

Fue la voz inicial. La protesta se 1evant6
unafnime y las exclamaciones subieron de punto.

-- iAbajo!

~- iTraidorE

-- IMentirosol

-- iFarsantel

74

--ITraidor a la clase obreral

-- IMueran los intelectualesl

Y don Balon no pudo ni replicar, porque, en
esos momentos, subia la policfa, sable en mano y
ordenando:

--IRetirarse1 06

-- IDisolverse! ”

Ba16n and Inocente are forced to flee through the city and

into its outskirts with the police seemingly at every corner. They

take refuge in the dense stands of manglar trees. Crazed by the

disastrous succession of events, Balon still believes that he will

in the end triumph,and momentarily takes the shadowy forms of

the trees for a force of enemies. When he realizes that he is only

fighting trees, he is delivered the coup de grace to his illusions:

“--IVen a mi, pueblo! IVen a mi! IVenl
IYo soy el maestro de la luz! Quise bondad, y no
la tuve. Quise amor, y se me huy6. Quise ciencia,
y todo fué vacio pensamiento. Quise a Dios, y se
me bur16. Todos me traicionaron. . . . No me
entendieron los hombres, y me arrojaron las piedras
de sus burlas. Y solo estoy en la cumbre. ISolol
iJa, ja, jal iVen a medirte conmigo, Dios insensato!
iDios felon! IVen a probar mi fuerza, que es la del
universo que creastel 1Y0 soy el maestro de la luz!
iPueblo! IPueblol

De subito, se volvid y sus miradas, en el
maximo extravio de su pena, contemplaron e1 bosque
vecino. Cerr6 los ojos un instante. Se paso’ la mano
por ellos, y volvié a mirar. Abri6 los brazos en
Cruz. . . .

Y corrié hacia los arboles.

Avanzo, entre los gigantes, mordidos los labios
en insana furia, y did comienzo a la batalla.

Y golpeaba, enfurecido, y el combate se hizo
grande y pele6 toda la tropa de ideales.
Don Inocente clamaba entre e1 fragor:

 

106.

Pareja, Don Balon de Baba, p. 297.

75

-- iSi son arboles, Baldn! 1N0 son hombres!
iSon arboles! IArboles!

Don Baldn se detuvo de improviso. Bajd las
manos, tendid las miradas como flechas. Se ilumind,
y fue’ radiante. Lo vio’ todo. Lo entendid todo, lo supo
todo. Un inmenso bienestar lo acariciaba. Y qued6
rigido, vaporoso, brillante la cabeza, las manos
paralizadas como de garrote, y la vez, que era de
llanto, en el gemido y en la angustia mas intensos de
su vida!

-- IArboles! IArboles!

Lanzé un grito formidable. Estiré hacia atras
la frente, conmovi6 su cuerpo entero en horribles
contorsiones, y cay6.

--IJa, ja, ja, ja!

Y reia, revolcandose en la tierra, dando vueltas
como disco ensangrentado, con la espuma en asquerosa
agitaci6n entre los labios.

--;Ja, ja, ja, ja!

Un golpe seco de su craneo en los nudos de los
afrboles malditos lo ca116. Silencio. Don Inocente lo
mir6 sin una idea, sin una luz, sin una solucidn.
Rompi6 a llorar despavorido y corri6 entre los arboles,
gritando:

--;Socorro! ISocorro!

Y corri’a, y la niebla y la lluvia 1e seguian las
pisadas con sus burlas y sus ecos. 107

Silencio, silencio, silencio. "

Thus Don Balon de Baba ends his noble carrer: in undignified
flight, totally disillusioned, briefly comprehensive of his madness,
and finally met with an ignoble death. When Inocente returns with
Micaela to the manglares to attend to their friend‘s body, Pareja
has them presented with the singularly grotesque scene of finding
Balon's remains partially eaten by the dogs.

In a certain sense, Don Balon de Baba is a novel that

 

demonstrates a tour de force on the part of its author to write a

 

modern work harking back to Quixotic reminiscences. Balon's

idealism in matters of love, his concern with noble and manly

 

107. Pareja, Don Balon de Baba, pp. 304-305.

 

76

combat, his making Inocente his ”squire" of sorts, and his trans-
ferring his noble sentiments to his incomprehending friend do

indeed remind us of the protagonist of Don Qui'Lote. The richness

 

of the language and the humorous elements prevalent throughout
the novel also offer an affinity with Cervantes' masterwork.

As we recall, however, Don Quijote was never totally
disillusioned. His final transference to Alonso Quijano ”e1 bueno”
was not a true disillusionment, but a gentle awakening from a mental
illness. Don Baldn, on the other hand, is disillusioned and partially
shattered every step of the way. He dies disenchanted, and except

for a brief moment of enlightenment, completely mad. Don Baldn

 

de Baba is by no means an imitation, but it does put modern trappings
on a type of hopeless idealism that may indeed find roots of tradition
dating back to cervantine times, and even earlier.

Pareja has in this novel undertaken a psychological study of
the protagonist in a manner considerably more penetrating than in
any of his previous novels. He has given us the picture of an
individual whose nature is too sensitive to withstand the extraordinary
experiences that it undergoes, and who gradually becomes aclassic
paranoid schizoPhrenic, fancying himself to be the political and
spiritual savior of mankind-~a messiah. This intense exercise in

psychological study is in itself enough to indicate that Don Balon de

 

Baba is the evolutionary superior of the novels preceeding it.
Although Balo’n himself is the chief object of Pareja's
psychological study, Inocente is by no means ignored. When the

author unites the two friends through the dream, the combining of

77

their spirits symbolizes the creation of a new species of man, with
a new psychology that is the result of that union. Kessel Schwartz
sees in this fusion an important message: "The dreamer and the
materialist fuse, and in this fusion is one h0pe for the future. "108

In some ways, there are parallels between Don Balon and
his creator. Balon, like Pareja, would like to aid in bettering the
lot of his less fortunate countrymen, but neither is of the social
background that would allow him to directly identify with the lower
classes; both are able only to sympathize with them. Balon tries
his hand at politics, and so does Alfredo Pareja. While Balc’m is
met with a devastating spiritual downfall, Pareja is also met with
discouragement. Let us observe Pareja's closing comment in this
novel:

“Guayaquil. -- Destierro de’ Santiago de Chile.

-- Quito. -- Terminado en la prision, en el penal

'Garcia Moreno', encarcelado por la oprobiosa

dictadura reaccionaria de Mosquera Narvaez. -- N. del A.

Diciembre 31 de 1938."109

We should remember that during his 34 days in prison
Pareja resolved to not again directly participate in his country's
political struggles. From a biographical point of view, Don Balon
de Baba is a novel that shows a good deal of introspection on the
part of its author. Running the risk of walking on unfirm ground,
we might form the conjecture that Pareja shows us through the

character of Ba16n something that he himself had learned, that

sympathy with a social cause does not necessarily imply a

 

108. Schwartz, p. 224.
109. Pareja, Don Balon de Baba, p. 306.

 

78

successful person to person communication with the human elements
of that cause. Perhaps it is partially due to this realization that
Pareja seldom becomes personally involved in his characters, and
customarily maintains an objective detachment.

As in his previous novels, Pareja again puts the action of

Don Ba16n de Baba in a definite historical perspective. We are

 

aware that while Ecuador is grappling with its own problems,
Spain is having its Civil War and Mussolini and Hitler are dominating
the political scene in the rest of Eur0pe.

More important, however, is the fact that Pareja has in this
novel totally extracted himself from the portrayal of the usual ”types"
found in novels oriented toward social reform, although his own
”types" have always been possessive of strong human qualities as
individuals. Of course, we do see characters representative of
many social levels. Micaela is a chola whose life before working
for Bal6n was filled with the unpleasantries that we generally
associate with her class, Inocente is a landholder who exploits
both agricultural and human resources, Ba16n himself is of
Inocente's class, but the nature of his madness makes him seek
spiritual rather than material rewards from “the masses", and
the secondary characters, such as shopkeepers, butchers, doctors,
laborers, etc. , round out a colorful composite of social elements.
Nonetheless, these characters are not important as social types,
but as ingredients blending into a successful artistic creation.

In fact, this is Pareja's first novel in which members of

the lower classes are not used as instruments for social reform;

79

he has taken a departure from his usual practice of painting intensely
human beings of humble station in order to evoke our first liking
them as people, and then our deploring the society that makes their
situations so wretched.

All in all, Don Baldn de Baba is a novel clearly demonstrating

 

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco's awareness of his own novelistic
evolution. Here he is taking a step toward writing novels of true
artistic merit that will let them endure forever, while still dealing
with contemporary problems. Pareja never limits himself to fit
within a specified framework, but constantly adjusts to fit within

a framework that is continually changing. Taken by itself, the
novel deserves a new reading by the Latin American public. Don

Balon is still a contemporary figure.

CHAPTER V

BEHIND THE BARS AND INTO THE MIND

As we shall recall, in the final pages of Baldomera Pareja

 

gives us a fleeting glimpse of prison life. In Hombres Sill Tiemgo
(1941) that glimpse becomes a long and hard look. More important
than its examination of life in Ecuador's principal penal institution,
however, is the novel's admirable study of human psychology.
Although it has been noted that here Pareja's work is somewhat
”influida de Thomas Mann", “0 he at last writes a novel relatively

free of regionalism and local politics. With the interior of the

protagonist's mind as the true milieu, Hombres Sin Tiempo may be

 

equally understood by all men. Here we have an undeniably universal
novel by Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco.

In our closing comments to _Don Balon de Baba we noted that

 

Alfredo Pareja finished that novel while he was temporarily imprisoned
for political reasons. His experiences behind bars gave him the
inspiration for his next novel, which possesses, as do many of his
other novels, a certain amount of auto-biographical elements. Lilo
Linke notes that "The schoolteacher who tells the story. . .withdrew

in prison, like Pareja, from violence into reflection. "111 His short

stay in the "Penal Garcfa Moreno" must have had tremendous emotional

impact on Pareja, for we know that after that time he withdrew to a

 

110. Diccionario de la Literatura Latinoamerica, "Ecuador",
(Washington: Pan American Union, 1962), p. 145.
111. Linke, p. 10.

 

80

81

more passive participation in his country's politics.

The enforced solitude of prison probably allowed our author
as never before to study the workings of his mind, and from there,
those of every mind. The many well-drawn secondary characters

that appear in Hombres SinfiTiemjo offer a faithful panorama of the

 

various types encountered in prison. These characters are based
on factual cases, and Pareja confesses that he owes much to the
kindness of the Prison Director (Warden), who allowed him to
continue and gather material for literary purposes:

". . . era entonces Director del Penal un hombre
digno, e1 doctor Neptali’ Oleas Zambrano. Casi
no tienen otro objeto estas lfneas que hacer
pfiblico mi sentimiento de gratitud. No 3610
procurc6 hacernos menos dura 1a prisi6n, sino
que se afan6 en salvar y proteger nuestras vidas
cuando 1a pasi6n degenerada hacfa lo posible por
eliminarnos afin ya encarcelados.

Yo, de modo especial, quedé obligado a1 doctor
Oleas Zambrano. Permitié, incomunicado como estaba,
que me enviaran mi maquina de escribir para terminar
mi novela DON BALON DE BABA. Y luego, consintic’)
en dejarme estudiar el archivo del Penal para documentarme
en algunas cosas que doy en este libro. . . "

As is his custom, Pareja adds his artistic talent to what he
has documented, and presents us a believable world peopled by real
men and women, albeit a world that only exists within the walls of
the ”Penal Garcia Moreno", and having little to do with purely
Ecuadorian problems. Two of Pareja's countrymen, however, feel
that Pareja should have demonstrated a more overt social consciousness

in this novel. Angel F. Rojas declares that "no hay la trascendencia

 

112. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, Hombres Sin Tiempo (Buenos
Aires: Losada, 1941). p. 8.

 

82

social que el relato ecuatoriano contemporaneo busca tener. . . ", 113

although the same critic feels that the novel is a worthy effort at
psychological penetration. In a similar vein, Edmundo Ribadeneira
feels that:

"No cabe duda que el drama psicolégico de

la carcel constituye un tema muy interesante, pero

mucho mas si se lo mira por el lado de la injustiCia.

Hubiera sido mejor, pues, si Alfredo Pareja, con

vision mas realista, no .hubiera ahondado tanto en

el submundo de su personaje, equilibrando su valor

con el de otros. "

Nonetheless, both Rojas and Ribadeneira agree that the
characters are constructed in a truly praiseworthy manner. In
order to become acquainted with the characters of Hombres Sin
Tiempo, a brief review of the novel is in order.

The protagonist of this novel is a quiet schoolteacher called
Nicolas Ramfrez, who tells us his story in the form of a diary. He
tells us that before going to prison he was a sensitive fellow, and
quite unadventuresome. As a young man he was fond of his mother
and sister but theyboth died somewhat prematurely. His Father_
died before he was born. Although he still had the occasional
company of- his, friends, his life became generally one of loneliness
and reflection, devoted mostly to preparing his classes and reading» ,
While he tells us that from time to time ”iba a cualquier casa de
lenocinio, donde arrendaba, a poco precio, una noche de amor", “5

he longed for the enduring and meaningful relationship with a woman

that he was incapable of undertaking; he futilely compensated by

 

113. Rojas, p. 1196.
114. Ribadeneira, p. 88. ‘
115. Pareja, Hombres Sin Tiempo, p. 16.

83

proclaiming that romantic love was only for the unmanly.
One afternoon his friend Lorenzo Salazar invited Nicolas
to his home for a small party in celebration of his wife's Saint's
Day. At the party, Nicolas meets Clemencia, Lorenzo's pretty
fifteen year old daughter. Lorenzo becomes totally drunk, and
Nicolas helps Clemencia put him to bed. While still in Lorenzo's
bedroom, the thirty-five year old Nicolas begins to talk and drink
with Clemencia, who appears enchanted by his flowery words.
Aided by a considerable amount of alcohol, Nicolas becomes ever
bolder until he believes that he is seducing the girl, finally clumsily
attempting to force his attentions on her. The girl's screams
awaken her father, who throws himself on Rami’rez. In the resulting
struggle, Nicolas unwillingly kills his friend. Once apprehended,
he is sentenced to sixteen years in prison. Upon entering his cell
he states, ”Tuve 1a sensacion escalofriante de que me habfan
sepultado vivo. "116
Ramfrez' first feelings of being buried alive soon change
to feelings of security, however. For the next decade and a half
the prison walls become more symbols of refuge than enclosure
for him, they even become symbols of friendship: ". . . tengo un
amigo mas i'ntimo que todos: el propio Penal. "117
It is not surprising that Nicolas would feel so attached to

his prison, for Pareja has made it clear that life in the outside

world offered no more, if even as much, spiritual fulfillment

 

116. Pareja, Hombres Sin Tiemjo, p. 23.
117. Pareja, Hombres Sin Tiempo, p. 218.

84

for the sensitive Rami'rez than does life in enforced seclusion. As
he himself declares, liberty is a state of mind to Nicolas: "Me probé
a mi mismo que la libertad no radica en las calles sino en el prepio
animo y en el pr0pio dolor. "118

In addition to his feeling of affection toward the Penal, the
second dominating factor is the memory of Lorenzo and Clemencia.

He feels a grieving remorse for Lorenzo, and an idealized and
imagined love relationship with Clemencia. As well as experiencing
what he believes to be a spiritual communication with Clemencia,
Nicolas feels that the memory of Clemencia gives him strength in
overcoming physical weaknesses:

"Muchas batallas ha ganado. . . mi espi’ritu y

muchas afin 1e quedan por librar. La preocupacién

del sexo ha sido una de las tremendas. Pero en

esto he tenido el auxilio maravilloso de mi amor a

Clemencia. Es decir, e1 sentido de mi amor a

Clemencia, su presencia casi real, su vivo recuerdo,

han sido y son e1 impulso de todo, de este todo que 119

es mi liberacion. Lo comprendo asi’, y debo decirlo. ”

Yet, we know that Nicolas could find solace only in the memory
of Clemecia, for his brief encounter with her in real life was nothing
less than disastrous. Nicolas Ramirez is a man who is most happy
in a gentle world created by his own imagination. We know him for
what he is, and accept him as such; Pareja makes no attempt at
idealizing him.

One day Nicolas meets a new female prisoner with whom he has

much in common. Margarita Davalos is an ex-prostitute who attempted

to kill her lover due to his impending marriage to someone else. Like

 

W

118. Pareja, Hombres Sin Tiemm, p. 58.
119. Pareja, Hombres Sin Tiempo, p. 60.

 

 

85

Rami'rez, her act of violence was out of character with her basically
gentle nature, and like him, her love was directed toward an unreal
and unattainable goal (in this case, a member of the aristocracy);
she, too, now feels incapable of romantic love on a person to person
basis.

Seeing a good deal of each other during the recreation periods,
Nicolas and Margarita become sincere friends. At first Nicolas
views Margarita from a purely platonic standpoint, telling her of
his resignation to imprisonment, his interest in philosophically
studying the lives of his fellow prisoners, and his idealized love
for Clemencia. Little by little, however, the genuine Margarita
becomes the object of Nicolas' love, rather than the imagined figure
of Clemencia. Once, during a period of depression, Nicolas consumes
a bottle of liquor*, and in the resulting period of drunken semi-
slumber admits to himself the new importance of Margarita:

"Invoqué, supliqué. No 36 si con lagrimas,

pero el llanto era de corazon, adentro hacia adentro.

iClemencia! Otra vez, como desde hacfa algfin

tiempo, cuando pude contemplar 1a imagen medio

borrosa de la hija de mi amigo Lorenzo, los ojos

verdes de Margarita substituyeron a los suyos. . .

Después vino la boca, la nariz, e1 pelo encima de

la frente. . . Cerré los ojos. . . Es decir, pensé que

los cerraba, o 103 ajustaba, porque debo haberlos

tenido ya cerrados. . . Las figuras, luego, tomaron

actitud: Clemencia, de pie, triste, me fijaba los

ojos. . . Y de entre las sombras hfimedas, se fué

dibujando una figura, un contorno. . . Comenzo a

pasarse por encima de la otra, borrando a mi
Clemencia. . . Primero un lado. . . Los brazos, la

 

*The penal system Pareja describes us here is a relatively liberal
one, for the prisoners are allowed liquor, time with wives or
prostitutes, and other passtimes uncommon to a North American
institution.

86

cintura, e1 rostro. . . Se colocaba la nueva muy

despacito encima de la otra. . . Era Margarita. . .

Siempre con su risa. . . Con el uniforme azul

destenido, tan dulce. . . "12

As well as his happy relationship with Margarita, Nicolas
enjoys the company of another prisoner, Rosendo (”Gusano")
Barci’a. "Gusano" is from a rural family that moved to the city
in order to open a store. Since he was a £h_9_l_9_ attending a school
full of middle and upper class children, he suffered the ridicule
of his classmates. Finding that his interests tended more toward
a professional life than that of a businessman, he also suffered
the abuse of his father. When his father died, he was free to set
up business with a trusted friend and marry alovely girl of relatively
high station. His happiness was rather brief, however, for his
friend soon died and the friend's family accused "Gusano" of
misusing funds. Furthermore, his wife, Luci’a, was unfaithful
to him. When he consequently killed his wife's lover, he was sent
to prison, where he meets and becomes friends with Rami’rez. Like
Nicolas, his life in prison is more enjoyable than was his life outside
of prison; he is able to have a successful love affair with Luisa
Maldonada, a type of ”recreational therapist" and a friend of
Margarita's.

Although within the confines of the penitentiary, Nicolas,

Margarita, "Gusano", and Luisa enjoy an almost conventional friend-

ship. The prisoners' relatively happy and productive life is due to the

 

r

120. Pareja, Hombres Sin Tiempo, p. 172.

 

87

generosity of their liberal and progressive Prison Director
(undoubtedly a novelization of Oleas Zambrano). This same Prison
Director allows Nicolas to function again as a teacher and to enjoy
periods of liberty within the prison in order to talk with and learn
the stories of other prisoners.

Among the other prisoners we meet through Rami’rez are
"e1 Chino" Romero, a hardened killer who began his career by
killing an unfaithful girlfriend, and Sebastian Casal, who is concerned
in life only for his own welfare--the total materialist, presented as
the antithesis of Rami’rez, the idealist.

Other characters who appear in the novel are Gabriel Pérez
Portilla, a confirmed criminal who forces Nicolas to join him in an
escape attempt shortly after Nicolas first arrives, causing our
protagonist to be brutally punished for the attempt; a young homosexual
whose advanced Nicolas rejects, and who finally kills another prisoner
out of jealously; Ana Chiluiza, who is sent to prison with her lover
for conspiring against and killing her drunkard husband, and who is
allowed to marry her lover and rear her child in prison; a certain
Frenchman, who commits suicide because he cannot stand the prospect
of years of imprisonment; a pair of indians, who refuse Nicholas'
offers to help them because they can trust no white man; and Jaramillo,
a negro who dislikes Rami’rez' obvious superior culture, and finally
provokes him to fight with him. Although these many characters
taken at a glance may seem superfluous, they all add to the kaleido-
scopic view of Nicolas' fellow inmates, and thereby give us an accurate

account of the types one might. encounter in prison anywhere. Some of

88

them might be viewed as instruments Pareja uses to demonstrate
defects in Ecuadorian society, such as "Gusano", and his problems
which stem in part from his being a _c_h_qlg,which shows that it is
impossible for Pareja to completely put aside his social consciousness.
These many characters' prime functions, however, are to aid in
presenting a panorama of the world behind bars and to complement

the author's study of the principal character.

Returning to the story line, we see that Nicolas' contented
life with his friends comes to an abrupt halt. "Gusano" goes
completely mad, to the point of no longer even recognizing Rami'rez,
and Margarita is discharged. To make matters worse, a new Prison
Director of traditional and conservative inclinations replaces the
liberal one, and Nicolas is no longer allowed to function as a teacher,
but must become a carpenter.

Totally alone now, Nicolas withdraws more than ever to the
confines of his mind. He has never left the Penal during the duration
of his imprisonment. Even when his good behavior once earned him
the opportunity to leave for short periods of time, he preferred to
merely roam about the prison talking with the prisoners. Rami'rez
looks with apprehension at the prospect of leaving his home of
sixteen years: "ISalir yo del Penal! IDejar mi bella casa de
piedra! aSeri'a capaz de 30portar la presencia de las calles?

.. . . 121
(3N0 hari’a dano a mi corazén esta salida? “

 

121. Pareja, Hombres Sin Tiempo, p. 184.

 

89

Other than his recurring memory of Clemencia,‘ the only .
happiness Nicolas now has are his occasional letters from
Margarita. Although he realizes through her veiled comments
that Margarita has been unable to find a "decent" way of earning
a living, and has had to return to prostitution (although now as a
"madame"), Nicolas declares his love for her. While her response
is more a declaration of affection than of love, its overall effect is
that of encouragement. They agree that Nicolas will stay with her
when his sentence expires.

When Nicolas is discharged, he goes directly to Margarita.
To his sudden amazement, he realizes that both he and Margarita
have grown a great deal older. Tragically, the years away from
conventional society have made it impossible for either of them to
again truly become integrated into the "normal" scheme of life.

In the final scene Nicolas goes alone into Margarita's garden,
torn by the realization that all of his illusions have come to an end.
Clemencia, whose memory had always given him a certain peace
of mind, is now dead to him. His final act in the novel is the burial
of his diary, and with it, everything that had been life to him.

Until this final point, which is witnessed by a third party
(presumably the author), Pareja's teachnique has been that of using
a constant stream of consciousness, as one would expect when reading
a diary. We are unaware of the presence of the third party until the

diary is buried. In technique as well as theme, Hombres Sin Tiemgo

 

is truly a modern novel.

90

Regardless of its basically universal orientation, local
social problems and politics are not entirely extracted from this
novel. Pareja does touch the situation of the indian and the £13212,
and we plainly see that he is on the side of a more progressive
penal system. He also lets us know that the as assination of
political prisoners is not unheard of in Ecuador, and with his
customary historical awareness, he reminds us that in cell 276
of the Penal “Garci’a Moreno" the reknowned liberal general,
Eloy Alfaro, was imprisoned. However, none of these elements
detract from the main purpose of the novel, which is the study of
the workings of a human mind. To the contrary, Alfredo Pareja
skillfully uses these elements to complement his study of Nicolas
Rami’rez.

Although it is true that there have been other psychological

novels about men in cells, it has been noted that in Hombres Sin

 

Tiempo “no hay influencias de Wasserman ni de la tragedia de
Maurizius. Pareja trata su tema con sus prOpias fuerzas y logra
plenamente su proposito. "122 We must in the end be in agreement
with Kessel Schwartz’ opinion of the novel when he affirms that "in
spite of political innuendos, it concentrates also on the spiritual
needs of its characters and reflects the growing maturity of the

Ecuadorian novelist. "123

 

122. Diccionario de la Literatura Latinoamericana, "Ecuador, "

p. 145.
123. Schwartz, p. 225.

 

CHAPTER VI
THE BALANCED NOVEL

Las Tres Ratas (1944)1‘Z4 has received a generally warm

 

acceptance from the critics and has enjoyed a great deal of
popularity with the public at large. Shortly after its appearance
the novel was made into a movie (with the same title) in Argentina,
and has thereby probably made Pareja's name more known to the
hispanic world than did all of his previous literary endeavors.
Demand for the novel evidently exceeded the supply, for it was
offered in a second edition in 1950, just a few years after its first
appearance.

It is not surprising that Las Tres Ratas was used as material

 

for a film, for the work has elements of action, sex, strong characters,
and local color that lend themselves well to the cinema. In fact, one
reviewer feels that this novel is overly cinematographic:

”. . . this book. . . is not polished. The haste with which

it was written is obvious to the reader, urging him to

employ a like haste in reading if he wants to grasp the

book. Otherwise he will find himself resenting the

disappearance of characters who appear briefly,

cinematographically, to assume a mOmentary and

entirely dispr0portionate importance. "125

The above commentary by Mr. Franklin is undoubtedly the
most severe that we have encountered. However, we are in personal
agreement with most other critics, who feel that here Pareja has

created a novel possessing an extraordinary balance between plot,

character development, and thesis. Kessel Schwartz affirms that:

 

124. Alfredo Pareja Diezecanseco, Las Tres Ratas (Buenos
Aires: Losada, 1944).

125. Albert B. Franklin, "Las Tres Ratas, " The Inter—
American Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 3, (July, 1941), p. 104.

 

 

 

92

”Structurally it is probably the best of his works though it lacks

the force of La Baldomera or E1 muelle. . . . the author abandons

 

 

direct denunciation of the social structure in order to tell a good

story. "

126

In direct diagreement with Mr. Franklin, Edmundo

Ribadeneira feels that:

”acaso

Pareja

”. . .Nunca como en 'Las tres ratas’, Alfredo Pareja
se habfa manifestado con tanta desenvoltura, con

ojo tan penetrante y con sentido humano tan vigoroso.
Lo que hallamos de discutible en sus anteriores
novelas, la tendencia cinematografica, su afan por
crear personajes dudosos a fuerza de ser puros,
como Maria del Socorro, de la novela ‘El Muelle',
todo esto ha desaparecido casi por completo, . . .
ocupando su lugar una vision profunda que se hunde
en la vida y el ambiente, con calma y estudio; una
técnica noveli’stica que ya no se prodiga, un deseo
de elaborar a conciencia. "

Finally, Angel F. Rojas states that Las Tres Ratas is

 

la novela me’or escrita del autor'I and adds that the author:
1

". . . Se revela en este libro como el novelista que,

en el Ecuador, mejor domina e1 oficio. Sin tratar
grandes temas ni trabajar con masas humanas o
si’mbolos; sin la ambicién de condensar, en una

obra de ficcion, e1 drama social de la clase inferior
en la sociedad ecuatoriana; sin e1 prejuicio polftico. . . ,
este pequeho libro de- Pareja no solamenta nos cuenta. . .
una historia interesante, sino que nos da. . . la vision
realista de la sociedad en que ubica la narracion.
Cumple. . . este doble objetivo que. . . vienen bus cando
nuestros escritores, pasada la primera etapa de
"denuncia y protesta": hacer de sus libros, a1 ar

que un documento social, una obra artfstica. " 28

Here Rojas has put his finger on the real importance of

not only in the Ecuadorian novel, but also in the entire scope

 

126.
127.
128.

Schwartz, p. 225.
Ribadeneira, p. 89.
Rojas, p. 197.

93

of the Spanish-American novel-~his undeniable ability to combine
artistic creation with subject matter that is fairly frothing with

realism. We know that since El Muelle Pareja has never been

 

guilty of writing novels totally deficient in artistic finesse as the
result of excessive attention to thesis. To the contrary, we have
seen a steady progression toward a balance between the novelist's
artistic ability and his need to cry for social justice in his country.
This equilibrium between the universal and the regional has been
appearing occasionally in the novel from Mexico to Chile (with
authors of such varied natures as Juan Rulfo and Eduardo Barrios)
since the second decade of this century, but it has been nearly non-
existent in Ecuador, with the chief outstanding exception of Alfredo
Pareja Diezcanseco.

Already having the advantage of being high on the scale of
a thorough process of novelistic evolution, it is no surprise that

Las Tres Ratas, which was "Prepared for the Farrar and Rinehart

 

contest. . . finished just below Gil Gilbert7 3 Nuestro Pan which later

29

finished second to El mundo es ancho y ajeno of Ciro Alegri’a. "

 

The novel opens with a river scene, and we are reminded

of the Alfredo Pareja we first met, even before El Muelle. We

 

plainly see that our novelist is still most at home along the shores
of the Guayas River. The scene is one of a launch carrying among
its passengers three young women, Carmelina, Eugenia, and Ana

Luisa Parrales--"las tres ratas" of our story. The girls are

travelling from Daule to Guayaquil.

 

129. Schwartz, p. 225.

94

When they reach the port city, the girls go directly to their
Aunt Aurora's home. Although their arrival is unexpected, Ti’a
Aurora welcomes them. From the great portrait of Eloy Alfaro
on one of the walls, we know that we are dealing with a blatantly
Liberal family. The picture of family reunion is suddenly broken
by the arrival of the police, who have come for Eugenia. She is
charged with a jewel theft.

In the manner we by now know to be so often characteristic
of his style, Pareja presents us first with a picture filled with color
and intrigue. Our interest is thoroughly aroused. Now he retreats
in time and space to fill us in on the background.

We learn that the girls' father was ”el Comandante" Antonio
Parrales, a stout old Liberal fighter, close friend of Eloy Alfaro,
good husband and father, flirtatious and popular with the ladies, in
short, a real man's man. Don Antonio was a great patriot, and
remembered his daughters' births by coincidental historical and
political events. Through Don Antonio we are kept aware of Pareja's
tendency to place his novels in a definite historical perspective.

When his wife- died, Don Antonio kept working his lands with
his customary Vigor, and attended to the task of raising his daughters
by himself. Already in his seventies, one day he was bitten by a
poisonous snake. In spite of his nearly heroic efforts to reach his
home and aid, he died. It seemed somehow appropriate that this
man should die while still charged with vitality, rather than the
withering death of a tired old man. Although we only meet him

briefly, Don Antonio is an unforgetable character.

95

After their father's passing, the girls try valiantly to continue
making their property a successful business venture. However, a
disease strikes their livestock and their cattle are decimated. The
resulting financial loss makes it impossible to invest money into
their farm, and the girls begin to fail.

Carmelina, the oldest, feels the greatest responsibility for
the maintenance of the family's wealth and honor. As their economic
situation worsens, she and Eugenia (the next-oldest) call on an old
acquaintance of their father, Don Horacio Valladares, for financial
aid. Don Horacio makes them a sizeable loan (5, 000 Sucres) at the
stratospheric interest rate of eight percent per month. As much as
Carmelina and her sisters try to manage with their new capital, they
are unable to pay even the interest on the loan, and their family's
lands soon fall into the hands of Don Horacio.

We must sympathize with Carmelina, for she must fight the
battle nearly alone. Ana Luisa is too young to be of great assistance,
and Eugenia is in love. Eugenia's sweetheart and lover is Ernesto
Carbo, a local police official who used to write poetry. In fact, it
is his capacity for lyrical expression that really wins the girl:

"~-No te lo puedo explicar. . . Sé que te quiero

porque me tiembla e1 corazon en tu presencia y me

sube por la sangre como una musica caliente. . . Eres

como las noches de verano: despejada y luminosa, pero

lejana. Y para mirarte, tengo que alzar la cabeza y

adelgazar, como el filo de un segundo, el espi’ritu. . .

Te hablo con los ojos, con las manos trémulas, con

mi deseo encendido, quemante como una llaga. . . Y me

duelen los dedos por tocarte. . .

En la tarde, el inmenso arbol de mangos se

iluminaba con millares de faroles. Abajo, el tronco
afioso se torcfa. en tendones y tumores de aspera

96

presencia. Arriba, sonaban los colores. Verde

brillante, amarillo de oro encendido, rojo violento. . .

Eran las hojas que se apretaban como racimos de

luces. Los puntos negros de los mangos maduros

moteaban el oro y el verde. "13

As has been the case throughout our study, we are at times
taken by surprise at Pareja's ability for expression that is seldom
exploited by him, such as the above segment, which is obviously
endowed with genuine lyrical qualities. In this part of the novel,
located in the countryside, we also see moments of rural description
demonstrative of an intimate rapport between the novelist and the

less pOpulated areas of his land, much as we saw earlier in parts

of La Beldaca and Baldomera. Had we a firmer basis for our

 

 

conclusion, we might hypothesize that in spite of his thematic
material classifying him as a "novelist of social reform, " Alfredo
Pareja has the heart of a romantic. Were our first conclusion
correct, we might further suggest that this elemental sensitivity
to the beauty of humanity and its natural surroundings somehow
softens the rage brought about his his compassion for his less
fortunate fellows, and never allows him to ignore art for thesis.
We learn that Eugenia's lover, Ernesto Carbo, has an
understanding with Don Horacio to exploit the girls and take their
land. When Eugenia realizes that Ernesto has aided in their family's
ruin, her anger at the total picture of injustice leads her to seek
vengeance and retribution by stealing some jewels from Don
Horacio's home. It is by now clear that the most powerful figure

in Las Tres Ratas is Eugenia.

 

 

130. Pareja, Las Tres Ratas, p. 30.

 

97

With an understanding of the events leading to Eugenia's
arrest, we are now back in Guayaquil. Again the keyword is
injustice, as Eugenia cries in the police station, "La ley. . . La ley
para don Horacio y para mi’ la policia. "131

Nonetheless, Tfa Aurora's influence through her family's
proud history in Liberal politics keeps her niece from going to
jail. Once the jewels are returned, Eugenia is freed.

At this point, Eugenia's life assumes new aspects.
Spiritually depressed after her release from the police, she
attempts to poison herself. However, she is saved by the quick
attention of a young Doctor who is Tfa Aurora's physician and who
lives in the neighborhood. After recovering from the effects of
the poison, Eugenia assumes a positive attitude toward living, and
resolves to make the best of her situation.

Undertaking a frontal assault on life, Eugenia leaves her
aunt's house to seek work of any sort, even that of a domestic
servant. Regardless of her vigor, her efforts are futile, she is
too white to be a cholita and too pretty to be otherwise accepted
without suspicion. Finally, after walking the streets for seemingly
endless hours, she comes across a lower-class section of town
where the negro pOpulation is singing and dancing to the music of
marimbas. Exhausted, and nearly hypnotized by the music, she
is approached by a young man of some apparent means, Carlos
Alvarez. She allows herself to be picked up by him and taken to

his apartment, where she is to stay as his mistress for a few weeks.

 

131. Pareja, Las Tres Ratas, p. 48.

 

98

Finding that Alvarez is basically a callous fellow, Eugenia looks
forward to the times when he leaves, allowing her to relax.

One day while away from Alvarez' apartment for a stroll,
Eugenia comes across the young Doctor, who informs her that
her sisters have had a disagreement with Ti’a Aurora and have
gone to live by themselves. Upon returning to Alvarez' part-
time home (his "casa chica") Eugenia finds him there, angry at
her absence. They have a heated argument, and she leaves him,
as penniless as he found her. She goes directly to the Doctor,
who takes her to her sisters.

Eugenia finds that the girls are working for a certain Dona
Tarjelia in her dress shop. After lying to them that she has been
working as a servant, she moves in with them, also taking employ-
ment with Do‘na Tarjelia. The girls earn very little money, but
their income is increased by a small monthly government pension,
which is given in honor of their father's military service to his
country.

Through Doha Tarjelia, Eugenia meets another young man,
Vicente Zavala. Doha Tarjelia has inherited some qualities of the

historical trotaconventos, for she hopes that Vicente's relationship

 

with Eugenia will somehow give economically fruitful results, thus
allowing the girl means of paying her debts to her. However,
Zavala is a man of an honorable nature, and he dates Eugenia as
much for her personality as for her appearance. Vicente has a

friend, Francisco Pereira, who begins to date Ana Luisa.

99

Pereira is one of the more interesting characters in the
novel, for through him Pareja exposes his views about social
injustice in his country. An avowed socialist, Pereira notes that
rule under the grand old Liberal party has in reality accomplished
little more to aid the lower classes than has the Conservative party:

"--iQué reformas! Con Alfaro mismo empezaron. . .
Recuerda 3610 el Congreso de 1905. éPara qué sirven
reformas de ley, sin aplicacion ninguna a la realidad?

Es la mayor insinceridad que conozco. La ley, la ley,
una gran Celestina para no hacer nada. Los privilegios
han seguido, las leyes se han escrito en el aire

sin consulta alguna con la verdad ecuatoriana. El

indio y el montuvio continfian esclavos, bestias
productoras, sin capacidad de consumo. Atfn heredan
las deudas y se venden como objetos. éEs esto la

ley? éLiberalismo, eso? Eso se llama disolucic’m de
un partido que no ha cumplido sus programas. En el
fondo, los liberales son tan reaccionarios como

los conservadores, sus enemigos ultramontanos.
Simplemente, se han disputado e1 poder por el

poder en si’. La prueba es que no hay un solo

liberal de los que mandan, hombres de club, y de
iglesia casi siempre, que no tenga sus simpati’as

y decision por el fascismo. éQuieres mas contra-
diccic’m?"1 2

It is notable that in Las Tres Ratas this chief exponent of

 

social reform is not a foreigner, as was the case in some of
Pareja's earlier novels, but is now a home-grown product.
Edmundo Ribadeneira notes that:

". . . En 'Las tres ratas,‘ en lugar del conocido
comunista de importacion, el socialista Pereyra
puede indicarnos un adelanto en Alfredo Pareja,

en el sentido de acercarse con mayor convencimiento
a las fuentes ideolégicas de izquierda de nuestro
pai’s. Pereyra es un socialista ecuatoriano, algo
ut6pico, pero en todo caso, un hombre noble,
inteligente y sincero. "

 

132. Pareja, Las Tres Ratas, pp. 72-73.
133. Ribadeneira, p. 90.

 

 

 

llilllflll If ii

100

We should note that of all the characters appearing in
Pareja's work up to this point, Pereira is the one who is probably
the closest in reflecting the author's true self. Through Pereira
our earlier questions as to why Pareja had to use foreigners to
solve Ecuadorian problems are partially answered. It is not

unlikely that when he wrote those earlier novels (such as El Muelle

 

and Baldomera) Alfredo Pareja, then still in his twenties, was much

 

more enchanted with new ideas from abroad than when he reached
his mid-thirties. Still dissatisfied with the accomplishments of
earlier generations and no longer enchanted with directly imported
ideas, Pareja shows us through Pereira a change--an evolution—-in
attitude. The author now suggests that any real hope for social
progress in his homeland must come primarily from the efforts of
his own society. We see here not a lessening of dedication on the
part of our author, but a more mature recognition of the need for
practical and honorable means of solving national problems. How-
ever, we must be careful not to view Pereira as merely a mouth-
piece for the author; the character's appearance is too brief and too
well complemented by the other characters for that sort of categoric
qualification.

While the action of the novel has moved swiftly from the
start, it now seems to gain even more momentum. By now we
witness definite delineations between the three sisters.

Zavala and Pereira take Eugenia and Ana Luisa with them
to parties, picnics, and other social gatherings, allowing them to

be quite well-known in the circle of the jarana. Even Carmelina

101

accompanies them, and soon the three develop the reputation of
being "party girls". During the high point of one gay evening
Alvarez appears. Surprised at seeing his ex~mistress Eugenia,
he exclaims: “walQué haces ti’i aqui’? IRata! éEstas son tus
hermanas? LLas buenas hermanitas formales? iLas tres ratas
juntasl 3A ver! iA ver, compa'fierosl iVengan a bailar con las

134

tres ratas! IYo se las presentoi iYol " Thus the three sisters

acquire their nickname of "las tres ratas". The title really only
applies to them as a physical unit, however, for spiritually they
are quite far apart.

When Ti’a Aurora dies, leaving her nieces absolutely no
inheritance, it is more than ever apparent to the girls that they
must be self-reliant. The necessity of relying on themselves
singularly as much as collectively allows their individual natures
to become rather well defined.

Ana Luisa is the least well-drawn of the sisters; her
importance is more to complement Pereira than her sisters, and
in the latter part of the novel we must view her more as a unit
with him than with Carmelina and Eugenia. Francisco Pereira
had always been a romantic in search of the "perfect girl", writing
poetry and develOpin affection for certain prostitutes who would
lend him a sympathetic ear during his youthful years, but becoming
disenchanted with poetry when he realized the grim realities of his

native society. Upon meeting Ana Luisa, he finds in her a willing

 

134. Alfredo Pareja, Las Tres Ratas, p. 79.

 

102

vessel for his emotion and a compassionate partner for his life's
still nebulous road. When Pereira becomes disillusioned with
imported communism at the Soviet Union's idleness during the
German invasion of Poland (again we are aware of history as it
happens), it is Ana Luisa who is present to lend him moral support.
The young idealist decides to marry the daughter of a great
traditional family and together they will work for their country's
future. The new is thus united with the best of the old as a means
for progress.

While Ana Luisa is becoming involved with Pereira, her
oldest sister, Carmelina, is going mad. Always a lonely
person, Carmelina envies Eugenia's ability to reject fine
suitors while she herself feels that she is on the path to becoming
an old maid. She would like to be courted by Zavala herself, and
on one occasion confesses her loneliness to him, but he is only
interested in the indifferent Eugenia. Feeling that everyone is
only out to do her harm, Carmelina suffers a nervous breakdown,
and is taken by Dr. Rami’rez (the same one who earlier treated
Eugenia) to the hospital. Upon regaining emotion stability and
leaving the hospital, Carmelina unhappily resigns herself to her
life, reflecting on her misfortunes and the glory of her family's
past. When in the end her sisters leave her alone she decides to
live with and work for Doha Tarjelia and make the best of her
situation. As she is about to leave her apartment in the final
scene of the novel, she notices that some boys had drawn three

large rats on the sidewalk under the windows; the drawings were

103

accompanied by some obscene words. "Carmelina se adelantc’), tomé

"13 5 Thus ends

su pahuelo y frotando, frotando, comenzé a borrar.
Carmelina's story--an attempt to clean her family's name.

As earlier affirmed, however, Eugenia is the most
completely drawn of the three sisters. Never having fully recovered
from her emotional involvement with Ernesto Carbo back in Daule,
she is unable to become more than passively interested in Vicente
Zavala or any other man. When Zavala realizes the futility of his
relationship with Eugenia and finally bids her goodbye, she gives
herself over briefly but vigorously to a libertine life of parties and
liquor.

Meanwhile, Carbo's underhanded financial ventures have
paid off for him, and he gives up his post in Daule in order to live
more leisurely in Guayaquil. When one day he comes across
Eugenia, she is like the proverbial "putty in his hands", and again
becomes his mistress. Eugenia soon learns, however, the Carbo
is only interested in her for temporary diversion. Upon finding
out that her lover is engaged to another girl, Eugenia's jealousy
drives her to the point of shooting Carbo. However, Carbo is only
wounded, and he does not press charges against Eugenia; in fact,
he rather enjoys bragging to his friends about his power over women
that drives them to such violent ends. As is to be expected, Eugenia
finds little humor in the whole situation, for she suffers greatly
from her unrewarded love for Carbo. In a commentary also alluded

to by Lilo Linke, Benjami’n Carric’m feels that the social injustice

 

135. Pareja, Las Tres Ratas, p. 198.

 

104

related to matters of love in this novel is one of its most outstanding
qualities:
"Y es aqui’ donde hemos de hacer la remarca

central sobre esta li’nea noveli’stica de Alfredo Pareja:

su reclamo sobre la injusticia social frente a1 amor.

Frente al amor de hombre y mujer, esti’mulo supremo

de la especie. Otros diran la voz que reclama la

injusticia frente al pan, substancia y esencia de la

injusticia humana. Pareja dira la voz contra la

injusticia y la desigualdad social ante el amor, ante

la union electiva de hombre y mujer, en cumplimiento

de los mandatos de la especie. "1 6

Once again Eugenia realizes that she must be completely
self-reliant. She again becomes involved with Alvarez, but she now
rents her house to him rather than her body. We now learn that
he is a smuggler of expensive fabrics, and he needs the house of
Eugenia and her sisters as an inconspicuous caché for his contraband.
Eugenia finally reports Alvarez' activities to a friend in Customs,
and in a violent scene including a gun battle, Alvarez is taken

prisoner. These scenes of smuggling and violence recall similar

scenes in El Muelle, and it is notable that Las Tres Ratas closes

 

a cycle that began with the former novel, for Pareja would not
again produce a novel for a number of years. We shall talk more
about this cycle shortly.

Although freed of Alvarez, who had blackmailed her into
becoming an accomplice to his contraband activities by threatening
to report her attempt on Carbo's life, Eugenia is still in difficult
straits. She is carrying Carbo's child. Eugenia's situation is

doubly sad, for earlier she did have one possible solution to her

 

136. B. Carrién, p. 182.

105

problems through Dr. Rami’rez, whose kindness toward her had
grown into love and who offered to marry her. Although she then
gently rejected Dr. Rami’rez on the noble grounds that marrying
"1a rata" Parrales would harm his professional future, she dreams
of how happy her life could be were she his wife. Nonetheless,
Eugenia is a person of action as much as she is a dreamer. In
spite of her position in her society of being a slightly tarnished
member of an aristocratic family fallen into disintegration and
decay keeping her from finding work in either high or low positions,
she is not without her charm and good looks, her final instruments
for support. When an old ”Celestinesque" woman offers her the
opportunity to become the mistress of Don Gregorio, a rich and
aging landowner, Eugenia accepts; by now she is obsessed with
the future welfare of her yet unborn child. She is first kept in
Guayaquil by Don Gregorio, until he finds out about her pregnancy
and becomes violently jealous and asks her to have an abortion.
When she refuses he slips some medicine, or poison, into her food
that nearly causes her to lose her child. It is now Eugenia's turn
for blackmail; Ana Luisa goes to Don Gregorio and accuses him
of nearly killing her sister and threatens scandal. Shaken, Don
Gregorio gives Ana Luisa a sizeable check for Eugenia and agrees
to support her and her child, under the condition that she leave
Guayaquil. We last see Eugenia heading up the river on a boat,
reflecting on her life and her future.

Thus ends the story of the three "ratas", the three surviving

members of the proud family of "el Comandante" Antonio Parrales;

F
-l
5‘
’5'.
2.
.I
1‘

106

each going their separate ways, probably never again to be united
as a family group. Each of these three sisters, especially Eugenia,
deserve much more study than our purpose has allowed us here.
There is a great deal of distance between the submissive Maria

del Socorro of El Muelle and the agressive Eugenia of Las Tres

 

Ratas, and a discussion of only Pareja's femenine protagonists in
an evolutionary perspective is in itself worthy of a separate study.
We have suggested that this novel completes a cycle for

Pareja. We have seen since E1 Muelle, La Beldaca, and the efforts

 

 

preceeding those novels the gradual replacing of characters used
primarily as instruments indicating the necessity of social reform--
exploited, submissive members of the lower classes (although never
presented merely as "types")-=—with characters from later novels

(Baldomera), although from the same social classes, no longer

 

content with meekness and endurance. Those novels take place

primarily in Guayaquil, as does the next novel, Don Balon de Baba,

 

but now the characters are chiefly from the upper and the middle
classes, with the protagonist representing an idealistic, paternal-
istic, unrealistic fringe element of the upper classes that futilely
hopes to solve the country's social ills by awakening humanitarian

interest. In Hombres Sin Tiempo the geographic location is Quito,

 

but the substance of the novel takes place within the mind of the
schoolteacher protagonist, a representative of the middle classes.
Here, however, social problems only appear in the background,
and this novel is important to us as a demonstration of the author's

ability to write on a universal plane while keeping the concrete

107

situation of the novel within national boundaries. In Las Tres Ratas
we again return to Guayaquil. Now, however, we view the social
situation on a plane that encompasses all of the classes and many

of the problems of Ecuador, while it also deals with problems basic
to all human beings (the needs for love, recognition, security,
survival, etc. ). In Alfredo Pareja's novelistic evolution up to

this point, Las Tres Ratas must occupy the t0p of the scale for

 

qualitative as well as chronological reasons. We say that it closes
a cycle because it will be twelve years before the author publishes
his next novel. We consider Pareja a mature novelist since 1933,

when El Muelle was published, but in the final analysis the publication

 

of Las Tres Ratas in 1944 (the novel was actually written in 1942,

 

when it was submitted for the Farrar and Rinehart contest) marks
Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco's most mature novelistic expression of

what we may call his first period.

CHAPTER VII

A BOLD EFFORT

After Las Tres Ratas Alfredo Pareja did not publish another

 

novel for more than a decade. Diplomatic assignments and business
matters occupied much of his time, while he turned to writing
primarily non-fiction. During that time, howev r, he conceived the
idea for a series of novels that would attempt to chronicle Ecuadorian
events beginning with the revolution (or military coup) of July 9, 1925,
and carrying on to the present. His original plan was to write some
six volumes in this series; up to now he has completed three: £3

Advertencia; El Aire y lcs Recuedros; and Los Poderes Omni’modos.

 

 

 

He calls this series Los Nuevos Afios. 3‘

 

These novels truly do deal with :3. "new years"; interestingly,
they are Alfredo Pareja's own years. The novels are linked chiefly
by one key character, Pablo Canelos. Pablo is seventeen years old
in 1925, which would make the year of his birth 1908—-the year of

our author's birth. Los Nuevos A’ios are not so much the auto-

 

biography of the author, however, as they are the ”biography" of
Ecuador, which is personified by the many characters who flow
through its pages. As Edmundo Ribadeneira states, ”. . . e1 personaje
principal. . . es el pais, ei mO'».""imiE-;t‘3 masivo del pueblo, pero

individualizado en los ersonai ‘S tr icos que actfian en la ran
J ..

 

 

*La Advertencia (31161-03 Aires: Li:-;':-:."~r1a,l956).
E1 Aire y los Recuerdos (Buenos - s: Losada, 1959).
Los Poderes Omnfhiodcs (Bueno' es: Losada, 1964).

 

(D
3*
l

 

108

1C9

. H137
escena naCional.

This series of novels is often referred to collectively as a

"novela-ri’o" (roman fleuve). It is a type of Ecuadorian comédie

 

humaine, but with as much emphasis on events as on characters.
Nonetheless, we do not have to look to France, and Balzac, but to
Chile, and Alberto Blest Gana for a predecessor to Pareja in these

latest novels. Blest Gana's well~known triology (Durante 1a

 

Reconquista, Marti’n Rivas, and Los Transplantados) does for

 

 

 

Chilean literature of the nineteenth century very much what Pareja
does for Ecuadorian literature in the twentieth century. We should
note, however, that there is no direct tie between Pareja and Blest
Gana; we are merely drawing parallels. Pareja accomplishes Lg

Nuevos Amos as an original effort; stylistic and thematic similarities

 

with the earlier novelist from Chile are absent.

While these latest novels often show our author at his stylistic
best, they are undoubtedly of limited interest outside of Ecuador,
other than to students of literature, history, and political and social
science. Nonetheless, some of the characters created here stand
among Pareja's best. Alejandro Carr-15:1, speaking of the latest
novel in the series, Los Poderes Omni’modos, states that ”en ella

. . . . 138
el novelista y el historiadcr se van acoplando cada vez mejor. "

 

There has been nothing quite like Los Nuevos Anos previously in

 

Ecuadorian literature, if indeed not in Spanish American literature.

0 .I . . . . . - .
Benjamin Carrio’n efquively puts it in the follcwmg manner:

 

137. Ribadeneira, p. 92

138. Alejandro Carrion, “Lcs Poderes Omnf’modos, " Letras
del Ecuador (Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana), Mayo-Agosto
de 1965, Niimero 131, p. 18.

 

". . .tenemos en camino uno de los esfuerzcs espiritudes mas serios,
una de las aventuras y pensamientos de la ficcion, mas audaces y
bien concebidas de nuestra historia 1iteraria."1n9
Although social complaints and leftuwing ideologies are
expounded by some of the characters in these novels, other characters
express just the opposite views. It is a combative epoch for Ecuador,
when ideas, words, and bullets fly in all directions. Pareja chooses
not to stand on one side or the other here, but attempts to stand in the
middle. By doing so, he gives us an accurate and objective picture
of the times and the kinds of people who lived in those times. At the
same time, he re-examines his own values and ideas about literature,
politics, and his relation to both-~a type of soul-searching and self-
inflected purge. Our impression is that he keeps the promise he

makes us in the prologue to the first volume, La Advertencia:

 

. .4 . ,, 140
”Espero ser gusto con la epoca y los hombres de mi generac1on. ”

Stereotypes and verbal flagmwaving on the part of the author
are not present in these novels, although we know that Alfredo
Pareja has never gone to the extreme of those tendencies in any
of his mature novels. Any political ideologies are expressed by
the characters as their own, and many different ideologies are
expressed. To a finer degree than ever before in his novels, we
not only know how Pareja's principle characters act, but we also
know why. As is his custom, our author gives enough attention

to details of background in his characters that they are never

 

139. B. Carrion, El Nuevo Relato Ecuatoriano, p. 191.
140. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, La Advertencia (Buenos
Aires: Losada, 1956). p. 8.

 

 

just "types". In facz, as artistic creations the Los Nuevos Ahos

 

’0

series would appear to reach for tne zenith of areja's novelistic

development. As is stated ir. the Diccionario de la Literatura
Latinoamericana:

". . . La obra emprendida es peligrosa y enorme

y va siendo realizada er; plena madurez de su
autor. Un conscimmrio profundo del existir
ecuatoriano hace que sus pag;nas sean extra'ia-
mente veraces v apasiorantes. Personajes reales,
ocultos bajo sl fragil velo de nombres inventados,
se entremezclan con cream-ores indispensables
para mantener la estructura de la novela. "1

A deep knowledge of his country, a mixture of real and
fictitious characters, and an effort undertaken during the novelist's

full maturity are indeed elements composing Los Nuevos Afios.

 

However, the key word in the above commentary is “peligrosa”,

for the outstanding feature of these novels is that they chronicle
Ecuador. Therefore, as attsrnpzi's at which might be called ”purely
artistic“ creatio_is, in w‘n:;h what occurs inside the characters is
far more important than wha; ac:urs outside of them and which
thereby hold universal appeai, Alfredo Pareja is truly treading on
dangerous ground. In addition, fias- zeiatively objective presentation
of the facts surrounding social upneavals in Ecuador may well bring

the work is therefore

:4
m
l—o
C)
I «I
(I
{3
(D
p)
S

C1
{1'
0
I1

about political repercussio
dangerous in a concrete as we: as an esthetic sense.

Since our purpose here is to attempt to understand Alfredo
Pareja's evolution more as a novelist-sari artistuuthan as an
historian or a political comment tor, we shall " ndertake to limit

our discus sian to primarily those eiemer.ts which demonstrate

 

141. Dicc. de la Lit. Latinoamericana, "Ecuador”, p. 146.

 

112

artistic links with Pareja's earlier novels. Of course, since the
milieu of the novels is one of social ”storm and stress" which
directly affects all of the characters, it is impossible to ignore
completely the social phenomena.

>90}- >§<

In La Advertenoia (1956), the first of the Los Nuevos Anos

 

 

series, we are introduced to the Ecuador of 1925, with most of the

action taking place in Quito. With the exception of Hombres Sin

 

Tiempo, all of Pareja's earlier novels have as their main focal
point the area in and around Guayaquil. Although this is one of the
author's longest novels, it deals with the relatively short span of
time immediately before and after the revolution of July 9, 1925,
known in Ecuador as "la Juliana".

We meet a group of left-wing intellectuals, artists, and
workers who have as their spiritual leader a masculine painter
called Luis Salgado. Salgado lives With a beautiful woman who is
surrounded by an aura of sensuality and mystery, Clara del Monte.
The other members of the group are: Toma’ts Briones, a Master
Carpenter from Guayaquil, about forty-five years old, who is more
interested in action than words to solve Ecuador's social ills;
Ernesto Ruiz, the most verbally radical of the group, who lives
with his poor parents but is ashamed of their social position, and
who is the lover of Briones' daughter, Berta; Fabian Ordé'fiez, a
young socialist law student leaning toward Marxism, who wishes
to dedicate himself to defending the indians; and Ramiro Alomi’a,

an "escribiente del juzgado" whose inclinations range between

113

socialism and poetry and who lives with his Widowed mother. This
small group often meets in Salgado's apartment, which he rents
from "e1 Comandante” Alfonso Canelos, who is a stern old Liberal
veteran of Alfaro's campaigns, but who confines his liberality to
party affiliation.

”El Comandante” Canelos has an illegitimate mestizo son,
Pablo, who is not interested in a military or a commercial career,
but would rather dream, read, write, or listen to the discussions
of Salgado's group. Unable to communicate with his father, and
since his mother is dead, Pablo looks to Salgado for spiritual
guidance, and to Clara for the complete image and concept of woman,
which for him includes physical desire, motherhood, idolatry, and
compassion. Pablo is Pareja‘s most complex character to date, and
he is of more transcendental significance to Ecuador than have been
any of the author's previous creations. We take the liberty of citing
Alfredo Pareja’s answer to our questions concerning Pablo Canelos,
which he gives us in a personal letter dated March 3, 1966:

”éQuién es Pablo Canelos? En parte es un

testigo inventado, en parte es hecho de distintas

porciones de gentes y amigos que he conocido,

en parte, acaso, hay e1 é]. inevitablemente algo de

mi mismo. Sobre todo, acaso él es "103 nuevos

a‘r'ios", la transicion, e1 cret imiento de una era

en la cual empezaron a advertirse los rapios

cambios sociales de nuestro tiempo, ur. intelectual,

vamos, con ciertas audaces pretensiones de ser

per se una casi tipologi’a psico-social de una

generaci6n incierta y todaVi’a con huellas romanticas.

Es testigo y parte, es, claro esta, un ente de ficcién

y hasta un pretexto para organizar un semi-mensaje

extrafdo de tan varias y hasta Opuestas corrientes de

un pensamiento en formacién. Un poco de pedagogi’a

y otro de abstraccion, de racionalizacién y de choques
emocionales. No lo sé explicar mejor. Una explicacién

114

seri’a, por ejemplo, llamarlo hilo conductor, pero

esto tiene un sentido restringido de “cc-cnica, y no

seri’a bastante. "142

Pablo is painfully aware of his father's indifference toward
his dead mother, and disapproves of “e1 Comandante's" frequenting
houses of prostitution, mistreatment of his tenant, Salgado, and
constant overtures to Salgado’s mistress, Clara. In fact, Pablo
is so concerned for his friends' welfare that at one point he steals
money from his father in order to pay their rent, which is a courageous
act for a boy who has always been somewhat afraid of his austere
father. “El Comandante's” and Pablo's mutual interest in Clara
further complicates their relationship, although Pablo's interest
is principally spiritual, while his fatherls is principally carnal.

As the action of the first part of La Advertencia progresses,

 

we learn that Clara is the illegitimate offspring of a sort of small-
town ”witch" (bruja) and an Italian travelling salesman; the
mysterious life of potions and strange remedies lead by her mother
makes Clara a bit of a mystery herself, and she is affected to the
point of fearing maternity in the event that her mother's witchcraft
might be hereditary. Always a beautiful girl, at the age of thirteen
she was violated by the imayoral from a neighboring farm. At
fifteen the local schoolmaster took her to Quito and made her his
mistress. She finally turns up in Colombia, where she boards with
Felipe Bonilla and his wife, Sof'i’a. All is well at the Bonillas' until
the lovely Clara inspires a smoldering but undeclared love for her
in Felipe, which is sensed by Sofia, who becomes insanely jealous.

Sofi'a. accuses Clara of starting a fire, and Clara is about to be man-

 

142. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, letter of March 3, 1966.

115

handled by a mob when Luis Salgado appears. Salgado rescues her,
then takes her to Quito with him to become involved in the revolu-
tionary spirit with Ruiz, Alomi’a, and the others. Clara possesses
a universal attraction, for nearly every male who comes into
contact with her is plagued by dreams and fantasies that she
inspires.

Other characters of interest who appear in this part are
Don Froilan del P020, and his wife, Lola. Don Froilan expresses
the staunchly conservative side of Ecuadorian political thought:

I

“Don Froilan permanecié unos minutos inm6vil,

sentado a su escritorio, meditando. I C6mo han danado

los agitadores e1 corazén de los jovenes! iAtrasado

pai’s de cholos y de indios! No era posible vivir en él

en paz; que ya una cosa, que ya otra. aCémo progresar

en semejantes condiciones? Desde 1912, cuando e1

arrastre, linchamiento y quema de los Alfaro, el pueblo

era mas insolente. No, se'fior, desde antes, desde que

el viejo Alfaro quiso dar libertad a esos brutos; él cri6

los cuervos que le sacaron 10s ojos, pero nos ha dejado

fritos. "143

Even Don Freilan is not a "type", for in spite of his high
social and economic status and conservative leanings, even he
shows compassion for the indians who live on the lands owned by
him, but which he only occasionally visits. A man over fifty, Don
Froilan is married to Lola, who is still in her early twenties. Lola
lives in a world of social graces and cliches, and finds her business-
man husband quite boring. Lola finds diversion, however, through
Ramiro Alomi’a, who has impressed Don Froilan with his qualities

of working hard and has become entrusted with the management of

some of Froilan's business interests, as well as becoming accepted

 

143. Pareja, La Advertencia, p. 61.

 

116

as a steady guest of the Del Pozo household.

A love affair develops between Lola and Ramiro, and Ramiro
steadily becomes aware of the financial advantages his relationship
with Lola could afford him. The glitter of socialism begins to become
outshone for him by the glimmer of gold at the t0p of the social ladder
that he begins to climb.

The final characters worthy of note in this first part are
Teresa, Ofelia, and Margarita, "las tres pardas”, who are three
prostitutes from the coast. Their business establishment is truly
a democratic one, for it is frequented by both the rich and the poor;
the Right and the Left. The "pardas" owe their name to their mixture
of white, indian, and negro bloods. As a type of handyman, they
employ Felipe Bonilla, who left his wife when he began to feel
homocidal desires toward'her and came to Quito, in order to be
close to Clara and somehow protect her. All three of the "pardas"
are in love with Salgado. When one of the "pardas", Teresa
Qui‘fionez, is about to sing a song, Pareja lets us know that his
heart is still in his native coastal section:

"Su tierra verde, su tierra negra, junto al

mar, de voz de tambor, de marimba, de la chicharra

encendida, la tunda, e1 batuque, el candombe, 1a

culebra, la culebra del agua y del arbol, ondulada

y prieta, la voz desafiante y dulce. "144

The military takeover has gone into effect by the time the

first part of La Advertencia draws to an end. Most of the left-wing

 

elements in the country are on the side of the takeover, for the

young officers heading it are pledged to put into action the ideals of

 

:—

144. Pareja, La Advertencia, p. 91.

 

 

.11.».taIMplpmrnr. ,H 34.:
u. ,. “iv

117

Alfaro's revolution of 1895, which heretofore had remained just
ideals. Pablo has by now become a part of Salgado's group,
although his role in the discussions is still passive.

Salgado, however, has become disillusioned with himself
for his inability to fathom the real meaning of the revolutionary
movement and for his inability to spiritually reach the mysteriously
distant Clara del Monte. He suddenly borrows money from Ramiro
Alomi'a, who would like to see Clara free of the painter's influence,
and takes a trip to the Eastern wilderness of Ecuador. After a
harrowing trip through the jungle during which he goes mad, he
allows himself to fall into the river at the bottom of an abyss, and
dies. Pareja accomplishes in this episode of man against the savage
forces of nature an effect that rivals the ending of the Colombian

Rivera's classic novel, La Voragine, for in a manner of speaking,

 

salgado is also "devoured" by the wilderness.

There is little time lapse between the first and second parts,
but a continuation of the action of the days just after the military
takeover. Salgado's sudden disappearance causes bewilderment
to his friends. Ramiro Alomi’a feels somewhat guilty for having
loaned Salgado money for his trip, because he knows that his
motivations of having unobstructed access to Clara were foolish,
for Clara is inaccessible. Felipe Bonilla decides to look for Salgado
himself, and leaves for the jungle.

Now we meet another character who is interested in Salgado's
disappearance, Don Héctor Molina. Don Héctor would like to blame
the “Comandante” Canelos for the painter's absence, for he knows of

the “Comandante's” attempts to evict the painter through Clara, who

118

has brought items to his sh0p to be pawned. By exposing the
”Comandante" as Salgado's murderer, Molina hopes that he could
win Clara for himself, but she is as distant from him as she is
from all of the others. Molina is a rather pitiful man; a lonely,
overweight hypochondriac who is preoccupied with sex and only
able to give vent to his desires by hiring prostitutes.

Meanwhile, an employee of Don Froilan, Maturino Carvajal,
is caught embezzling money, which he uses to supplement his meager
salary in order to support his children. Don Froilan has him jailed,
and his children, whose mother is dead, are without support. Luci'a,
the oldest, goes to Don Héctor Molina for money, and he takes
advantage of her, quite proud of himself for having a woman for the
first time in his life who was not a professional prostitute.

Since Salgado is gone, and not wishing to stay in his old
apartment where “e1 Comandante" makes constant advances to her,
Clara at first accepts the "maestro" Briones offer to stay at his
house. When she realizes that her presence in the Briones house-
hold is not welcomed by the carpenter's daughter, Berta, who wants
her room free in order to entertain Ernesto Ruiz, Clara takes
residence in a small hotel and goes to work with a theatre group.
From her hotel she sends for Pablo, for whom she feels deep
compassion and whose honest innocence attracts her. She makes
Pablo her lover, and thus introduces him to manhood.

When Felipe Bonilla returns from his grueling trip, he
clarifies Salgado's disappearance as suicide, thereby destroying

all speculations of murder. Hector Molina is now without a reason

119

to bring punishment on the "Comandante" Canelos.

However, Don Hector is not the only one who would like to
see the "Comandante" punished. The ”parda" Teresa Quinonez
has her own motivations. As a result of publicly insulting the
"Comandante", he had her taken away by three soldiers, who beat
and raped her. Invoking all the brujeri’a of her native Esmeraldas,
Teresa makes a voodoo doll of the "Comandante", then sticks a
pin in its chest. She then begins an erotic dance, which is soon
joined by the other "pardas", Don Héctor, Ernesto Ruiz, and
Fabian Ordo'fiez, who are also present. A drunken orgy follows,
which lasts until the dawn.

The scene of revelry with the "pardas" is effectively
contrasted by a delicate scene in which Pablo, after making love
to Clara, begins to decide his destiny. Clara's affection has helped
him gain confidence in himself, and he resolves to dedicate himself
to bettering his fellow man:

”. . . Pablo velaba. La hoguera de su sangre estaba

en paz, porque habi’a vuelto de la tibieza de Clara.

Sabiase apto para pensar y decidir. . . . Sobre todo,

ella estaba con él, en él se habi’a aposentado, en

su tienda, en su fuego. Insomne, pero radiante,

alimentado por el placer, odio todo camino falso,

tuvo delante e1 destino mejor, crey6 en la bondad,

en el hermano hombre y en que a su época le estaba

senalado e1 cambio que trajese pan y amor para

todos.“145

Thus ends the second part of La Advertencia.

Six months have passed since the military takeover, and we

are now in the final part of the novel. The revolution degenerated

 

145. Pareja, La Advertencia, p. 2.75.

120

to individual power struggles and regional rivalries-~the old
competition between Quito and Guayaquil--and the ideals of the
revolution are still only ideals.

Pablo is now quite sure of himself, and takes an active
part in his friends' political discussions. Clara has gone to Peru
with her theatre group, and she never again will take an active
part in Pablo's life, but will always occupy a primary spot in his
memory. At this point, Pablo has become quite close to ”el
maestro" Briones, who offers him a paternal image adequate to
replace the tarnished one of his own father. Briones wishes to
return to Guayaquil, and Pablo decides to accompany him.

"El Comandante” Canelos has begun to decline. He was
dismissed from the army, and replaced by a younger man, Modesto
Jarri’n, an officer who by the end of the novel becomes a socialist.
Futilely, he attempt to buy Pablo's love by offering him legal
recognition and an inheritance. Although Pablo feels pity for his
father, he feels little affection, and refuses the offer. Having
sold his home to Don Froilan del Pozo, and lonely in his apartment,
he solicits the aid of an alcahueta. The alcahueta arranges a meeting
between him and Berta Briones who has left home and decided to
make her own way in the world. Berta becomes his mistress. In
addition, the ”Comandante" learns that his heart is beginning to
fail; it is as though Teresa Qui'fionez' voodoo magic had worked.

One evening Teresa and the other "pardas" come across
the ”Comandante" with Berta in a small hotel. All three attack

him, and the fight is carried through the streets to the river. In

121

the heat of the battle the “Comandante” has a heart attack and falls
dead. Felipe Bonilla hangs the corpse in a tree, and claims that
he killed the "Comandante" himself.

Ramiro Alomfa is now firmly entrenched with the Del Pozos.
His interest in socialism is now limited to keeping Don Froilan
informed of the political happenings so that his employer might
plan his economic moves to coincide with whichever side happens
to be in power.

In the meantime, the difficulty presented by. her father being
jailed and the responsibility for the maintenance of her brothers
and sisters resting solely on her begins to drive Lucfa Carvajal
mad. One day when He’ctor Molina returns to his sh0p he finds
a crowd milling around and a number of policemen present; they
are taking Luci’a away, who had been seen running naked from
Molina's shop.

One other character appears in this final part who is worthy
of note, a handsome young priest named Father Carlos. Much of
Father Carlos' time is occupied with planning political strategy
with Héctor Molina and other important members of the Conservative
party, thereby demonstrating the important role played by the clergy
in the political structure of Ecuador. Socially, Father Carlos seeks
the company of Ofelia Rami’rez, one of the "pardas". He is able to
meet Ofelia through Felipe Bonilla, who has become active in the
church since Clara's absence. A love affair develops, until Ofelia
becomes pregnant. At that point Father Carlos decides that his

marriage to the Church is more important than his obligation to

 

 

 

Illnllllllll‘llllllll‘illl .l

122

Ofelia, and he abandons her. Ofelia has an abortion, and bitterly
deposits a package containing the organic remains of her relation-
ship with Father Carlos in his confessional. This episode is not
really as anti-clerical as its retelling would make it seem, however,
and we must not interpret it as such. Pareja presents Father Carlos
as an individual, and not as an arch -type representing Catholicism
in Ecuador.

Shortly before the end of the novel Pareja inserts a chapter
in which Clara's mother, Do'fia Estela, Luis Salgado, and many of
the other principle characters appear and converse in a kind of
surrealistic nightmare. In the context of the rest of the novel,
which has been pretty much in the form of conventional narration,
this stylistic change is surprising, even incongruous. The
characters who appear "state their cases" in their conversations,
and the chapter does serve to clarify their relations to each other.
In addition, by this device the author makes us aware of the
considerable amount of mystery and mysticism still present in
Ecuadorian thought.

La Advertencia ends with Pablo accompanying Briones to

 

Guayaquil. Pablo is a free man marching off to meet his destiny
to become an active part of ”the new years":

" ICuanto habfa por hacer en los nuevos a'fios. . . 1
Crear, luchar, mantenerse firme, fabricando sue'fios
todos los di'as. Ahora teni’a el tiempo libre, suyo,
ancho para toda la vida. Una sonrisa le cruz6 e1
rostro. Era fuerte, lo senti’a en la velocidad de la
sangre. Estaba pronto a cumplir su destino,
infatigablemente laborando, descubriendo, ofreciéndose.
Creci’ale aire sano en los pulmones y su pensamiento se
aligeraba de todo obstaculo de terror. Estaba en él la

123

ma'iiana, trayéndole un emanar de frutas, un tacto
nuevo, una eleccion. Y sintiose, realmente sintiése
tocado, se'fialado por una mano errante y prodiga,
que le daba clarividencia."146

>:<>:<>:<
In the second volume of Los Nuevos A'iios, El Aire y los

Recuerdos (1959), we find Pablo Canelos in his mid-twenties and

 

living in Guayaquil. He has finished high school and is enrolled

in law school, through the influence of Dr. Santiago Pereda, a
physician and university professor of physiology who has been
recently divorced and who has befriended Pablo. Here Pablo again '
associates with a group of writers, artists, and intellectuals. The
writers are of special interest to us for they include the "Grupo de
Guayaquil" of which our author is a part. ”E1 maestro" Briones
still exerts considerable influence on Pablo, but is is really Dr.
Pereda with whom Pablo passes most of his time.

We are now in the latter part of 1932. The epoch is still
one of turbulence, but now there is an uneasiness in the air that
reaches around the world. In Ecuador the failure of the short-
lived Bonifaz government provokes a brief but bloody civil war. *

In North America the United States under Roosevelt is beginning
to recover from the Great Depression, while in Eur0pe Mussolini,
Hitler, and Franco are making Fascism more than just a word. It

is in this throbbing atmosphere of the early thirties that Pareja sets

 

146. Pareja, La Advertencia, p. 422.

*Neptali’ Bonifaz was elected by popular vote to the Presidency
of Ecuador, but due to a question of eligibility because of his Peruvian
birth, the Ecuadorian Congress declared the election invalid. A Civil
War broke out as a result of the confusion, and for four days Quito
was a battleground. This was the episode of "103 cuatro di'as".

 

124

El Aire y los Recuerdos, simultaneously making us aware of world

 

as well as local events.

“El Maestro"l Briones dies rather early in the first part of
the novel, leaving Pereda as Pablo's only father-friend image.
Both of them are having affairs with two sisters by the name of
Garaicoa; Pereda with the older, politically aggressive and some-
what masculine Aurelia, and Pablo .with the younger Mari’a Luz.
Mari'a Luz is an uncomplicated and gentle girl, who is reminiscent

of the far less sophisticated Mari’a del Socorro of El Muelle and

 

who loves Pablo but asks little in return. However, she does not
succeed in erasing his memory of Clara del Monte.

In Quito, meanwhile, Don Froilan del Pozo has died, leaving
Ramiro Aloml’a in a financially and recreationally advantageous
position as his business manager and as Lola's full-time lover.
Ramiro's handsome mestizo features make him an exotic attraction
to Lola's lady friends, and he has learned enough social graces to
be acceptable to the men. Alomi’a is well on the way to becoming
a conservative.

Ernesto Ruiz continues to be an outspoken socialist. Since
his mother has died he has moved out of his father's house, more
ashamed than ever of the poor old tailor's social position. He rents
a room from the Rinc6n family, which is composed of Manuel, a
retired Captain given to heavy drinking, Emilia, the mother, a number
of small children, and Juanita, the pretty fourteen year old daughter.
Juanita is enchanted by Ruiz, who seems so eloquent in this

conversations with his friends. One evening she simply comes to

 

 

125

his room and offers herself to him; he accepts.

Fabian Ordéfiez is now a lawyer who Spends much of his
time defending the indians, often without remuneration. He is
married to Clotilde, a schoolteacher, and they both work hard to
make a living.

For our purposes, the most important elements of the

first part of E1 Airej los Recuerdos are the literary discussions

 

in Guayaquil in which Pablo participates, usually accompanied by
Dr. Pereda. Pereda offers an interesting criticism of the new
Ecuadorian novel when he says to Pablo:

"--—Pues si', Pablo, los escritores estan foto-
grafiando a sus personajes solamente por los perfiles.
Claro que se esta haciendo de todos modos una nueva
época. Hay un renacimiento estupendo, después de la
fuga a lo frfvolamente sentimental, no lo niego. Pero
la novela realista de estos di’as, por fuerte, por
magm’fica que sea, parece una eyaculacio’n de machos
apurados. IJaI Es 1a. limitacion del goce, la
mutilacic’m del placer estético."147

On the other hand, Joaqui’n Gallegos Lara offers a defense
for the brutal literature which was beginning to make itself pre-
dominant in Ecuador in those days. The scene is one in which the
now -famous Peruvian critic, Luis Alberto Sénchez, who is also
present at some of the groups tertulias, has just criticized the
excessively realistic side of Ecuadorian literature:

"--Hombre muy capaz, buen cri’tico, estupenda
inteligencia, pero qué lastima que esté del lado aprista.

IY que piense que lo que llama 'fei'smo' de nuestra

literatura es lo malo, cuando justamente es lo buenol

Nuestra literatura, compaheros, debe decirlo con las
palabras del pueblo lo que es nuestro pafs: una tierra

 

147. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, El Aire Y 105 Recuerdos
(Buenos Aires: Losada, 1959). p. 35.

 

126

donde reinan e1 hambre y la muerte y donde aspirar

a ser feliz es una canallada; pero qué fuerza saber

que nuestro destino es nuestro mundo y que ni queremos
no podemos salir de él. “148

While these elements of El Aire y los Recuerdos do not give

 

us direct autobiographical material on Pareja, they do give us insight
into the literary generation of which he was a part. Here Alfredo
Pareja attempts to paint for us on an intellectual plane the raison
d'étre of a whole literary genre, with its strengths and its weaknesses.

As the first part of the novel nears its end the manifestations
of the political differences have changed from words to bullets. Quito
is in a confused state of civil war, with elements of the same army
warring against each other, and each side convinced that it is defending the
Ecuadorian Constitution.

Fabian Ordoi'iez rushes to fight for the Liberal side, and
Ernesto Ruiz shows us that he does not wish to back his radical
words with deeds by hurrying to hide in his father's home, afraid
that he will be killed by the Conservative forces.

In Guayaquil, Pablo, Pereda, and an old veteran of Alfaro's
campaigns, Don Hermenegildo Carcelén, undertake a trip to Quito
in order to join the fighting with the Liberals. Just before leaving,
Dr. Pereda receives word that he has been relieved of his chair at
the university.

Just before the end of this first part there is a tragic episode
at the Rinc6n household. Juanita, who is by now Ruiz' steady lover,

goes to his room to await him one evening. Her father, after a night

 

148. Pareja, El Airej los Recuerdos, p. 68.

127

of heavy drinking, comes home. Juanita thinks that it is Ruiz who
is climbing the stairs, and comes out. of his room to greet him.
When her father sees his scantily clad daughter coming out of his
boarder's room he flies into a rage, which is amplified by his
drunkenness. He begins to beat Juanita, ripping her clothes off
in the process, until his wife intervenes. By now he is nearly
insane, and he begins to beat and kick his wife. Juanita, in a bit
of a daze herself, brings her father's old shotgun and shoots him
dead, just as an artillery barrage begins on Quito. The retired
Captain's family and friends later put his body among the thousands
who are killed during the civil strife, and the incident has no legal
after-effects for Juanita.

The second part of El Aire y los Recuerdos deals with the

 

violent episode of ”105 cuatro di’as", in which thousands of lives

were lost during the fighting in Quito among the populace as well as
among the military. Pareja succeeds in capturing the mass confusion
and the horror of these days, the successive hunger, and the misery.
Witness the following scene in which an innocent foreigner is killed
during one of the artillery barrages:

”. . . Mr. Royal veni’a caminando bajo la luna, sin
apresurarse, con la botella en la mano. Todo fue
como una jugarreta de ti'teres, un juego espectral,
relampagueante, una jugarreta alucinada; el
estallido, el golpe raudo, la cabeza de Mr. Royal
que se v016 del tronco y el cuerpo flaco, bajo la
luna, por un instante increfble mantenido en pie,
sin cabeza, con el equilibrio fugaz de los ti’teres,
la botella todavfa en el aire como si e1 brazo y
ella se hubieran fijado eternamente, e1 chorro
obscuro que brot6 hacia arriba del cuello, y
luego la desaparicion, la cai’da blanda en la tierra,

128

donde Mr. Royal qued5 envuelto en la oscuridad,

inexistente. "1 49

Don Héctor Molina is still with us, older now, a little more
obese and less well-dressed. He is sought by the Liberal soldiers
during the fighting, who wish to kill him, but he has the prudence
to go into hiding. His store is sacked, and when a young songwriter
appears in the store the soldiers mistake him for Molina, and he
is killed, just another innocent victim insignificantly added to a
long list.

Fabian Ordéhez learns to fight quickly, and fights well.
Ernesto Ruiz, out foraging for food, temporarily becomes a
Conservative when he comes across some Conservative soldiers.
When a group of Liberal soldiers under Ordo'fiez' command capture
the Conservatives, whom Ruiz is now accompanying, Ruiz again
becomes a Liberal. No sooner do Pablo and his friends reach
Quito when they, too, are caught up in the fighting. The violence
spares no one.

No one, that is, except Ramiro and Lola, who happen to be
having a party with some of Lola‘s friends when the shooting begins.
They all spend the four days relatively comfortably withplenty to
eat and drink; the only fighting they endure is confined to personality
clashes among themselves, with the exception of a brief episode in
which a wounded man is brought to Lola's door and Ramiro and I
another man brave the streets to take him to a hospital, thereby

making Ramiro something of a hero for the small group. Lola is

 

149. Pareja, El Aire y los Recuerdos, p. 158.

129

by now becoming tired of Ramiro, and she gives a great deal of
attention to a handsome young man who is one of her other guests.
Partly in retaliation, and partly because he realizes that he has

just about reached the peak of his opportunities for social mobility
through Lola, Ramiro charms, easily seduces, and proposes
matrimony to Sofia, a beautiful, rich, but somewhat dim -witted
divorcée who is up to now a friend of Lola's. Sofi’a accepts Ramiro's
proposal, thereby assuring him of a financially bright future.

This novel ends just as the fighting stops. Dr. Pereda has
been working strenuously to treat the wounded, giving himself
injections of morphine, to which he has been long addicted, to
combat the fatigue. Finally, having lost his chair at the university,
tired of the daily struggle, disillusioned with life and the dim hopes
for the future, and suddenly curious about death itself, he shoots
himself through the head. His death signals the end of one sphere
of influence for Pablo, and the beginning of another era.

***
After "108 cuatro di’as“ Pablo remains in Quito, where he

goes to work in a drug store. We are now in the latest volume of

 

 

the Los Nuevos A'fios series, Los Poderes Omnfmoclis (1964).

Here we progress through the middle and late thirties and into the
early forties. Ecuador continues to seek its social revolution during
the throes of political instability, Spain has its civil war, and the
rest of the world seethes with World War Two. As is to be expected,

Pareja again places the world perspective beside the local.

130

The old Liberal fighter whom we met in the previous novel,
Don Hermenegildo Carcelén, now serves as Pablo's chief confidant.
At this point in this life Pablo is experiencing the succession of
love affairs which is understandable for an unattached young man
approaching thirty. Petra la Candelas, a prostitute with whom he
develops a friendship, heads the list of the women in his life in
this novel. Through Petra Pablo meets Juanita Rinc6n, who is
no longer the thin little girl of fourteen who was in a state of
emotional shock from having killed her father, when we met her
in the previous novel. Juanita has grown up to be a lovely young
woman, coquettish, popular, politically active and aggressive,
and independent. She earns money as a hairdresser and has a
small income from her now dead mother's home, which she rents
out. She also becomes a good friend of Lola del Pozo, who likes
the way Juanita sets her hair. Pablo becomes quite obsessed with
Juanita, to the point of striking Ernesto Ruiz when he publicly
suggests that her moral deportment is less than scrupulous.

When the government shifts from Liberal to Conservative
under Alarico Zaragata, Pablo prudently moves back to Guayaquil.
There he becomes re-involved with basically the same group of
writers, artists, and intellectuals who he knew earlier. In their
discussions he ventures opinions more self-assuredly than he
ever did, and he now has his own theories on the proper relation-

ships between art and thesis in literature:

131

". . . creo que se puede clamar por la justicia social,
creo que se puede y se debe poner e1 arte, como todo,

a1 servicio del hombre, pero no es necesario para

eso recurrir 3610 al lado feo de la vida, al descuido

de lo artfstico, que es el descuido de lo trascendente
mismo, de la intuicic’m futura, de la ordenaci6n del
mundo y la naturaleza, del juicio a que se atreve el
hombre frente a lo desconocido. . . . El realismo que

se limita a si’ mismo con palabras gruesas y
exclamaciones, deja de ser realismo. . . . 8. Por que’
razon ha de consistir en el paisaje violento, en el

sexo violento, en la maldad violenta, en el negro y

el blanco de los angeles y los demonios sin posibilidad
alguna de comunicacion? éNo es cierto, compa'fieros,
que la felicidad moral y el patetismo necesario a ella

no son completos sino en el revés y el derecho, con
toda la complejidad de la vida activa y de la vida i’ntima?
é. Acaso no hay realidades reales que pertenezcan a la
vida del espi’ritu con el mismo derecho que a la conducta
exterior y esquematizada de los hombres?”15O

Although the above commentary is Pablo's, it may well be
Pareja's own, for it follows what we have seen our author to practice
during the course of our study.

In Guayaquil Pablo renews his affair with Maria Luz, although
he occasionally continues to visit prostitutes. He also has a short
affair with Felisa Recalde, an exciting semi-professional a few years
his senior, and another affair with Carmen Gottsched, who is short,
blond, half-German, rabidly Communist, and distinctly anti-American.
None of these girls make him completely forget Juanita Rincon,
however, to whom he writes declaring his love, and who sends him
a non-committal but encouraging note in return.

Meanwhile, Juanita has become on occasion a guest of Dona
Lola, who is by now quite bored with the conventionalities afforded
by even her hyper-sophisticated life and feels latent-homosexual

attraction to Juanita. Through Lola, Juanita meets the aging Modesto

 

150. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, Los Poderes Omni’modos
(Buenos Aires: Losada, 1964), p. 30.

132

Jarri'n, the officer who replaced Pablo's father in La Advertencia.

 

Attracted by Jarri’n's military manner, Juanita temporarily becomes
his mistress.

Back in Guayaquil, Pablo meets the most interesting woman
he has known since Clara del Monte. She is the niece of Don
Hermenegildo, Balbina Carrillo. Balbina is an excitingly exotic

esmeralde‘na who has the blood of three races pulsing through her

 

veins. All of the sensuality, mystery, voodoo, witchcraft, and
folklore of the Ecuadorian coast seem to take human form in
Balbina. Here we have her description:

"De progenie esmeralde'fia, procreada de
aquellos valientes negros, que hicieron un imperio
de su esclavitud sublevada en los primeros tiempos
coloniales, la mezcla habi’a hecho de esa muchacha
una obra primorosa de la naturaleza.. No era
voluminosa, como la madre, pero habi’a de verse
su derechura de cuerpo, ce'fiido en algodén floreado.
No era zamba, como don Aut6nomo, pues sus cabellos,
debido a1 milagro de la sangre multiple, ondeaban
con brillos azulinos y se derribaban en cascada
suelta sobre la nuca temblorosa. No era blanca,
como el pulpejo de las manos de do‘na Neura, pero
su color acanelado era mas suave, célido y tras-
parente que la fragil blancura. No era gorda ni
flaca, sino de una ecuanime y escrupulosa proporci6n
carnal. Y manos y brazos, y pechos y caderas, y
la risa pronta, y los dientes blanqui’simos y bien
cortados, y el lobulo de las orejas deliciosamente
redondeado, y los ojos negri’simos de pupilas
inquietas, aunque mansas, y la naricilla trepada
y aleteante, y el olor de agua florida y jab6n
extranjero de a sucre e1 pan. . . Bueno; sépase
de una vez que Pablo qued6 fascinado. “15

Although Balbina Carrillo only appears in this latest novel

of the Los Nuevos A'fios series, and then in competition with other

 

 

151. Pareja, Los Poderes Omni’modos, pp. 88-89.

 

133

strong female characters, she is one of Pareja's finest creations.
Balbina has that quality of lingering with the reader long after he
has finished the reading. It is to be hoped that if and when Pareja
continues his series, Balbina will reappear in a role of more
primary importance.

The political situation continues to flux in Ecuador, and
heads of state change too quickly for us to enumerate here. Pablo
enjoys times of relative personal security, while at other times
he is in danger of being jailed or even shot at. Pablo, like every-
one else during these desparately changing times, is like a leaf
blown about by the winds of H103 poderes omni'modos"--the great
power struggles that decide the fates of nations.

On his return to Quito, Pablo sees Juanita. Although he
has had an affair with Balbina and she has left a deep impression
on him, his thoughts are now torn between her and Juanita. At
last he has an affair with Juanita, which is further complicated
by Do'i'ia Lola, who is attracted to them "both; for a time Pablo is
having a simultaneous affair with Lola and Juanita.

The first part of Los Poderes Omntfrnodos ends with all of

 

the diputados to the government being jailed by the dictatorship.
A few years have passed now, and we are in the second
part of the novel. Strife is still the way of life, but now it takes
the form of the Peruvian-Ecuadorian War. Again "103 poderes
omnfmodos" are in disagreement, and the result is violence in
which the innocent are the greatest victims of horror, injustice,

and death. Pablo confesses his disillusionment with politics to

134

Don Hermenegildo:

". . . Me he equivocado, fundamentalmente me he

equivocado, y no puedo salvarme de la equivocacion.

Después do todo, é, sabe usted lo unico que importa?

Esto: que la mujer con la que uno se acueste respire

a1 mismo tiempo. Entonces, adios la polftica y

adios la literatura. A 105 caballos tampoco les

interesa la poli’tica o la literatura: se remozan,

relinchan, de acuerdo a la ley que los civilizados

nos hemos atrevido a desconocer. Tiene usted que

elegir, don Hermenegildlogzviva la poli’tica o viva

la eyaculacion gozosa.“ 3

The fragility of human conviction is well exemplified by
Ernesto Ruiz, who is in the end merely a conspirator who betrays
even his oldest friends for the sake of his personal welfare.

We meet one final interesting character well toward the
end of the novel, when Pablo is about to be jailed merely for
waving a greeting to a person who happens to be on the wrong
political side at the wrong time. As Pablo is being escorted through
the streets on the way to the police station, a man called Ulpiano
Barrantes Eves Pablo by knocking out the policeman escorting him.
Barrantes is a type of "poor man’s"i philOSOpher, who reads what
he can, forms his own ideas about politics, and works hard enough
to maintain a respectable standard of living. We might consider
Barrantes the embodiment of a new spirit in the lower classes--
self reliance, boldness, Openness to learning-~which will aid them
in the mobility they need to merge with the growing middle class.
Unfortunately, Barrantes appears only for a short time, and far
too near the end of the novel, almost as an afterthought. We

venture to hope that like Balbina, Barrantes might appear in the

next volume of Los Nuevos A'ios.

 

 

152. Pareja, Los Poderes Omni’modos, pp. 161 -62.

 

135

By the end of Los Poderes Omnfmodos Pablo sees no future

 

with Juanita, and his thoughts are directed to Balbina. Curiously,
Juanita and Balbina become friends and they both work together
for a revolutionary cause.

The novel ends with a long interior monologue on the part
of Pablo, through which we learn that Ecuadorian politics have
provoked street fighti ng in Guayaquil, that Balbina has disappeared,
and that Don Hermenegildo has died. The last pages are concerned
with Pablo's frantically searching for Balbina, wishing no part of
politics, perhaps seeking peace through companionship with woman.
Although Pablo searches everywhere, he is unable to locate Balbina;
she seems to have vanished into the air. Pablo's final words reflect
the extreme lonliness that he feels:

"Me parece que he sentido a Balbina. Sf,

la he alcar zado, s 010 por un instante, pero sé que

volvera a ocurrir, gracias a mi soledad. No

ignoraba yo que a los misterios se entra desnudo.

Y el amor es un art splitari 0. La literatura, que
a ella le doy, tambi es.‘

2
«I
I...
“C

NJ
“T

)1:

If the Los Nuevos AT’ ' .03 series seems involved, confusing,

 

and leaving no definitive message, it is only because it is a
reflection of the times w_1:ch Alfredo Pareja depicts for us. In
the final analysis, we are in agreement with Kessel Schwartz'
reaction to the first volume (the only one published when Schwartz
wrote his article), only we would apply his words to the entire

series:

 

153. Pareja, Los Poderes ani’modos, p. 2135.

 

136

“. . .he lets the novel flow naturally as the
character and the theme lead him. He does
not attempt to twist that background to fit any
preconceived notions of a group or theory, and
in the first volume of the story of the birth of
a nation, Pareja has shown that he is a mature
novelist. “154

The "blow by blow" description of Ecuadorian political and

social events may make Los Nuevos Ahos less pOpular than some

 

of Pareja's previous novels. Indeed, from a strictly artistic
standpoint, the gallery of political entities and non-entities that
appear in this series must be considered detractions from the other
Characters. Nonetheless, it is certain that here Pareja is truly
a mature novelist.

We have examined Alfredo Pareja's work since his first
novelistic grOpings, which we found to be heavily polemic and

certainly unpolished. We tnen saw that with E1 Muelle and 1:13

 

Beldaca he joined the ranks of the hemisphere‘s important novelists.
Although in these works thesis was still of great importance, Pareja
rounded his characters with enough human qualities that they could

not be categorically classified as stereotypes. In Baldomera he

 

continued and improved basically the same technique of the earlier
novels, but now the creation of a powerful and unforgetable character
far overshadowed the "denuncia y protesta” at the base of the novel.

Don Balon de Baba also showed the novelis‘s' ability and inclination

 

to put art before thesis, but here he also demonstrated a capacity
for looking at social problems through the idealistically clouded
eyes of an ill-fated, paternalistic, and slightly insane member of

the upper c1asses~win some ways, an introspective effort. With

 

154. Schwartz, p. 22?.

137

Hombres Sin Tiempo Pareja produced a novel with almost no thesis

 

overtones, but a truly universal novel that masterfully explores the

workings of a man's mind. While Las Tres Ratas again turned to

 

social problems and phenomena, it was again the creation of
characters-~distant from being stereotypes, but characters who
decided their own d.estinies—-and the telling of a good story that

was most important. Now, in Los Nuevos Ahos, any political or

 

social theories are presented by individual characters as their
own, and not as the author's. Here, too, the principal characters

decide their destinies for themselves. Los Nuevos Ahos signals

 

an artistic stand for their author, in which he departs from the
techniques which were prevalent in the Ecuadorian novel of the
thirties, of the "generacic’in del treinta, " and seeks an artistic
rebirth while still keeping his feet on his native soil. In these
latest steps of Pareja's novelistic evolution rage gives way to
reason, and indignation to measured evaluation. In a published
letter to another Ecuadorian novelist, Othén Castillo, concerning

his novel ”Sed en el Puerto“, Pareja diplomatically criticizes him

 

for still writing in the manner of the thirties, which:
". . .para esos ahos y esas edades, no estaba mal;
pero tam'bién te agregari’a que la literatura es
mucho mas que potencia y vigor, o denuncia y
protesta. “155

These few words fairly well sum up the latest steps in

Pareja's novelistic evolution; literature is for him now much more

 

155. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, "A PrOposito de la Novela
'Sed en el Puerto', ” Letras del Ecuador (Quito: Casa de la Cultura
Ecuatoriana, 1965), Wimero 129, p. 25.

 

138

than “potencia y vigor, o denuncia y protesta". Our study of our
author's work has ended for the present, but we certainly hope
that our author's work has not ended. More than ever before, we

expect a great deal yet from Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco.

BIB LIOGRA PHY

SECTION I
WORKS BY ALFREDO PAREJA DIEZCANSECO

Pareja Diezcanseco, Alfredo. "A Proposito de la Novela 'Sed en
el Puerto'. " Letras del Ecuador, Nfimero 129 (1965),
p. 25.

Baldomera. Santiago de Chile: Ercilla, 1938. 2nd. ed. ,
Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1957. Germanversion,
Hamburg, 1954.

 

Don Balon de Baba. Buenos Aires: Club del Libro, 1939.

 

E1 Aire y los Recuerdos. Buenos Aires: Losada, 1959.

 

E1 Muelle. México: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1945.
2nd. ed..lst. ed., Quito, 1933. ‘

 

Hombres Sin Tiempo. Buenos Aires: Losada, 1941.

 

La Advertencia. Buenos Aires: Losada, 1956.

 

La Beldaca. Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana,
1954, 2nd. ed.. lst. ed., Santiago de Chile: Ercilla, 1935.
French version, Paris: 1949. Polish version, Warsaw: 1951.

 

La Senorita Ecuador. Guayaquil: Editorial Jouvin "La
Reforma“, 1960.

 

Las Tres Ratas. Buenos Aires: Losada, 1944. 2nd.
ed., Buenos Aires: Losada, 1962.

 

Los Poderes Omni’modos. Buenos Aires: Losada, 1964.

 

Rio Arriba. Guayaquil: Talleres Gra'Lficos, 1931.

 

139

140

SECTION II
WORKS OF A GENERAL NATURE

Alegri’a, Fernando. Historia de la Novela Hispanoamericana.
México: Ediciones de Andrea, 1965. Pp. 265-266.

Anderson Imbert, Enrique. Historia de la Literatura Hispanoamericana,
Vol. II. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1961. P. 254.

Carrion, Benjami’n. El Nuevo Relato Ecuatoriano. Quito: Casa de
la Cultura Ecuatoriana.

Hilton, Ronald. Who's Who in Latin America, Part LLI. Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1951.

Icaza, Jorge. "Relato, Espi’ritu Unificador en la Generacic’m del
Aiio Treinta. " Letras del Ecuador, Nfimero 129 (1965),
pp. 10-11.

 

"Pareja Diezcanseco, Alfredo." Diccionario de la Literatura

Latinoamericana: Ecuador. Washington: Pan American Union,
1962. Pp. 144-47.

 

Quién es Quién en Venezuela, Panama’, Ecuador, Colombia. Bogota:
1952.

Ribadeneira, Edmundo. La Moderna Novela Ecuatoriana. Quito:
Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958.

 

Rojas, Angel F. La Novela Ecuatoriana. México: Fondo de Cultura
Economica, 1948.

 

Sénchez, Luis Alberto. Proceso y Contenido de la Novela Hispano-
Americana. Madrid: Gredos, 1953.

 

 

Schuttner, Eugene. Vida y Obra de Autores Ecuatorianos. La Habana:
Editorial "Alfa", 1943.

 

Torres-Rioseco, Arturo. La Novela en la América Hispana. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1941.

 

Torres-Rioseco, Arturo. Nueva Historia de la Gran Literatura
Iberoamericana. Buenos Aires: Emecei Editores, 1961.

 

 

World Biography, Vol. 2. New York: Institute for Research in
Biography, 1948.

141

SECTION III
ARTICLES DEALING WITH ALFREDO PAR EJA DIEZCANSECO

 

Carrion, Alejandro. ”Los Poderes Omni’modos. " Letras del Ecuador,
Nfimero 131 (1965), p. 18. .

Carrion, Benjami’n. In Pareja Diezcanseco, Alfredo, E1 Muelle.
México: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1945. Introduction.

 

De la. Cuadra, José. 12 Siluetas. Quito: Editorial América, 1934.
Chapter on Alfredo Pareja.

 

Diez de Medina, Fernando. "Tres Libros de América--E1 Muelle. "
Atenea, xxv111(1934), pp. 36-38.

Franklin, Albert B. ”Las Tres Ratas." The Inter-American
Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 3, (July, 1941), pp. 103-105.

 

Kantor, Harry. "Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco. " La AméricafiLatina
de Hoy. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1961,
pp. 53-54.

Latcham, Ricardo A. "Baldomera, Novela, por Alfredo Pareja
Diez-Canseco." Atenea, A‘i'io XV, Tomo LII, No. 156
(Junio de 1938), pp. 424-28.

 

Linke, Lilo. "The People's Chronicler." Americas, Vol. 8, No. 11,
(Nov., 1956), pp. 7-11.

 

Montalvo, Antonio. "Baldomera." America, Ano XIII, Vol. XII,
Nos. 66 y 67 (1938), pp. 255-56.

”E1 Muelle." América, Ano VIII, Vol. VIII, Nfimero
53 (Junio-Septiembre, 1933), pp. 355-59.

 

Portuondo, Jose A. "Una Novela Ejemplar. " Letras de Mexico
(1 de Mayo de 1945), p. 68.

 

Schwartz, Kessel. "Alfredo Pareja y Diez Canseco, Social
Novelist.“ Hispania, Vol. 42 (1959), pp. 220-28.

Simmonds, Adolfo. In Pareja y Diezcanseco, Alfredo, La Senorita
Ecuador. Guayaquil, Ed. Jouvin "La Reforma", 1930.
Prglogo.

Warren, Virgil A. ”Hechos y Hazafias de Don Balon de Baba y de
su Amigo Inocente Cruz. ” The Inter-American Quarterly,
Vol. 2, No. 1 (January, 1940), pp. 121-22.