Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants

Title

De la Historia como Ciencia a la Historia como Sentimiento: Los dos Enriquillos de Manuel Arturo Peña Batlle

Department

Modern Languages & Literatures

College

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Date Range

2011-2012

Abstract

Manuel Arturo Peña Batlle stands as the most influential of the intellectuals at the service of the Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, having achieved a rare level of coherence in his theoretical effort to legitimize Trujillo's totalitarian rule. Such a feat is ever more striking if one considers that prior to his incorporation into the dictatorship Peña Batlle had made a reputation as a champion of a long-standing liberal tradition. In my paper I focus on two essays written by Peña Batlle on the mythical Taino rebel Enriquillo to examine the impact of this ideological leap on his interpretation of the national past. I argue that Peña Batlle's about face recreates the drama of love, separation and reconciliation between the Cacique and the Spanish empire, as has been transmitted to us by the romantic imagination of Dominican novelist Manuel de Jesus Galvan.

Conference Name

2012 Bi-annual Conference of the Dominican Studies Association

Conference Location

New Haven, Connecticut

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