Guatemalan Language Academy
The Guatemalan Language Academy is a group of academics who are experts in the use of the Spanish language in Guatemala. It was established on June 30, 1887 and belongs to the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language. On September 5, 2012, coinciding with the 125th anniversary of the institution, the Academy was distinguished with the Order of the Quetzal in the degree of Grand Cross by the Guatemalan government.
History
The Guatemalan Academy of Language is the last of the academies of this type founded in the XIX century; It was established during the regime of General Manuel Lisandro Barillas Bercián in 1887, although its legal recognition dates from 1888. The founding members were Fernando Cruz, first director, Ángel María Arroyo, Juan Fermín de Aycinena, Agustín Gómez Carrillo, Antonio Batres Jáuregui, José Matías Quiñónez, Antonio Machado Palomo and Guillermo Francisco Hall Avilés. Throughout its history, the institution has published numerous publications. Notable among them are the complete works of José Batres Montúfar (1981) and Cuestiones filológicas (1988), the work of Antonio José de Irisarri. In addition, it publishes the bulletin in which the entrance speeches of academics, studies on linguistics and literature, and other information of interest are compiled.
"Mustard Seed" controversy
The self-taught Guatemalan intellectual Elisa Hall de Asturias became familiar with the monumental work that her father-in-law, Antonio Asturias, carried out in an effort to keep the genealogy of the Asturias family up to date, from the arrival of the first ancestor, Sancho Álvarez de Asturias, to Guatemala in the second half of the XVII century. In addition, Antonio Asturias had a very rich library, in which Hall read, interested in those ancient stories that contemplated the emigrations that gave rise to the population of Scotland and Ireland, as well as the origin of the nobility of Spain. This is how Hall conceived the idea of writing "Semilla de Mostaza", a monumental work that, according to the manuscript of three hundred and forty-three pages, began on February 5, 1937 and ended on February 3, 1938. Hall de Asturias documented himself deeply about the time of Sancho Álvarez de Asturias to write some memoirs that, narrated in the first person and with an archaic language, tell the life in Spain of the number one in genealogy, Don Sancho, and the reason for his emigration to the New World in 1666. In May 1937, her father, Guillermo F. Hall, a founding member of the Guatemalan Academy of Language, brought to it the first chapters of the work that his daughter was writing, and whom both he and his son Guillermo helped by spending the typewritten text.
The first edition of «Semilla de mostaza» was printed in October 1938 and had a circulation of one thousand one hundred and fifty copies of four hundred and sixteen pages, printed with the support of the government of President General Jorge Ubico Castañeda, in the workshops of the National Typography. This first edition was carefully reviewed by the writer and beautifully decorated by herself with drawings and virgules on the cover and inside.
Hall's book caused general astonishment among his readers; everyone agreed that it was a masterpiece comparable to the production of Lope de Vega, Luis de Góngora and Miguel de Cervantes, and that it was not only going to enrich Guatemalan letters but also those of the continent and universal literature. The journalist and member of the Guatemalan Academy, Federico Hernández de León, expressed it this way in the Diario de Centro América: «…the uniformed appearance was expressed in warm praise: there was ease, agility and grace, a taste of rancid wine and the color of old gold...". But some critics doubted that "Mustard Seed" -because it is a masterly work of art- could be the work of a woman who made herself known with such a scriptural monument in the world of letters and that, furthermore, he had not attended any university, but had studied in the privacy of his home. These critics considered that it was impossible for a female to be capable of handling the pen in such a wonderful and entertaining way. This was reason enough for a debate to be unleashed around the authorship of the work.
Among the hypotheses that emerged are:
- Hall of Asturias only transcribed an ancient manuscript
- Miguel Angel Asturias served as a “phantom writer”: Asturias lived at that time in Guatemala and was dedicated to writing, almost of survival, because fame still did not come to him.
Others, on the other hand, gave credibility to the version that Elisa Hall was capable of writing such a splendid work.
In reality, Guatemalan intellectuals took advantage of the opportunity of a polemic away from political polemics, which were heavily censored, and tried to show off their erudition. Among the newspapers that were implicated in the controversy are El Imparcial, Nuestro Diario and El Liberal Progresista, which, although not state-owned, usually offered points views related to the ruling party of General Ubico Castañeda.
Organization
According to its bylaws, the corporation can have up to thirty full members. Its members include experts in the fields of philology, philosophy, journalism, music, economics and computing.
The corporation periodically offers courses for Language and Literature teachers and social communicators. Likewise, it participates in the work of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, focusing on the study of Guatemalan words that are later incorporated into academic works.
Academics
Number of academics in order of seniority
- Dieter Hasso Lehnhoff Temme
- Lucrecia Méndez de Penedo
- Gustavo Adolfo Wyld Ferraté
- Mario Alberto Carrera Galindo
- Julia Guillermina Herrera Peña
- Francisco Pérez de Antón
- Rigoberto Juárez Paz
- Ana María Urruela de Quezada
- Mario Antonio Sandoval Samayoa
- Carmen Matute
- Francisco Morales Santos
- Delia Quiñónez Tock Castle
- Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez
- Mario Roberto Morales Álvarez
- María Raquel Montenegro Muñoz
- José Oswaldo Salazar de León
- Julio Roberto Palomo Silva
- Gustavo Adolfo García Fong
Deceased academics
- Angel María Arroyo (1838-1893)
- Agustín Washington Gómez Carrillo (1838-1908)
- Antonio Batres Jáuregui (1847-1929)
- Enrique Gómez Carrillo (1873-1927)
- Federico Hernández de León (1883-1959)
- Rafael Arévalo Martínez (1884-1975)
- Carlos Federico Mora (1889-1972)
- José María Bonilla Ruano (1898-1957)
- David Vela Salvatierra (1901-1992)
- Angelina Acuña de Castañeda (1905-2006)
- Teresa Fernández-Hall de Arévalo (1918-2012)
- Luz Méndez de la Vega (1919-2012)
- María del Carmen Meléndez de Alonzo (1948-2012)
- Alfonso Enrique Barrientos (1921-2007)
- Francisco Albizúrez Palma (1935-2014)
- Margarita Carrera (1929-2018)