Macedonian Fernandez

Macedonio Fernández (Buenos Aires, June 1, 1874-i>i>bidem, February 10, 1952) was an Argentine writer, lawyer, and philosopher.

Famous for his experimental novel Museo de la Novela de la Eterna, published posthumously in 1967, he had a great influence on later Argentine literature, especially Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar and Ricardo Piglia.

Biography

Macedonio Fernández was born on June 1, 1874 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was the son of Macedonio Fernández, a lawyer, rancher and soldier, and Rosa del Mazo Aguilar Ramos. In 1887 he studied at the Colegio Nacional Central (today Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires).

During 1891 and 1892, Fernández published stories in various newspapers, and a series of costumbrist pages later included in Papeles antiguos, the first volume of his Complete Works. Likewise, during those years he published chronicles for the newspaper El Progreso , and studied Law and Social Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, where he was a classmate and friend of Jorge Guillermo Borges —who would be the father of Jorge Luis Borges-.

In 1897, the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires awarded him the title of doctor of jurisprudence for a thesis entitled Of people, which still remains unpublished to this day. Likewise, he published stories in La Montaña , the socialist newspaper directed by Leopoldo Lugones and José Ingenieros. In 1898 he received his law degree and, in 1901, he married Elena de Obieta, with whom he had four children (Macedonio, Adolfo, Jorge and Elena Fernández).

In 1904 he published some poems in the magazine Martín Fierro (not to be confused with the avant-garde magazine of the same name published during the 1920s and in which he played a very active role). In 1907 he published a work on psychology entitled & # 34; Essay of a new theory of the psyche & # 34; in which he opposes the physiological and positivist approach of this discipline (supported at that time in Argentina by José Ingenieros), a purely psychological or spiritual approach. At least one written testimony indicates that at the same time Macedonio Fernández aspired to obtain a teaching position, probably in psychology or philosophy, perhaps similar to the one held by his friend Jorge Guillermo Borges, professor of psychology at the Institute of Living Languages at that time. It is in this article that Macedonio Fernández makes public, with evident pride, an epistolary exchange with his admired William James. In 1910 he obtained the position of Prosecutor in the Legal Court of the city of Posadas, in the province of Misiones, which he held for several years.

In 1920 his wife died. The children are left in the care of grandparents and aunts. He leaves the legal profession. When Jorge Luis Borges returns from Europe in 1921 he rediscovers Macedonio, with whom he begins a long friendship. Borges, around 1960, dictates -already blind- a brief and substantial prologue for a Macedonian anthology. There we are told that no person impressed him as much as he did. Man who never tired of hiding, rather than showing, his proverbial intelligence. Macedonio preferred the tone of modest consultation rather than the pontificatory opinion. His usual tone was that of perplexed mood. He was characterized by the veneration of Cervantes, a certain divinity, for him. He detested all scholarly apparatus, which he understood as a way to elude his personal thought. In this way his mental activity was incessant. He lived uninterested in other people's criticism, external confirmations or refutations. With brash and unquestioned generosity, he attributed his own intelligence to all men. He possessed the superstitious veneration of everything Argentine. And he executed, to an eminent degree, the art of solitude and inaction. Without doing anything at all, he was able to stay alone, for hours. Thinking-not writing-was his devoted task. Although he also used to, in the solitude of his room, or in the turbulence of a cafe, cram pages in meticulous calligraphy. Yet he did not assign value to his written word. Two fears traversed him: that of pain and that of death. Borges conjectures that to avoid the latter he postulated the metaphysical non-existence of the self. As far as literature is concerned, he cared less for him than thought, and publication was more indifferent to him than literature. Thus, his fundamental vocation was contemplative and the pursuit of deciphering the philosophical mystery of the universe.

In 1928 Not all is vigil with open eyes was published at the request of Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz and Leopoldo Marechal. The following year he published Papeles de Recienvenido. During this period, he worries about creating expectations regarding the possible appearance of the novel Museo de la Novela de la Eterna. In 1938 he published & # 34; Eternal Novel & # 34; and the Girl of Pain, the "Sweet-person" of a love that was not known, anticipation of Museo de la Novela de la Eterna.

Three years later, he published in Chile A novel that begins.

In 1944 a new edition of Papeles de Recienvenido was published. In 1947, Macedonio settles in the house of his son Adolfo de él, where he will reside until his death.

Works

• It's not all an eyewitness. Buenos Aires, Manuel Gleizer, 1928 ISBN 9789500532181.
• Revenue Papers. Buenos Aires, Cuadernos del Plata, 1929. Corrector, 2005. (Complete Works, vol. IV) ISBN 9789500532204.
• A novel that begins. Prologue by Luis Alberto Sánchez. Santiago de Chile, Ercilla, c. 1940, port. 1941.
• Poems. Prologue of Natalicio González. Mexico, Guarania, 1953.
• Museo de la Novela de la Eterna. Warning of Adolfo de Obieta. Buenos Aires, CEAL, 1967.
• Museo de la Novela de la Eterna / Macedonio Fernández; edition of Fernando Rodríguez Lafuente. Chair, 1995.
• Not all is vigilance of open eyes and other writings. Warning of Adolfo de Obieta. Buenos Aires, CEAL, 1967.
• Notebooks of everything and nothing. Buenos Aires, Corregidor, 1972. 2a. ed. 1990. ISBN 9789500532174.
• Theories. Ordination and notes by Adolfo de Obieta. Buenos Aires, Corregidor, 1974 (Complete Works, Vol. III) ISBN 9789500532198.
• Adriana Buenos AiresLast novel. Ordination and notes by Adolfo de Obieta. Buenos Aires, Corregidor, 1975. (Full marks, vol. V). ISBN 9789500532167.
• Museo de la Novela de la Eterna; first good novel. Ordination and notes by Adolfo de Obieta. Buenos Aires, Corregidor, 1975. (Full targets, vol. VI) ISBN 9789500537896.
• Epistolary. Order and notes by Alicia Borinsky. Buenos Aires, Corregidor, 1976. (Full targets, vol. II).
• Stories, stories, poems and miscellaneous. Ordination and notes by Adolfo de Obieta. Buenos Aires, Corregidor, 2014 (Complete Works, Vol VII) ISBN 9789500531955.

Cultural references

Macedonio Fernández

Film.

• 1995. Macedonio Fernández, a film by Ricardo Piglia and Andrés di Tella.

Literary references. The references are countless, for example.

Quoting his short story "The pumpkin that became a cosmos" as if the whole world knew him:

OH! The rating.
Rating is one of those words whose meaning has nothing to do with what they mean. Translated dictionary is pure and simply classification. But it has come out of the booklet and is a gigantic entity. Huge. Invasive. Like The zapallo that became cosmos de Macedonio Fernández. It's actually an exchange of interest between zapallos. The rating It's the cuckoo of big people. And the small-town business.

Florencio Escardó as Piolín de Macramé, 1972. OH!, p. 48.

A comment that is practically a phrase made from what has been repeated is that all subsequent authors copied Macedonio Fernández to some extent, for example (in Siempre llega sepiembre by Sergio Siminovich, 2006):

Etelvina knows a place where it is possible to learn osmotically: a bar that frequents the intellectuals, in the teachings of the Faculty of Letters. (...) That bar has never known such attentive ears:

- Any book after Macedonio should have been banned. Apres lui le déluge!

Or, at least, successive scribes could have had the humility to sign: Macedonio and Fernández, Macedonio and González...

Sergio Siminovich, It always comes September (fragment)