Marcos Sastre
Marcos Sastre (Montevideo, October 2, 1808 - Buenos Aires, February 15, 1887) was an Argentine writer and educator of Uruguayan origin, founder, along with Juan B. Alberdi, Juan María Gutiérrez and Esteban Echeverría, from the Literary Salon, beginning of the Generation of '37.
Biography
He completed his first studies in Montevideo, but moved with his parents to Santa Fe during the Portuguese occupation. He completed his secondary studies at the Colegio de Monserrat in Córdoba, where he began studies in artistic painting.
After the Brazilian War, he returned to Montevideo, where he founded a school. He went to Buenos Aires in 1830, where he began his law studies at the University of Buenos Aires, which he did not finish due to economic problems; and he also studied painting with different artists.
In 1832 he published his first didactic work Epitome Historiae Sacrae which was accompanied by a Latin-Castilian dictionary. It was the first adopted by the University of Buenos Aires and later the Government of the province of Buenos Aires declared it compulsory use both in universities and schools.
The following year he opened the “Librería Argentina”, in whose back room the “Literary Salon” began to function since 1837. The regular participants in the gatherings at the Salon were young people interested in culture, politics and scientific progress: Miguel Cané, Juan Bautista Alberdi, Juan María Gutiérrez, Esteban Echeverría, Vicente Fidel López. His gatherings were initially oriented to discuss literature, art and fashion, influenced by the rise of romanticism in Europe. Secondarily – at the beginning – they also discussed culture and politics, topics that gradually became central.
In 1837, Echeverría founded the Asociación de Mayo in the hall of the Librería Argentina. It was initially viewed with sympathy by central figures in the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas, although from the beginning they were suspected by the Popular Restoration Society. But that same year the French blockade of the Río de la Plata began, which - for cultural reasons first, and then political - defined them as facing rosismo. Despite threats from the La Mazorca parapolice group, he did not flee to Montevideo, as many of his friends did. But official antipathy and the closure of book imports from France mainly caused the bankruptcy of his bookstore, which closed on May 19, 1838.
In 1840 he published an epistolary novel, Letters to Germania.
He retired to the nearby town of San Fernando, where he opened a school in 1842. There he conceived and wrote El Tempe Argentino his main work as a self-taught naturalist. It was a more lyrical than scientific study on the flora, fauna and geography of the Paraná Delta, illustrated with engravings made by the author's hand. In addition to the well-known studies of the evolved flora and fauna, it contained studies on the insects, fungi and ferns of the area, a novelty in its time. Evoking the region of ancient Greece called Tempe, he proposed ideas and suggested projects for the economic development of the Paraná delta. Juan María Gutiérrez wrote to him "I think you have succeeded in writing the best book that will come out of the presses in Buenos Aires for a long time. It is a work of interest to everyone, including foreigners inside and outside the country. "The work was approved in 1860 by the government of the province of Buenos Aires as a prize book as a reading text for public schools.
After a visit to his school by members of the Mazorca, he fled to Santa Fe and then to Entre Ríos, where in 1849 he founded the newspaper "El Sudamericano". He then wrote Anagnosia, a novel reading method for the time. The name he chose is a neologism with Greek roots that seeks to signify that the art of reading has no name in either the ancient or modern language. Its full name was "Anagnosia, or the art of teaching and learning to read easily, without beginning with the alphabet or spelling, and inspiring children with a love of reading and a love of virtue and work", was financed by himself in Santa Fe, in 1849. Two years later it was published by the Government of Entre Ríos and in 1850 by the Municipality of the city of Buenos Aires. The Minister of Public Instruction, Vicente Fidel López, also had it reprinted, with the consent of Sastre, for use in public schools in the province of Buenos Aires. Sastre did not claim any payment for this. On the other hand, around 1854, the rector of the University and Director of Schools of San Fernando, José Barros Pazos, advised the government to use the book, which motivated Sastre to write "La Anagnosia in 8 mural paintings for mutual teaching". In 1859 Bartolomé Miter ordered that it be used as a reading textbook and as a prize in public schools.
In 1849 Governor Urquiza appointed him General Inspector of Schools and director of the official newspaper "El Federal".
After the Battle of Caseros, he settled again in Buenos Aires, where he was appointed director of the Public Library. Due to his sympathy with the Urquiza government, in 1853 he was removed from office. So he returned to Entre Ríos, where he held the position of director of the General Inspection of Schools of the Argentine Confederation. He also wrote for several newspapers and published a treatise on Complete Spelling and another on Grammar Lessons .
After the Battle of Pavón, he continued working in the National Schools Directorate. In 1865 he was appointed, together with Enrique M. de Santa Olalla, director of the Normal School of preceptors and teachers of Buenos Aires. His last public office was that of member of the National Council of Education, a position he held until his death.
He died in Buenos Aires in February 1887.
Tributes
The city of Sastre, in the Province of Santa Fe, streets in several Argentine cities and a school located on the banks of the Reconquista River, in Tigre, bear his name.
In the city of Buenos Aires, Marcos Sastre square, in the Villa Urquiza neighborhood, bears that name because his body was buried there when the site was the Belgrano town cemetery. Also a street in the neighborhood from Villa del Parque.
In the city of Baradero, on the ravines, at 664 Acevedo street, is the Marcos Sastre Superior Normal School. School that bears his name for being the one who built the Historic Building of this School together with Sarmiento, named provincial heritage.