José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi
José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi was a notable figure in early 19th-century Mexico, recognized for his significant contributions to literature and political thought. Lizardi, who lacked formal college education, was largely self-taught and influenced by French philosophy, particularly the educational ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He seized the opportunity presented by the Constitution of Cádiz in 1812 to establish the newspaper El Pensador Mexicano, which he used to promote liberal ideals and advocate for Mexico's independence. His literary works include poetry, drama, and autobiographical dialogues reflecting on his struggles during the independence movement.
Lizardi is perhaps best known as the author of "The Itching Parrot," considered the first Latin American novel, which uses a picaresque narrative to critique social customs of his time. This novel features a repentant rogue sharing his life lessons, highlighting a moral and pedagogic tone amidst its humorous elements. Despite facing censorship and imprisonment for his writings, he continued to produce numerous novels and political pamphlets, further solidifying his legacy in Mexican literature. His work laid the groundwork for Romantic prose in the New World, marking him as a pivotal figure in the literary history of Latin America.
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José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi
Mexican novelist
- Born: November 15, 1776
- Died: June 21, 1827
Biography
José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi (fehr-NAHN-days day lee-SAHR-dee) had no college education, but he taught himself French, and so came under the influence of French philosophy. In 1819 he commented on Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ideas of education in La Quixotita y su prima (little Miss Quixote and her cousin). In 1812, taking advantage of the short-lived Constitution of Cádiz and its guarantee of freedom of the press, he founded the paper El Pensador Mexicano (the Mexican thinker), a name he subsequently used as his pseudonym. Soon after that he was imprisoned, but over the years he founded a number of other short-lived papers in which he propagated liberal ideas and worked for Mexico’s independence. He also wrote poetry and drama, and in the autobiographical dialogues about his sufferings during the struggle for independence, Noches tristes y día alegre (sad nights and happy day), he introduced Romantic prose to the New World. {$S[A]Lizardi, Jos‚ Joaqu¡n Fern ndez de;Fern ndez de Lizardi, Jos‚ Joaqu¡n}{$S[A]Pensador Mexicano, El;Fern ndez de Lizardi, Jos‚ Joaqu¡n}
Fernández de Lizardi is perhaps best remembered as the author of the first Latin American novel, The Itching Parrot, a title deriving from a pun on the name of the chief character, Pedro Sarmiento, whose schoolboy costume of green coat and yellow trousers earned him the nickname of “Parrot.” This picaresque novel criticized social customs at the end of Mexico’s viceregal period. In the novel a dying and repentant pícaro tells his life as a lesson for his sons. Because he frequently changed jobs and traveled, the narrative covers a broad social and geographic spectrum, including a utopian island in the Pacific. There is a strong moralizing and pedagogic note, and at the same time the obsolete science on which the work is based gives the novel an unintentionally humorous quality. The publication of the novel’s first sixteen chapters brought Fernández political difficulties, so complete publication was delayed until after his death. Censorship did not prevent him, however, from writing several other novels and many political pamphlets for which he was excommunicated and imprisoned. The novella Vida y hechos del famoso caballero Don Catrín de la Fachenda (the life and works of the famous gentleman Don Catrín de la Fachenda) is more playful because the story is told by an unreliable narrator, an unrepentant pícaro.
Bibliography
Cros, Edmond. “The Values of Liberalism in El periquillo sarniento.” Sociocriticism 2 (December, 1985).
Vogeley, Nancy. “Defining the ‘Colonial Reader’: El periquillo sarniento.” PMLA 102, no. 5 (October, 1987).
Vogeley, Nancy. “A Latin American Enlightenment Version of the Picaresque: Lizardi’s Don Catrín de la Fachenda.” In The Picaresque: A Symposium on the Rogue’s Tale, edited by Carmen Benito-Vessels and Michael Zappala. Newark, N.J.: University of Delaware Press, 1994.
Vogeley, Nancy. Lizardi and the Birth of the Novel in Spanish America. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001.