El Señor Presidente by Miguel Ángel Asturias
"El Señor Presidente" is a novel by Guatemalan author Miguel Ángel Asturias, published in 1946, which explores themes of political tyranny, oppression, and social injustice within the context of a fictional dictatorship. The narrative centers around a character known as the Zany, a homeless beggar who becomes embroiled in a violent confrontation with Colonel Sonriente, a representative of the brutal regime. Following this incident, the Zany's journey intertwines with Ángel Face, an adviser to the president, as they navigate a landscape marked by corruption, betrayal, and personal conflict.
Asturias employs surrealism and rich imagery drawn from both Mayan and Babylonian mythology, enhancing the novel's critique of authoritarian governance. The story also delves into the lives of other characters, such as General Canales and his daughter Camila, illustrating the harsh realities faced by the marginalized in a society riddled with violence and fear. The novel critiques the manipulation of power and the suffering inflicted upon innocents, ultimately reflecting the broader struggles against oppression in Latin America. "El Señor Presidente" is regarded as a significant work in Latin American literature, resonating with themes of resistance and the quest for justice.
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El Señor Presidente by Miguel Ángel Asturias
First published: 1946 (English translation, 1963)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Historical realism
Time of plot: Early twentieth century
Locale: Guatemala
Principal characters
The President , a cruel dictatorThe Zany , a mentally disabled beggarColonel José Sonriente , killed by the ZanyGeneral Eusebio Canales , falsely implicated in the death of Colonel SonrienteCamila , General Canales’s daughterMiguel Ángel Face , the president’s confidential adviserFedina de Rodas , a young mother
The Story:
The Zany and his fellow homeless beggars lie sleeping in the shadow of the cathedral as night falls. Too poor to pay fines, they are generally undisturbed by the police, but Colonel Sonriente decides to amuse himself by tormenting the Zany, whose one comfort in his miserable life is memories of his mother. When the colonel awakens him by shouting, “Mother!” in his ear, the Zany jumps up and beats the colonel to death.
The beggars are rounded up by the police and tortured to reveal the identity of the murderer. Strangely enough, the correct answer, the Zany, does not seem to satisfy the police. Clearly, the authorities want to blame the crime on someone else.
Meanwhile, the Zany flees through the streets of the city until he falls and breaks his leg. He is attacked by a buzzard and would have died if not for the intervention of a mysterious, strikingly handsome man named Miguel Ángel Face.
Ángel Face is an unofficial adviser to the president, a ruthless tyrant. The president informs Ángel Face that he has a job for him, but a rather tricky one. A political enemy of the president, General Canales, is to be implicated in the murder of Colonel Sonriente, but it does not suit the president’s purposes to have him arrested. Rather, Ángel Face is to force the general to become a fugitive by telling one of his servants that the police are on their way to arrest him.
After the general duly flees, Ángel Face, aided by the thugs Vasquez and Rodas, raids the general’s house and kidnaps his daughter, Camila. The smooth-talking Ángel Face assures Camila that he helped the general escape out of the goodness of his heart and that he hides her away in a neighborhood inn to protect her from her father’s enemies. Whatever his original intentions, this “line” soon comes close to being the truth, for Ángel Face finds himself facing a totally new emotion and motivation: love.
Rather than abusing Camila, Ángel Face becomes worried about her welfare. He tries to find a place for her to stay, starting with her uncle, Don Juan Canales. Here, however, Ángel Face begins to learn the consequences of living in a nation ruled by a tyrant, a tyrant for whom Ángel Face himself works. Camila’s uncle refuses to help his niece for fear of being added to the president’s list of enemies. Ángel Face is left with a defenseless, innocent girl for whom his affections and concern are growing by the hour.
In the meantime, the police make their official raid on General Canales’s house. Finding no one there, they declare the general to be a fugitive fleeing the consequences of his crime and also begin to arrest persons suspected of helping him to escape (even though the plot to allow him to escape was the president’s).
One of those arrested is Fedina de Rodas, wife of one of Ángel Face’s henchmen. Fedina is thrown in prison along with her baby. Worse than her brutal torture is the suffering of her baby, who starves to death in her arms. Fedina is finally released from prison and forced to earn her living in a house of prostitution. All this befalls Fedina despite the fact that she knows nothing of the general’s escape or of his whereabouts.
At that moment, in fact, the general is far from the city, hiding in a deserted hut in the countryside. Eventually he begins to meet some of the peasants living nearby, almost all of whom suffered greatly at the hands of the wealthy and powerful. Hearing their tales of exploitation, the general gradually realizes what a corrupt political system he has spent his life serving. Eventually the general escapes into the marshland, vowing to return and to fight for the people.
Back in the city, Ángel Face feels himself falling more and more in love with Camila. After nursing her through a near-fatal illness, he marries her and they set up house in the city. However, their happiness is marred by two factors. Camila’s father, General Canales, dies (probably poisoned) on the eve of leading a band of rebels against the president, and Ángel Face falls into disfavor with the president because of his marriage to the daughter of the president’s old enemy.
Indeed, the president takes his inevitable revenge. He first orders Ángel Face to go to Washington, D.C., on government business but has him arrested on the way. Camila never sees her husband again. At the end, Ángel Face languishes in prison, tortured by false rumors that his wife is the president’s mistress.
Bibliography
Barrueto, Jorge J. “A Latin American Indian Re-reads the Canon.” Hispanic Review 72, no. 3 (Summer, 2004): 339-356. Barrueto critiques the novel from a postcolonial perspective, focusing on the significance of mimicry in Latin American literature, the concepts of surrealism and the otherness of non-Europeans in Asturias’s work, and Asturias’s ideas about Guatemalan politics.
Calan, Richard. Miguel Ángel Asturias. New York: Twayne, 1970. Calan devotes two lengthy chapters to El Señor Presidente, providing an overview of the major themes and technical strategies in the novel. In “Babylonian Mythology in El Señor Presidente,” Calan argues that Asturias relies on themes and imagery derived not just from Mayan mythology, as scholars have long noted, but also from Babylonian mythology.
Campion, Daniel. “Eye of Glass, Eye of Truth: Surrealism in El Señor Presidente.” Hispanic Journal 3 (Fall, 1981): 123-135. Campion analyzes Asturias’s style of writing in the novel.
Martin, Gerald. “Miguel Ángel Asturias: El Señor Presidente.” In Landmarks of Modern Latin American Fiction, edited by Philip Swanson. New York: Routledge, 1990. Provides a useful overview of the central issues in the novel.
Prieto, René. Miguel Ángel Asturias’ Archaeology of Return. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Prieto discusses the novel in the broader context of Asturias’s life and work, specifically addressing surrealism, sexuality, and Dionysian elements in the novel.
Zimmerman, Marc. Literature and Resistance in Guatemala: Textual Modes and Cultural Politics from “El Señor Presidente” to Rigoberta Menchú. 2 vols. Athens: Ohio University Center for International Studies, 1995. Zimmerman examines the relationship among Guatemalan literature, politics, violence, and state repression during the last fifty years of the twentieth century, demonstrating how El Señor Presidente and other works of literature have influenced the nation’s revolutionary political movements.