José María Rivarola Matto
Encyclopedia
Jose Maria Rivarola Matto was born in Asunción
, Paraguay
, 18 December 1917, son of Octaviano Rivarola Bogarín and Victoriana Matto.
He died in Asunción, Paraguay, 13 September 1998.
, essayist and journalist
, he was an occasional collaborator of diverse Paraguayan magazines and journals.
, during the holidays.
The house of the Rivarola Matto family was located at the Wilson Street (Eligio Ayala Street nowadays) near Antequera, in front of the San Roque's Church square. He used to go there the times that he sneaked out from the barracks so he could sleep comfortably and then subtly get in again at the morning. Because of that prank he was sent at his 16 years old to the Chaco during the war against Bolivia
as a private.
He survived the war after a year of dysentery and malaria, curing himself chewing leaves of cocaine introduced by the Bolivian prisoners. But his survival wasn't just to his courage, fortitude or luck, but to his writing skills. His comrades tried to not expose too much to this guy that wrote for them passionate love letters to their girlfriends.
He studied laws, obtained the title of lawyer, but never exercising that profession.
He was exiled to the Argentina
during the civil war between 1946 and 1947. In Posadas he acquired a ship that he used to carry packages up the river to the now inexistent Salto del Guairá
, and traveled back in boats to Rosario. Being in Posadas, in 1950, he writes "Follaje en los ojos", a novel about the confined of Alto Paraná. This novel was published in 1952 at Buenos Aires
, Argentina
.
He returned to Asunción in 1950, during the dictatorship, and was arrested countless times for freely exposing his ideas in every journal that wanted to publish them. He was also distributor of the Argentine journal Clarín in Asunción, a journal from where could be obtained objective information about the local political situation.
He begins as a play writer in 1952 with the play "El Sectario" about the aberration of the faith in the human spirit. Follows that one three highly awarded plays: "El fin de Chipí González", "La Cabra y la Flor" and "Encrucijada del Espíritu Santo". The first one is about the problem of the freedom, the second one is about the beauty and the justice, and the third one is about the drama if the Jesuit utopia.
In 1930 is published a compilation of articles published in journals entitled "Belle Epoque and other works" with a strong humorist accent. He also wrote other short stories in 1958 such as "Degradation", that receives a mention in the 5th Short Stories Contest of the "La Tribuna" journal in spite that it wasn't accord with the contest rules. As a story it was too long, as a novel it was too short, and the subject was very strong for that times.
In his "History of the Paraguayan Literature", Hugo Rodríguez-Alcalá
writes about the dramatic work of this author: "Rivarola Matto knows how to create the characters and the ambient, and combines skillfully the serious and the hilarious. He's maybe the only outstanding Paraguayan writer with a fine sense of humor. His art is more effective in the presentation of the dramatic conflicts than on its conclusion".
. Also has a collection of stories entitled "Mi pariente el cocotero", from 1974.
In his play production the most outstanding are: "El fin de Chipí González", comedy first performed in 1956, published in 1965 and adapted for radio-theater in Montevideo
, distributed in discs for all América
; "La Cabra y la Flor", awarded in 1965 in the Theater Contest of Radio Cáritas; "La encrucijada del Espíritu Santo" in 1972, awarded again for the Radio Cáritas. He also published in 1983 an anthology that joins three of his plays: "El fin de Chipí González", "La Cabra y la Flor" and "Su Señoría Tiene Miedo", that makes a strong critic to the Judicial State and only could be represented many years after the fall of the dictatorship of the General Alfredo Stroessner
.
He published essays such as: "Hipótesis física del tiempo" (1987), "Reflexión sobre la violencia" (1987), "La no existencia física del tiempo" (1994) and an interesting and imaginative series of reflections given to know in the book "Belle Epoque and other works".
In his theatrical work exist a fundamental precedent in the Paraguayan contemporary theater: Encrucijada del Espíritu Santo (The Crossroads of the Holy Spirit), edited in 1972. Its the first dramatic close-up to the Jesuit missions. The main character is José, a young priest that appears old at the end of the story, expressing the continuous turns of the argument.
The author stated that itwas a great synthesis deployed in the 17th and 18th Century in the Jesuit misions, although he didn't gave more details about the time lapse. The narrative is lineal, starting from the evangelization of the natives to the banishment of the order in 1767, and the main consequence of that: the voluntary return of the natives to the wild because of the greed of the Paulists or Bandeirantes and the abandon of the Spanish colonial government.
This work is actually a flashback. Starts with a bard describing the resumed story, finishing with "Here is the answer", demonstrating that the play tries to answer questions that came from the possible historical interest of the viewer. Another aspect of the play is that concedes a notable human character to the priests, accentuated for the fall of José motivated by the love and sexual attraction to the native that he baptized as María, and to fight spiritual power with political power.
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, 18 December 1917, son of Octaviano Rivarola Bogarín and Victoriana Matto.
He died in Asunción, Paraguay, 13 September 1998.
First steps
Dramatist, narratorNarrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
, essayist and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, he was an occasional collaborator of diverse Paraguayan magazines and journals.
Childhood and youth
He spent his childhood at the San José High School of Asunción during the time of lessons, and spent in his parents' country houses and manufactures located in Rosario, San Pedro DepartmentSan Pedro Department
San Pedro Department may refer to:In Argentina*San Pedro Department, Jujuy*San Pedro Department, MisionesIn Paraguay*San Pedro Department, Paraguay...
, during the holidays.
The house of the Rivarola Matto family was located at the Wilson Street (Eligio Ayala Street nowadays) near Antequera, in front of the San Roque's Church square. He used to go there the times that he sneaked out from the barracks so he could sleep comfortably and then subtly get in again at the morning. Because of that prank he was sent at his 16 years old to the Chaco during the war against Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
as a private.
He survived the war after a year of dysentery and malaria, curing himself chewing leaves of cocaine introduced by the Bolivian prisoners. But his survival wasn't just to his courage, fortitude or luck, but to his writing skills. His comrades tried to not expose too much to this guy that wrote for them passionate love letters to their girlfriends.
He studied laws, obtained the title of lawyer, but never exercising that profession.
He was exiled to the Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
during the civil war between 1946 and 1947. In Posadas he acquired a ship that he used to carry packages up the river to the now inexistent Salto del Guairá
Salto del Guairá
Salto del Guairá is a city in Paraguay. It is the capital of the department of Canindeyú. The city is located about 200 km north of Ciudad del Este....
, and traveled back in boats to Rosario. Being in Posadas, in 1950, he writes "Follaje en los ojos", a novel about the confined of Alto Paraná. This novel was published in 1952 at Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
He returned to Asunción in 1950, during the dictatorship, and was arrested countless times for freely exposing his ideas in every journal that wanted to publish them. He was also distributor of the Argentine journal Clarín in Asunción, a journal from where could be obtained objective information about the local political situation.
Career
An outstanding figure of our literature, also was notable in philosophy. He was dramatist, narrator, essayist and journalist.He begins as a play writer in 1952 with the play "El Sectario" about the aberration of the faith in the human spirit. Follows that one three highly awarded plays: "El fin de Chipí González", "La Cabra y la Flor" and "Encrucijada del Espíritu Santo". The first one is about the problem of the freedom, the second one is about the beauty and the justice, and the third one is about the drama if the Jesuit utopia.
In 1930 is published a compilation of articles published in journals entitled "Belle Epoque and other works" with a strong humorist accent. He also wrote other short stories in 1958 such as "Degradation", that receives a mention in the 5th Short Stories Contest of the "La Tribuna" journal in spite that it wasn't accord with the contest rules. As a story it was too long, as a novel it was too short, and the subject was very strong for that times.
In his "History of the Paraguayan Literature", Hugo Rodríguez-Alcalá
Hugo Rodríguez-Alcalá
Hugo Rodríguez-Alcalá was a Paraguayan writer, essayist, poet, narrator and literature critic...
writes about the dramatic work of this author: "Rivarola Matto knows how to create the characters and the ambient, and combines skillfully the serious and the hilarious. He's maybe the only outstanding Paraguayan writer with a fine sense of humor. His art is more effective in the presentation of the dramatic conflicts than on its conclusion".
Work
In narrative is author of a novel, "Follaje en los ojos", from 1952, in which he shows the anguished life in the herbal manufactures of the Alto Paraná DepartmentAlto Paraná Department
Alto Paraná is a department in Paraguay. The capital is Ciudad del Este .The Alto Paraná department has experienced tremendous economic and population growth in the past 50 years...
. Also has a collection of stories entitled "Mi pariente el cocotero", from 1974.
In his play production the most outstanding are: "El fin de Chipí González", comedy first performed in 1956, published in 1965 and adapted for radio-theater in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, distributed in discs for all América
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
; "La Cabra y la Flor", awarded in 1965 in the Theater Contest of Radio Cáritas; "La encrucijada del Espíritu Santo" in 1972, awarded again for the Radio Cáritas. He also published in 1983 an anthology that joins three of his plays: "El fin de Chipí González", "La Cabra y la Flor" and "Su Señoría Tiene Miedo", that makes a strong critic to the Judicial State and only could be represented many years after the fall of the dictatorship of the General Alfredo Stroessner
Alfredo Stroessner
Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda, whose name is also spelled Strössner or Strößner , was a Paraguayan military officer and dictator from 1954 to 1989...
.
He published essays such as: "Hipótesis física del tiempo" (1987), "Reflexión sobre la violencia" (1987), "La no existencia física del tiempo" (1994) and an interesting and imaginative series of reflections given to know in the book "Belle Epoque and other works".
In his theatrical work exist a fundamental precedent in the Paraguayan contemporary theater: Encrucijada del Espíritu Santo (The Crossroads of the Holy Spirit), edited in 1972. Its the first dramatic close-up to the Jesuit missions. The main character is José, a young priest that appears old at the end of the story, expressing the continuous turns of the argument.
The author stated that itwas a great synthesis deployed in the 17th and 18th Century in the Jesuit misions, although he didn't gave more details about the time lapse. The narrative is lineal, starting from the evangelization of the natives to the banishment of the order in 1767, and the main consequence of that: the voluntary return of the natives to the wild because of the greed of the Paulists or Bandeirantes and the abandon of the Spanish colonial government.
This work is actually a flashback. Starts with a bard describing the resumed story, finishing with "Here is the answer", demonstrating that the play tries to answer questions that came from the possible historical interest of the viewer. Another aspect of the play is that concedes a notable human character to the priests, accentuated for the fall of José motivated by the love and sexual attraction to the native that he baptized as María, and to fight spiritual power with political power.