Egolatría, alteridad y estrategias autobiográficas en la prosa de Sarmiento

Abstract

Just like Borges, Sarmiento writes again and again his autobiographical epic tale, from his early and passionate leaflet Mi defensa (1834) and the autobiography Recuerdos de provincia (1850) that, more calmly although always imbued with passion, inscribes his character in the genealogy of illustrious men who served the motherland; to his Memoirs written in the 1880s. As an old man, he remembers and rewrites emblematic episodes such as his famous article around the Cacabuco events published in El Mercurio on February 11 1841. My piece of work aims to show how the rewriting of the same event is manipulated around already decided goals (justifying a military career or rescuing his humanitarian heroic deeds). I also intend to show how the choice of a specific point of view (first / third person) determines the results—biography or autobiography—always stemming from the same narrative matter.