Manuel Ascencio Segura

 

Manuel Ascencio Segura

Manuel Ascencio Segura y Cordero (Lima, June 23 of 1805 - id. October 18 of 1871) was a writer and playwright Peruvian, important representative of costumbrismo at the beginning of republican literature. He is considered the creator of the Peruvian national theater, along with Felipe Pardo and Aliaga ( 1806-1868 ), with whom he often argued. He stood out with his traditional comedies and sainetes, which he enriched with voices and popular turns. While Felipe Pardo was a man of aristocratic ideas and defender of the Spanish colony, Segura represented the democratic values of the new Peruvian society, which is reflected in the Creole flavor of his comedies. Poor middle class mongrel, he had a great affinity for the popular and the new social groups emerging in a recently emancipated country. In his honor, the Teatro Principal de Lima was renamed with his name in 1929 (Safe Theater).

 

Biography

Manuel Ascencio Segura was the son of the lieutenant of the Spanish army Juan Segura and the Lima lady Manuela Cordero. His paternal family hailed from Huancavelica, but it was already installed in Lima, then the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, residing in the very Creole neighborhood of Santa Ana. At the instigation of his father, he continued his military career by joining the royalist army as a cadet. He was then 13 years old.

 

He fought alongside the Spanish and with his father in the Ayacucho battle, the last of The War of the Independence of Peru (December 9 of 1824). Defeated the realistic cause they defended, the Segura stayed in the country, and young Manuel went on to serve in the patriotic ranks, reaching the rank of captain of the second Zepita battalion , cantonized in Jauja, in 1831. It was the days of the general's first government Agustín Gamarra, of which he was a supporter.

 

Between 1833 and 1834 Manuel A. Segura wrote her first comedy, The Pepa, in which he reproached the arrogance of the military, although it was never represented or edited, because its implicit criticism could jeopardize its military career.

 

During the following years, Segura was immersed in the successive civil wars of the beginning of the republic. He was a follower of Felipe Santiago Salaverry under whose auspices he was appointed customs administrator of Huacho. Then he decided to move south, to fight alongside Salaverry against the Bolivian invasion of 1835. Defeated his side, he was taken prisoner in Camana and with difficulty he saved his life. Installed the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, remained marginalized from the militia. Defeated the Confederation in 1839, was again called by General Gamarra to serve in the army, from which he retired definitively as a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, in 1842. At that time anarchy began in the country, which lasted until 1845. Segura went on to swell the bureaucracy as an employee of the Ministry of Finance.

 

In those years, Segura wrote in various newspapers, such as 'Trade' from Lima, of which he was editor. There he published his only novel, Gonzalo Pizarro, for deliveries. In 1841 decided to leave said newspaper to dedicate himself to the edition of his own newspaper, entitled The bag. In it appeared his articles of customs "Los Carnavales", "I'm going to Callao", "El Puente", etc. These are careless texts in style, but with a direct and familiar language that easily captures the reader portraying the characters of their time. In this newspaper he also published some satirical poems and letters, such as the one titled "To the Girls".Simultaneously he published The Comet, a periodicillo that barely reached number twelve ( 1841-1842 ). Other of his articles of customs published in different newspapers were "Tea and the dungeon", ", "Las calle de Lima", "God save you from the day of praise", etc. In this way he became the greatest representative of the costumbrismo, next to Felipe Pardo and Aliaga.

 

When it appeared The Mirror of my land, satirical publication of Pardo and Aliaga ( 1840 ), Segura collaborated in the two issues of Lima against the mirror of my land, a publication that in response to Pardo was released by the Chilean Bernardo Soffia. Unsigned and with similar sharpness, Segura and Pardo crossed verses against each other. Segura and his editorial colleagues blamed Pardo for an anti-customist and derogatory attitude towards popular tastes. An example of this literary "correspondence" was the poem "Los tamales" ( by Segura ) and its subsequent response, "El tamalero" ( by Pardo ).

 

For those years, Segura was also the man of the theater in Lima. Indeed, between 1839 and 1845 he was the only one who, from time to time, premiered pieces in the Lima environment. In 1839 he premiered the drama ( or according to another version, stage toy ) Love and politics and comedy Sergeant Padfoot, a new criticism of militarism, which had an excellent acceptance among the public. Immediately premiered the historical drama Blasco Núñez de Vela (1840), comedy The saya and the cloak (1841 or 1842) and the appetizer The mozamala (1842).

 

In the night of January 24 of 1845 premiered in Lima the first version of Ña Catita, a 3-act piece ( that would later be expanded to 4 ), undoubtedly the most recognized of its theatrical pieces.

 

The April 20 of 1843, at thirty-seven, he married Josefa Fernández de Viana, twenty-three years old. With his spouse, he went to Piura, where he was highlighted as Secretary of the Prefecture. There he lived the next eleven years. He founded and directed the weekly The Moscón in which satire and mockery predominated, attacking the vices and excesses of Creole politics. This publication was only three years old ( 1848-1851 ). For those years he also wrote The Pelimuertada, subtitled Latest fashion epic (1851), a satirical poem full of ingenuity, in which he again attacked his literary rival, Felipe Pardo.

 

The October 12 of 1858 He was declared a permanent with full salary for having completed more than thirty years of service to the nation. He was fifty-three years old, and already had health problems. Back in Lima, he devoted himself fully to literary work.

 

Between 1854 and 1862 his theatrical activity became intense. He devoted his ingenuity to costumbrista comedy and established himself as the creator of the Peruvian theater. The December 9 from 1854 he premiered the comedy The spy, and the following year, The resigned. Re-released his comedy Ña Catita, the September 7th of 1856, with great success. The September 15 of that year of 1856 premiered No one hits me, and the January 24 of 1858, A toy. In January of 1859, in collaboration with the young man Ricardo Palma, presented the sainete The saint of Panchita. In 1861 premiered Perchances of a sender; in July of 1862, the sainete Lances de Amancaes, and in September of that same year The three widows, comedy in three acts.

 

Between 1860 and 1861 was an alternate deputy for the Loreto department, but its legislative action was opaque. Palma In this regard, he pointed out that it was impossible for him to overcome his shyness in the gallery, but that he was distinguished instead by his good practicality and by the independence of his conduct.

 

For those years, already become the center of the Lima intelligentsia, He attended the literary evenings that were held in the Pérez brothers' bookstore or in the portals of the Plaza de Armas. This is how the last years of his life passed, between literary activity and lively gatherings.

 

Good father of a family, with his wife Doña Josefa he had two children, one dead at an early age and another named María Josefa del Rosario. Beaten by health problems — suffered from asthma— and due to successive family misfortunes, he died October 18 of 1871.

 

He was a public official between 1823 and 1828.

 

Works

Segura's works are divided into three genres: the poetic, the dramatic and the journalistic ( articles of customs ). To them should be added their only copy of the novelistic genre: Gonzalo Pizarro.

 

Poetics

 

Feast of Saint John in Amancaes. Lima, 1843.

In the poetic genre his verses are shown in the manner of the corrosive latrillas of Francisco de Quevedo and Breton of the Blacksmiths. « He set out to moralize by laughing, and laughing not with humor that spikes grace, but with the sarcastic that expels the bitterness of life. ». His best known poetry is:

 

"To the girls", sextillas directed at the braised and boastful limelines, without distinction of age.

The Pelimuertada, subtitled Latest fashion epic ( Piura, 1851), burlesque and satirical epic, but more lyrical than epic in character. It was published in an 84-page brochure. It is divided into 16 songs, the last unfinished, with a total of 2,194 verses, distributed in leaflets, sextillas, quintillas and romances. In it he made unmistakable allusions against his literary contender, Felipe Pardo, and the academic writers of the capital. His procacity possibly motivated him not to be fully included, in the volume that compiled the literary works of Segura, where only five songs were collected (Articles, poetry and comedies, 1885 ).

Countless letters published in "La Bolsa" and "El Moscón", directed against Andrés de Santa Cruz, Felipe Pardo and Aliaga and many other adversaries in the office of letters.

To show his versifying ability, his mischief in the use of language and his allusions to his literary rival ( Pardo ), here are some examples taken from The Pelimuertada:

 

Ercilla sang to the Araucanian,

Tasso sang to Godofredo,

sang Bolívar Olmedo,

and Lucano sang to Caesar;

go from elbow to hand,

as they usually call me,

I'm going to sing too

more than fuss the show,

and although I'm with a cold

that I can't solve.

 

If epics make a hundred,

even those who go to school,

about the dead and who watches over him,

I have to do it too.

With a three bon or a well

it is not Béranger who obfuscates me;

and although people give birth

then the brain fades,

I have to release the boneless

stronger than Cuyusca.

The allusions to Felipe Pardo are clear: that of "people who give birth", which in a right sense refers to the brown people or the people, also alludes to the surname of his rival; Furthermore, Pardo had translated Béranger. All that is enough to realize who the satire was directed against. The "Cuyusca", as I would remember many years later Enrique López Albújar in their Memories, was the nickname of a very popular female character among the low town of Piura from the beginning of the 1840s( which coincides with the time Segura lived there ). She was a Creole brown, possibly between 15 and 20 years old, who cheered the streets with her songs and music. A testimony of her time describes her as a free black woman who caused scandals in the streets with her obscene songs, pronounced with her resonant voice.

 

Dramatic

 

Plaza Mayor de Lima at the beginning of the Republic. Oil by Juan Mauricio Rugendas, Lima, 1843.

In the dramatic genre, Segura composed fundamentally sainetes and comedies. In total he wrote seventeen plays, of which four have been lost. Its characters are mainly from the middle class, sometimes laughable, kind or simple the others, but always representative of society. His arguments are simple; his verse, fluid; and its language, agile and full of popular terms. According Menéndez and Pelayo, Peru owes Segura a theatrical comic repertoire in quantity and quality that any other country in America can offer. Alongside the only three comedies of Felipe Pardo ( of which only two were represented in the author's lifetime ) this production is notoriously abundant.

 

In accordance with the costumbrista norm, Segura explained her literary work in terms of social service. His articles and comedies were aimed at the public to motivate the change in habits that ugly the image of Lima society. In a fragment of The saya and the cloak, affirmed that his work was intended: « to correct customs / abuses, excesses / that plagued is / unfortunately our soil. » That corrective spirit is almost never violent ( excepting criticism of political passions, institutional chaos, lack of patriotism ).

 

Here is a list of his plays:

 

The Pepa ( 1833 ), his first comedy written, but which was not released.

Love and politics ( 1839 ), its first premiere, a work of a historical nature whose text has not been preserved.

Sergeant Padfoot ( 1839 ), a work in which he ridicules the boasts of an uneducated and boastful military man who, due to his haughtiness, is expelled from the house of the woman he is targeting. As in all of Segura's comedies, more than the plot what stands out is the spontaneity of the characters and the grace of the dialogues plagued by popular sayings, offering a lively, critical, ingenious, and festive — portrait of Peruvian society in its early Republican decades.

Blasco Núñez de Vela ( 1840 ), a historical drama in 6 acts, the premiere of which sparked controversy between Europeans and nationalists. Its original has been lost.

The saya and the cloak ( 1841 or 1842 ) comedy where he deals with a public employment applicant, who, to achieve this, falls in love with a young woman and promises her marriage, so that through his intersection and the influence of his brother-in-law, the minister may obtain approval of his wishes.

The mozamala ( 1842 ), among which the title alludes to the name of a very popular dance of that time.

Ña Catita( 1845; corrected in 1856 ), comedy. It is the work that summarizes all the humor and sparkling grace of Segura. Its main character that gives it its title has been considered as the most prominent figure in Peruvian theater. The argument is as follows: the spouses Don Jesús and Doña Rufina have a daughter of marriageable age, named Juliana. The mother, instigated by Ña Catita — a mischievous, gossipy and intriguing old woman —, tries to link her daughter with Don Alejo, a Donjuanesco type who pretends to have great rank and financial solvency. But Juliana, very candid and sweet, corresponds to the loving passion of Don Manuel, poor young man with no future, and stubbornly opposes his mother's attempts. When the union of Juliana and Don Alejo is about to be sealed, don Juan, an old friend of the family, arrives unexpectedly,who involuntarily disrupts Don Alejo's claims. Indeed, a newcomer from Cuzco, don Juan is surprised to see Don Alejo, who was his friend, and takes advantage of the casual meeting to deliver a letter from his wife. It is then discovered that the supposed gallant was nothing but an impostor, who had a wife and lived in Cuzco. Rufina faints with fright and cries her misfortune. Ña Catita, per perverse and pimp, is thrown from the house. The marriage of Juliana and Manuel is then agreed, while Don Jesús, through the intercession of don Juan, forgives the conduct of his wife Rufina. This work was released on the night of the It is then discovered that the supposed gallant was nothing but an impostor, who had a wife and lived in Cuzco. Rufina faints with fright and cries her misfortune. Ña Catita, per perverse and pimp, is thrown from the house. The marriage of Juliana and Manuel is then agreed, while Don Jesús, through the intercession of don Juan, forgives the conduct of his wife Rufina. This work was released on the night of the It is then discovered that the supposed gallant was nothing but an impostor, who had a wife and lived in Cuzco. Rufina faints with fright and cries her misfortune. Ña Catita, per perverse and pimp, is thrown from the house. The marriage of Juliana and Manuel is then agreed, while Don Jesús, through the intercession of don Juan, forgives the conduct of his wife Rufina. This work was released on the night of the January 24 from 1845, and re-released with aggregates the September 7th from 1856, triumphing thanks to the genius of the actress Encarnación Coya.

No one hits me ( 1845 ), short piece.

The spy ( 1854 ), comedy.

The resigned ( 1855 ), comedy full of political allusions, referring to the civil war between Echenique and Castilla. It was a formidable success that drew admiration from the romantic youth of “ bohemia ”, including Clemente Althaus, Manuel Nicolás Corpancho, Carlos Augusto Salaverry and Ricardo Palma.

A toy ( 1858 ), comedy

The saint of Panchita ( 1859 ), sainete, in collaboration with Ricardo Palma in scenes VIII-X of the second act.

Perchances of a sender ( 1861 ), comedy. Sharp criticism of the Lima press license, which did not respect honors.

The three widows ( 1862 ), comedy where Segura's wit shines the most restful, with psychological glimpses, unknown in his previous works.

Lances de Amancaes ( 1862 ), sainete.

The cachaspari, sainete made from the recast of the originals of the piece of an act "Two for one".

Journalistic

In the journalistic field, he made his first contributions in Trade from Lima, and later founded The bag and The Moscón. In them he wrote festive letters and traditional items, always wearing his mocking and cartoonish wit. Altogether, they add up to a much larger quantity than Felipe Pardo's articles, but he surpassed him in quality with his articles that he published in The mirror of my land.

 

Segura's articles of customs broaden the themes and sometimes deepen the critical vision of his comedies. With an unimaginative and often sloppy composition, these articles usually consist of a brief presentation by the narrator, from the humorous account of one or more urban events ( ranging from funeral honors to President Gamarra to the carnival game ) and a prosecuting conclusion. It is a clear antecedent of Peruvian traditions of Ricardo Palma.

 

Characteristics

 

Portrait of Manuel A. Safe. Published at the beginning of the 20th century.

His critics and biographers, from Juan de Arona up to José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma, They agree in recognizing their unique gifts as a resourceful comediographer. He painted places and characters, especially the latter, with singular skill. Caricature was his favorite descriptive form. Deep down, it did not pursue the cruel and bloody stigmatization of our customs, but its moralization. Its emblematic characters were the limo from Beatona and Pimp, the adventurous military, the unscrupulous politicians, the false aristocrats, the careerist public employees and all the heterogeneous types that made up the Lima population. He managed to create stamps full of grace, irony and sharpness, so full of vitality that many types of today's society can be recognized in them.

 

As for the use of language, it did not fall into the purism of the Spanish language that Pardo and Aliaga defended exacerbated. In this sense, he surpassed his colleague of letters, since he brought a renewal in the theatrical vocabulary, that is, in the poetic vocabulary. The Castilian literary language had sometimes become poor and discolored within the current stylistic molds. Segura used, with original grace as an authentic writer, voices that were not in the dictionary but in the daily speech of ordinary people. Thus he stamped the so-called Creollisms and also adorned the curious popular syntax, thus anticipating Ricardo Palma and Leonidas Yerovi. From there a joy results in his works, derived not so much from the very simple plots or from the ideas expressed, but from the words themselves in their intimacy and entrails. To the unwarned reader of the century xxi you will certainly be surprised to find in the dialogues of the Sergeant Padfoot and Ña Catita popular expressions of current daily use (« become Swedish », « go fry monkeys », etc. ). With good reason, Ricardo Palma defended Segura from those of supposed vulgarity: « What these critics forget is that when the people are painted they must be painted as it is. If there is something in our compatriot's comedies that offends picky readers, it will be the original's fault, not the portrait ».

 

 

Felipe Pardo and Aliaga

The figures of the two largest writers of the early Republican Peru are often opposed, Felipe Pardo and Aliaga and Manuel Ascensio Segura, Lima and contemporaries. It is true that both held long literary-journalistic controversies for various reasons ( for example, Pardo expresses indignation and moralism at the debauchery of the Lima carnivals; Safe, mischief and enthusiasm at this party ), and that in that confrontation they showed off their best talent to criticize each other, but it is not valid to pigeonhole them in Creole or anti-Criollista positions. A careful reading of Pardo's work also reveals his deep love and interest in Peru; on the other hand, Segura also makes harsh criticism of Peruvian society.

With affection,

Ruben