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Martín Fierro #1
The Gaucho Martín Fierro
This is a poem of protest drawn from the life of the gaucho, who was forced to yield his freedom and individuality to the social and material changes that invaded his beloved pampas--a protest which arose from years of abuse and neglect suffered from landowners, militarists, and the Argentine political establishment.
This poem, composed and first published more than a century ago, could have been written today by spokesmen for other oppressed groups in other parts of the world. For this reason, perhaps, the poem has such universal appeal that it has been translated into nineteen languages, making it available to more than half of the world's people.
Hernandez's poem was an attempt to alert the government, and particularly the city dwellers, to the problems faced by the gaucho minority in adjusting to the new, unfamiliar culture imposed on them by the Central Government soon after the fall of the dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1852, under the slogan "Politics of Progress." Moreover, the poem supplied a historical link to the gauchos' contribution to the national development of Argentina, for the gaucho had performed a major role in the country's independence from Spain. They had also fought in the civil wars of Argentina and had cleared the pampas of marauding Indian bands that plagued the pastoral development of the region. According to Hernandes they had been by turns abused, neglected, and finally dispersed, ultimately losing their identity as a social group.
Those interested in the Martin Fierro as literature, as social protest, as anthropology, or as an example of the annihilation of a minority group--and its very identity--have joined in making it the most widely read, analyzed, and discussed literary work produced in Argentina. Now, after several hundred editions in Spanish and other languages, Martin Fierro is recognized as a masterpiece of world literature.
The aim of this English version has been to achieve a line-by-line rendition faithful to the original in substance and tone, but without attempting to recreate Hernandez's meter or rhyme. The translators present it here as a catalyst for enjoyment, provocation, and insight.
This poem, composed and first published more than a century ago, could have been written today by spokesmen for other oppressed groups in other parts of the world. For this reason, perhaps, the poem has such universal appeal that it has been translated into nineteen languages, making it available to more than half of the world's people.
Hernandez's poem was an attempt to alert the government, and particularly the city dwellers, to the problems faced by the gaucho minority in adjusting to the new, unfamiliar culture imposed on them by the Central Government soon after the fall of the dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1852, under the slogan "Politics of Progress." Moreover, the poem supplied a historical link to the gauchos' contribution to the national development of Argentina, for the gaucho had performed a major role in the country's independence from Spain. They had also fought in the civil wars of Argentina and had cleared the pampas of marauding Indian bands that plagued the pastoral development of the region. According to Hernandes they had been by turns abused, neglected, and finally dispersed, ultimately losing their identity as a social group.
Those interested in the Martin Fierro as literature, as social protest, as anthropology, or as an example of the annihilation of a minority group--and its very identity--have joined in making it the most widely read, analyzed, and discussed literary work produced in Argentina. Now, after several hundred editions in Spanish and other languages, Martin Fierro is recognized as a masterpiece of world literature.
The aim of this English version has been to achieve a line-by-line rendition faithful to the original in substance and tone, but without attempting to recreate Hernandez's meter or rhyme. The translators present it here as a catalyst for enjoyment, provocation, and insight.
99 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1872
About the author
José Hernández
101 books60 followersJosé Hernández (born José Rafael Hernández y Pueyrredón) (November 10, 1834 – October 21, 1886) was an Argentine journalist, poet, and politician best known as the author of the epic poem Martín Fierro.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Hernández, whose ancestry was a mix of Spanish, Irish, and French, was born on a farm near San Martín (Buenos Aires Province). His father was a butler or foreman of a series of cattle ranches. His career was to be an alternation between stints on the Federal side in the civil wars of Argentina and Uruguay and life as a newspaperman, a short stint as an employee of a commercial firm, and a period as stenographer to the legislature of the Confederation.
Hernández founded the newspaper El Río de la Plata, which advocated local autonomy, abolition of the conscripted "frontier contingents", and election of justices of the peace, military commanders, and school boards. He opposed immigration, because he believed it undermined the pastoral foundation of the region's wealth. He envisioned a federal republic based in pastoralism, but also featuring a strong system of education and a literate population.
Although a federalist opposed to the centralizing, modernizing, and Europeanizing tendencies of Argentine president Domingo Sarmiento, Hernández was no apologist for General Juan Manuel de Rosas, whom he characterized as a tyrant and a despot.
Hernández is known today almost exclusively for his masterpiece Martín Fierro, the epic poem that stands as the pinnacle of gauchesque literature. The poem was apparently begun during a period of exile in Brazil following the defeat at Ñaembé (1870) and was published in two parts (in 1872 and 1879).
Hernández died of heart disease October 21, 1886, in Belgrano, which was at that time a separate suburb, currently a neighborhood of the Buenos Aires city. He was buried in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Hernández, whose ancestry was a mix of Spanish, Irish, and French, was born on a farm near San Martín (Buenos Aires Province). His father was a butler or foreman of a series of cattle ranches. His career was to be an alternation between stints on the Federal side in the civil wars of Argentina and Uruguay and life as a newspaperman, a short stint as an employee of a commercial firm, and a period as stenographer to the legislature of the Confederation.
Hernández founded the newspaper El Río de la Plata, which advocated local autonomy, abolition of the conscripted "frontier contingents", and election of justices of the peace, military commanders, and school boards. He opposed immigration, because he believed it undermined the pastoral foundation of the region's wealth. He envisioned a federal republic based in pastoralism, but also featuring a strong system of education and a literate population.
Although a federalist opposed to the centralizing, modernizing, and Europeanizing tendencies of Argentine president Domingo Sarmiento, Hernández was no apologist for General Juan Manuel de Rosas, whom he characterized as a tyrant and a despot.
Hernández is known today almost exclusively for his masterpiece Martín Fierro, the epic poem that stands as the pinnacle of gauchesque literature. The poem was apparently begun during a period of exile in Brazil following the defeat at Ñaembé (1870) and was published in two parts (in 1872 and 1879).
Hernández died of heart disease October 21, 1886, in Belgrano, which was at that time a separate suburb, currently a neighborhood of the Buenos Aires city. He was buried in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.
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February 29, 2020This epic poem from 1872, narrated by an outlaw gaucho, is central to the canon in Argentina - it was historically popular with ordinary people, especially in rural communities where it meshed with the oral tradition, and it is also taught in schools and universities - but it seems relatively little known in the English-speaking world*.
Despite browsing plenty of lists and articles about Latin American classics, I had never heard of The Gaucho Martín Fierro until Goodreads friends reviewed The Adventures of China Iron, a feminist riff on Fierro, that was translated into English last year. I was planning to read Fierro anyway this year, to fit a 'classic western' category in a reading challenge. Now China Iron has been listed for the International Booker, and it makes sense to read the poem before the novel.
The first translation I looked at (thanks to Paul for the link) was a version of a 1967 SUNY Press translation by Catherine Ward, revised by her daughter and hosted on her website. I have to say I prefer this 1974 translation (also from SUNY) by Frank G. Carrino, Alberto J. Carlos and Norman Mangouni: its demotic, relaxed and somewhat slangy tone reflects descriptions of the Spanish original and fits its characters better than the more formal and literary Wards' version. It's also a faster and more inviting read. However the 1974 translation is only of Part 1 of Martín Fierro, whereas the Wards', including the published 1967 translation, also has Part 2, the equally popular sequel from 1879. (Incidentally, the two introductions, whilst otherwise bolstering each other, disagree markedly as to whether intellectuals had any interest in Fierro before 1913; the reviews and examples cited by Carrino et al, to argue that they did, sound convincing, though of course I haven't checked the references.)
Martín Fierro is a lament for a disappearing way of life as well as a picaresque story of hardship. 'Gaucho' in the poem usually means a cowboy of the Argentinian pampas, who, although he may work for a ranch (estantería) boss, has a considerable amount of autonomy in his work compared with many other working-class men of his day. As with North American cowboys in fiction and film, the gauchos value independence, self-reliance, life in the open air, and a violent code of honour. 'Gauchos' was also the name for rural working-class settler communities in certain areas around the pampas, including River Plate. The gauchos became a more oppressed class around the time of the Argentine Civil War, and many were forced off the land in a process that sounds reminiscent of the Highland Clearances in Scotland. The men were usually press-ganged into the army and made to labour with promises of pay that rarely arrived, or to fight Indians, sometimes using poorer quality weapons and horses than the indigenous people had acquired themselves. Much of Fierro's story is about experiences like these in the army, along with bullying, torture, hunger and the incompetence of gringo comrades (in this case meaning newly-arrived European settlers with a poor command of Spanish) - and he reminisces about the good old days herding on the pampas, an idealised life of freedom, until, eventually, he deserts. Gauchos without a boss were by this time liable to be arrested for vagrancy, even if they were not army deserters. Fierro kills men, including policemen, in a couple of knife fights. (Knives were the weapon of choice for gaucho fights, guns considered less honourable.) Late in the poem, he acquires a companion, Cruz, who deserts from the police. (Due to an acute shortage of police, former criminals were sometimes conscripted to become policemen.)
Its moods are reminiscent of blues - in Fierro's lament for his hard living conditions and the loss of his wife and family - and also hip hop: he brags about his toughness at intervals throughout the poem, and later about his skill in fights. (These similarities come through in this more colloquial translation, not so much in the Ward.)
José Hernández was the son of a cattle dealer from a respected Buenos Aires family; the civil war broke out when he was in his late teens. He spent much of his life alongside gauchos on the pampas and as a soldier, and then as a campaigning journalist arguing for the interests of the rural poor at a time of urban/rural division. Unlike many 19th century European and North American novels about impoverished characters, Martín Fierro has no truck with ideas of the respectable versus disreputable poor and does not moralise about its subject any more than he would himself: the man is a victim of injustice, brave and resilient, a deserter, a murderer who lives only by the code of his own subculture. Is he a hero, an anti-hero? Probably both. His words often seem simple - albeit with some singular metaphors grounded in his environment - but take a step back and he's a very modern kind of protagonist, and a convincing voice and type.
The poem is about the hardships of gauchos, so it contains less than some contemporary readers would like about indigenous people. As a gaucho working ranches, and then in the army, Fierro fights Indians: he was a footsoldier in the colonial process of driving native peoples into ever smaller patches of their country. They only really exist for him as enemies to be fought and their fighting prowess is described with hints of the magical. Towards the end of the poem, the two deserters decide to go and live with the Indians. These may not be the same bands or tribes they have previously fought (it's unclear), but the gauchos seem to feel that they can just stop fighting Indians and go and join them any time they like, and they will be accepted. Readers who've studied these conflicts in depth will know to what extent this was actually true - but superficially it seems like it relates to the (North American?) trope of the wise peaceable Indian ... as well as being damn cheeky.
Whilst plenty of modern Argentine literature has become known in English from Borges onwards, The Gaucho Martín Fierro is an insight into a classic hovering in the background of Argentinian authors' reading, an influence not often discussed in English (at least in venues like Goodreads an blogs) - and into a voice from a subculture of which Europeans, especially, may only have the slightest awareness. A day after reading, it is the modernity of the characterisation and the author's refusal to judge which seem most innovative and striking. However, the lack of judgement can also be provocative…
---
Connections with The Adventures of China Iron
It's clear why a feminist author would produce a response to Martín Fierro, as this national epic doesn't have much good to say about women, other than missing them and sometimes finding them a comfort. When women are mentioned, it's usually sexist in tone, and the women are peripheral and nameless. It's a poem of a wandering, fighting man, like a humbler counterpart of the Odyssey.
Details in Martín Fierro didn't seem to match up exactly with the first few pages of China Iron - though a) the new novel is reportedly indebted to its' translators unpublished translation of Fierro, and b) this is only part 1 of Fierro that I've read here; there may be more correspondences in part 2.
Fierro kills a black man in a bar fight, after goading him and his wife with entirely unprovoked insults, including racism. This couple are supposed to be China Iron's foster parents, and Fierro won her from them in a card game. There is no mention of anything like this in the poem - no card game during this scene, no girl attached to them. (Though China says Fierro is a liar, which is, presumably, the licence for differences between the stories.) Secondly, China Iron says she is 14 at the start of the book and already has two babies. There is nothing here to suggest that Fierro's wife was this young. In this translation at least - and it may of course be a matter of translation - she is always called a woman, not a girl. I have currently no idea whether marriage at such a young age was typical in these gaucho communities of the 19th century; or if it is instead meant to signal how debauched Fierro was (him being a symbol of pernicious Argentine machismo), or what. China says that when she went on the road, she left the babies with an old couple who'd look after them well. Fierro in the poem says
My poor little boys,
on top of all their suffering,
were hired out as peons;
but how could anybody expect them to work?
They were still like young pigeons
that hadn't leathered out!
This sounds like they were a few years older, maybe 5ish if it was anything like the way small children were put to work in Victorian textile mills, or at bird-scaring and other simple tasks in European agriculture - and this happened soon enough that he was aware of their fate, not years after he had been made to join the army.
* It's briefly mentioned in Gravity's Rainbow, but few people are reading it in English, it seems from Goodreads.
(Read & reviewed February 2020.)
Review of Part 2 in the revised Ward translation
Despite browsing plenty of lists and articles about Latin American classics, I had never heard of The Gaucho Martín Fierro until Goodreads friends reviewed The Adventures of China Iron, a feminist riff on Fierro, that was translated into English last year. I was planning to read Fierro anyway this year, to fit a 'classic western' category in a reading challenge. Now China Iron has been listed for the International Booker, and it makes sense to read the poem before the novel.
The first translation I looked at (thanks to Paul for the link) was a version of a 1967 SUNY Press translation by Catherine Ward, revised by her daughter and hosted on her website. I have to say I prefer this 1974 translation (also from SUNY) by Frank G. Carrino, Alberto J. Carlos and Norman Mangouni: its demotic, relaxed and somewhat slangy tone reflects descriptions of the Spanish original and fits its characters better than the more formal and literary Wards' version. It's also a faster and more inviting read. However the 1974 translation is only of Part 1 of Martín Fierro, whereas the Wards', including the published 1967 translation, also has Part 2, the equally popular sequel from 1879. (Incidentally, the two introductions, whilst otherwise bolstering each other, disagree markedly as to whether intellectuals had any interest in Fierro before 1913; the reviews and examples cited by Carrino et al, to argue that they did, sound convincing, though of course I haven't checked the references.)
Martín Fierro is a lament for a disappearing way of life as well as a picaresque story of hardship. 'Gaucho' in the poem usually means a cowboy of the Argentinian pampas, who, although he may work for a ranch (estantería) boss, has a considerable amount of autonomy in his work compared with many other working-class men of his day. As with North American cowboys in fiction and film, the gauchos value independence, self-reliance, life in the open air, and a violent code of honour. 'Gauchos' was also the name for rural working-class settler communities in certain areas around the pampas, including River Plate. The gauchos became a more oppressed class around the time of the Argentine Civil War, and many were forced off the land in a process that sounds reminiscent of the Highland Clearances in Scotland. The men were usually press-ganged into the army and made to labour with promises of pay that rarely arrived, or to fight Indians, sometimes using poorer quality weapons and horses than the indigenous people had acquired themselves. Much of Fierro's story is about experiences like these in the army, along with bullying, torture, hunger and the incompetence of gringo comrades (in this case meaning newly-arrived European settlers with a poor command of Spanish) - and he reminisces about the good old days herding on the pampas, an idealised life of freedom, until, eventually, he deserts. Gauchos without a boss were by this time liable to be arrested for vagrancy, even if they were not army deserters. Fierro kills men, including policemen, in a couple of knife fights. (Knives were the weapon of choice for gaucho fights, guns considered less honourable.) Late in the poem, he acquires a companion, Cruz, who deserts from the police. (Due to an acute shortage of police, former criminals were sometimes conscripted to become policemen.)
Its moods are reminiscent of blues - in Fierro's lament for his hard living conditions and the loss of his wife and family - and also hip hop: he brags about his toughness at intervals throughout the poem, and later about his skill in fights. (These similarities come through in this more colloquial translation, not so much in the Ward.)
José Hernández was the son of a cattle dealer from a respected Buenos Aires family; the civil war broke out when he was in his late teens. He spent much of his life alongside gauchos on the pampas and as a soldier, and then as a campaigning journalist arguing for the interests of the rural poor at a time of urban/rural division. Unlike many 19th century European and North American novels about impoverished characters, Martín Fierro has no truck with ideas of the respectable versus disreputable poor and does not moralise about its subject any more than he would himself: the man is a victim of injustice, brave and resilient, a deserter, a murderer who lives only by the code of his own subculture. Is he a hero, an anti-hero? Probably both. His words often seem simple - albeit with some singular metaphors grounded in his environment - but take a step back and he's a very modern kind of protagonist, and a convincing voice and type.
The poem is about the hardships of gauchos, so it contains less than some contemporary readers would like about indigenous people. As a gaucho working ranches, and then in the army, Fierro fights Indians: he was a footsoldier in the colonial process of driving native peoples into ever smaller patches of their country. They only really exist for him as enemies to be fought and their fighting prowess is described with hints of the magical. Towards the end of the poem, the two deserters decide to go and live with the Indians. These may not be the same bands or tribes they have previously fought (it's unclear), but the gauchos seem to feel that they can just stop fighting Indians and go and join them any time they like, and they will be accepted. Readers who've studied these conflicts in depth will know to what extent this was actually true - but superficially it seems like it relates to the (North American?) trope of the wise peaceable Indian ... as well as being damn cheeky.
Whilst plenty of modern Argentine literature has become known in English from Borges onwards, The Gaucho Martín Fierro is an insight into a classic hovering in the background of Argentinian authors' reading, an influence not often discussed in English (at least in venues like Goodreads an blogs) - and into a voice from a subculture of which Europeans, especially, may only have the slightest awareness. A day after reading, it is the modernity of the characterisation and the author's refusal to judge which seem most innovative and striking. However, the lack of judgement can also be provocative…
---
Connections with The Adventures of China Iron
It's clear why a feminist author would produce a response to Martín Fierro, as this national epic doesn't have much good to say about women, other than missing them and sometimes finding them a comfort. When women are mentioned, it's usually sexist in tone, and the women are peripheral and nameless. It's a poem of a wandering, fighting man, like a humbler counterpart of the Odyssey.
Details in Martín Fierro didn't seem to match up exactly with the first few pages of China Iron - though a) the new novel is reportedly indebted to its' translators unpublished translation of Fierro, and b) this is only part 1 of Fierro that I've read here; there may be more correspondences in part 2.
Fierro kills a black man in a bar fight, after goading him and his wife with entirely unprovoked insults, including racism. This couple are supposed to be China Iron's foster parents, and Fierro won her from them in a card game. There is no mention of anything like this in the poem - no card game during this scene, no girl attached to them. (Though China says Fierro is a liar, which is, presumably, the licence for differences between the stories.) Secondly, China Iron says she is 14 at the start of the book and already has two babies. There is nothing here to suggest that Fierro's wife was this young. In this translation at least - and it may of course be a matter of translation - she is always called a woman, not a girl. I have currently no idea whether marriage at such a young age was typical in these gaucho communities of the 19th century; or if it is instead meant to signal how debauched Fierro was (him being a symbol of pernicious Argentine machismo), or what. China says that when she went on the road, she left the babies with an old couple who'd look after them well. Fierro in the poem says
My poor little boys,
on top of all their suffering,
were hired out as peons;
but how could anybody expect them to work?
They were still like young pigeons
that hadn't leathered out!
This sounds like they were a few years older, maybe 5ish if it was anything like the way small children were put to work in Victorian textile mills, or at bird-scaring and other simple tasks in European agriculture - and this happened soon enough that he was aware of their fate, not years after he had been made to join the army.
* It's briefly mentioned in Gravity's Rainbow, but few people are reading it in English, it seems from Goodreads.
(Read & reviewed February 2020.)
Review of Part 2 in the revised Ward translation
September 14, 2021
sinceramente pense que esto iba a ser una pedorrada de aquellas, esos clasicos q el colegio te hace leer xq un chaboncito escribio una porqueriita asi nomas y, pum! tuvo suerte y se hizo famoso y ahora yo tengo que estar leyendo su librito solo x eso. mia fue la sorpresa cuando en verdad, me empezo a gustar, tipo ni es algo super bueno, pero no esta mal. me encanta lo ridiculamente dramatico q es tipo: hola me dijiste que soy un boludo, pum te pego un boleaso y te mato...ahora soy un gaucho triste y me escapo y estoy solo y no me queda nada, pero voy a vivir xq estoy enojado y no me pienso rendir asi de facil bla, bla, bla, drama. el chabon puede ser un mood y al mismo tiempo un loquito. me causa mucha gracia el hecho de que digan "el martin fierro es el simbolo mas genuino argentino" tipo qsy en españa esta el cid no se cuanto, usaba una armadura, era el buen catolico, el santo, el buen padre y marido(bueno x lo menos esa era la imagen q le daban los caretas de los españoles q quieren torcer todo, xq el chabon no era q luchaba x la fe catolica como se decia (y por eso se lo tenia como un icono) solo peleaba para el bando q le pagara mejor. bueno al punto q queria ir es q me da gracia q nuestro icono genuino sea alguien q le gustaba estar por ahi boludeando y despues cagandose a las piñas.
tengo mucho q pensar sobre este libro pero ya me aburri de escribir esta reseña.
tmb me gusto q sea poesía(no estaba segura sobre el genero pero en realidad esta muy lindo♡) y haberlo leido en clase en voz alta er bastante diver.
update de mi vida en momento real:estoy en el living con mis primos y un pibito como que bastante, como decirlo, a cierto! pelotudo.
tengo mucho q pensar sobre este libro pero ya me aburri de escribir esta reseña.
tmb me gusto q sea poesía(no estaba segura sobre el genero pero en realidad esta muy lindo♡) y haberlo leido en clase en voz alta er bastante diver.
update de mi vida en momento real:estoy en el living con mis primos y un pibito como que bastante, como decirlo, a cierto! pelotudo.
February 25, 2014
My father was raised in Buenos Aires. This was, he told me numerous times, his favorite piece of literature from back home. I claim no ability to remain objective once I'm finished reading it. I do, however, find it a little upsetting the the work that essentially established modern Argentinean literature, written 135 years ago, has only 4 reviews among 20 million Goodreads users.
Read
September 19, 2017Martín Fierro hablando bonito de las mujeres: WOW, tkm Martín Fierro, gracias por existir.
* dos segundos después *
"Mujer... perra parida. Interesada y llorona".
Eso no afecta en mi (inexistente) calificación por el libro, pero...
* dos segundos después *
"Mujer... perra parida. Interesada y llorona".
Eso no afecta en mi (inexistente) calificación por el libro, pero...
April 22, 2023
En este punto el cantor
buscó un porrón pa consuelo,
echó un trago como un cielo,
dando fin a su argumento;
y de un golpe al estrumento
lo hizo astillas contra el suelo.
que yo mato, que yo mato, yo mato por tiii
cantánnnndote baladas por la madrugada
quién me lo iba a decirrrr
Dios mío, qué belleza. Tengo la sensación de que evitar leerlo de un tirón me generaría una lectura más potente, como cuando lo leí en el colegio por primera vez. Voy a decir la forrada más grande que se me podría ocurrir pero lo encontré mucho más expositivo de lo que lo recordaba, y es tan intenso en lo que narra que muchas veces por la forma no alcanza ese estallido que busca; dice José Hernández que muchas gracias por mi sugerencia y que vuelva a las Brontë.
buscó un porrón pa consuelo,
echó un trago como un cielo,
dando fin a su argumento;
y de un golpe al estrumento
lo hizo astillas contra el suelo.
que yo mato, que yo mato, yo mato por tiii
cantánnnndote baladas por la madrugada
quién me lo iba a decirrrr
Dios mío, qué belleza. Tengo la sensación de que evitar leerlo de un tirón me generaría una lectura más potente, como cuando lo leí en el colegio por primera vez. Voy a decir la forrada más grande que se me podría ocurrir pero lo encontré mucho más expositivo de lo que lo recordaba, y es tan intenso en lo que narra que muchas veces por la forma no alcanza ese estallido que busca; dice José Hernández que muchas gracias por mi sugerencia y que vuelva a las Brontë.
December 20, 2013
Lovely short verse story. I wan't expecting to like this but it reminded me of a blues song. The story of two gauchos and their struggles against the cruelties of an emerging society which uses them and abuses them. In translation only some of the verses work and I wish I could attempt it in Spanish to get the full flavour of the poetry. However some of the descriptions I found very appealing, particularly the beginning of a gaucho's day. I certainly sympathised with Martin and was wishing for a good outcome. It definitely felt like the right medium for a gaucho to express himself. Great little find.
April 17, 2025
las historias de los gauchos que he leído son muy basadas en el martín fierro, y al releerlo encontré aspectos muy interesantes de análisis que podrían abordarse en un ensayo o dos.
no voy a decir que me gustó, porque no lo leería por iniciativa propia o por ocio, pero como material literario tan representativo tiene sus puntos y es interesante. la trama no aburre en ningún momento y está en constante movimiento. me hubiera gustado por supuesto saber más de las mujeres y no del martín, pero es pedir demasiado supongo
no voy a decir que me gustó, porque no lo leería por iniciativa propia o por ocio, pero como material literario tan representativo tiene sus puntos y es interesante. la trama no aburre en ningún momento y está en constante movimiento. me hubiera gustado por supuesto saber más de las mujeres y no del martín, pero es pedir demasiado supongo
June 11, 2020
Fue interesante leer un libro y generó que no es de mi agrado. Pero ha sido muy entretenido seguir el ritmo de esta obra.
February 9, 2026
The Gaucho as noble savage: nature, marginalization, violence, racism.
August 7, 2021
This epic poem is considered a classic of Argentine literature/identity & emblematic of the gaucho life. And it was actually different than I had anticipated, a bit. Because I pictured an epic poem about gaucho life being free on the plains with the horses, maté, & the stars in the sky. And it is, to a certain extent. But it's also very much about how the gauchos were forced into (often unpaid) labor & abuse, serving in forts as the colonial settlers continued their push to take land from first nation groups.
In addition to reading this out of curiosity, I also read it in preparation for reading a feminist riff on Martín Fierro, The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, trans. from the Spanish by Fiona Mackintosh & Iona Macintyre.
In addition to reading this out of curiosity, I also read it in preparation for reading a feminist riff on Martín Fierro, The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, trans. from the Spanish by Fiona Mackintosh & Iona Macintyre.
May 5, 2023
meehhh lectura obligada
June 27, 2022
GENIAL (4/5)
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Siglo y medio (que se dice pronto) se cumple este año de la publicación del celebérrimo «Martín Fierro», el gran poema argentino, y #EdicionesTraspiés, dentro de su #ColecciónVagamundos, ha sacado este precioso libro ilustrado.
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🗯«El gaucho Martín Fierro». Primera parte de la conocida obra #argentina. En ella, Martín Fierro narra su penar. Casado y con hijos, es llamado a filas. Tras su vuelta no tiene nada, ni familia ni hogar.
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Yo aún no lo había leído, a pesar de que parte del texto me persigue desde que nací; pero, tras leerlo, parece ser que lo que busco pertenece a la secuela y, por tanto, no viene en este libro, que solo publica la primera parte. A ver si los amigos de Traspiés editan también, e ilustrado, «La vuelta de Martín Fierro»…🤞🏻
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Me ha encantado leer por fin las andanzas del gaucho Martín Fierro, con sus, aunque desdichada vida, fuertes ideales y entereza. Os lo recomiendo. Incluye al final un breve glosario de vocablos y expresiones criollas, que está muy bien como aporte a la obra. Aunque creo que se entiende muy bien leyéndola sin más.
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UN PLUS: La maravilla de epílogo de Unamuno.
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¿Qué encontraréis en este libro? La desdicha hecha poesía. #LeedloPorDios
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Erratas encontradas: 70 {🤦🏻♀️ ¡psicoanalista ven a mí!}
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#LeoYComparto #bookish #DimeUnLibro #bookaholic #booklover #instalibros #bookworm #bookstagram #Traspiés #Vagamundos #LibrosIlustrados
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#Libros / para #blogloqueleo / #MartínFierro @ediciones_traspies #JoséHernández / Ilustraciones: @esteroser #EstherOsunaMiró
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#HastaElTotoDelCoronavirus
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Siglo y medio (que se dice pronto) se cumple este año de la publicación del celebérrimo «Martín Fierro», el gran poema argentino, y #EdicionesTraspiés, dentro de su #ColecciónVagamundos, ha sacado este precioso libro ilustrado.
•
🗯«El gaucho Martín Fierro». Primera parte de la conocida obra #argentina. En ella, Martín Fierro narra su penar. Casado y con hijos, es llamado a filas. Tras su vuelta no tiene nada, ni familia ni hogar.
•
Yo aún no lo había leído, a pesar de que parte del texto me persigue desde que nací; pero, tras leerlo, parece ser que lo que busco pertenece a la secuela y, por tanto, no viene en este libro, que solo publica la primera parte. A ver si los amigos de Traspiés editan también, e ilustrado, «La vuelta de Martín Fierro»…🤞🏻
•
Me ha encantado leer por fin las andanzas del gaucho Martín Fierro, con sus, aunque desdichada vida, fuertes ideales y entereza. Os lo recomiendo. Incluye al final un breve glosario de vocablos y expresiones criollas, que está muy bien como aporte a la obra. Aunque creo que se entiende muy bien leyéndola sin más.
•
UN PLUS: La maravilla de epílogo de Unamuno.
•
¿Qué encontraréis en este libro? La desdicha hecha poesía. #LeedloPorDios
•
Erratas encontradas: 70 {🤦🏻♀️ ¡psicoanalista ven a mí!}
•
#LeoYComparto #bookish #DimeUnLibro #bookaholic #booklover #instalibros #bookworm #bookstagram #Traspiés #Vagamundos #LibrosIlustrados
•
#Libros / para #blogloqueleo / #MartínFierro @ediciones_traspies #JoséHernández / Ilustraciones: @esteroser #EstherOsunaMiró
•
#HastaElTotoDelCoronavirus
August 26, 2019
Historia en verso que por momentos es difícil de entender, casi como si fuera del siglo XVI y no de hace solo 150 años. A pesar del humor que hay por momentos y el uso del lenguaje popular, se advierte el sufrimiento de la situación de los gauchos de la época, los temas del imposible regreso a casa, la desesperanza, la pérdida de la familia, la guerra. Uno le termina teniendo pena y simpatía al protagonista, a pesar de su carácter racista, machista y violento, desde la perspectiva de nuestra época, claro. Tal vez una versión rapeada sería interesante.
June 24, 2025
4.5
Poesía de mi Argentina,
con guitarra acompañada,
Cuando suena en mi rancho,
no hay quien pueda superarla.
Lo leí de pe a pa,
con sus versos bien marcado,
ansi mesmo se disfrutó:
el Martín Fierro, lo he tragao.
Poesía de mi Argentina,
con guitarra acompañada,
Cuando suena en mi rancho,
no hay quien pueda superarla.
Lo leí de pe a pa,
con sus versos bien marcado,
ansi mesmo se disfrutó:
el Martín Fierro, lo he tragao.
April 13, 2019
A very good epic poem about the life of a downtrodden Gaucho. This particular moving in places where he speaks of loss. The friendship between Fierro and Cruz is a highlight.
July 3, 2019
Aquí mi reseña de la versión completa de Martín Fierro.
November 13, 2022
Mucho Joker, mucho Joker pero primero vino el gaucho
August 9, 2024
La mejor obra literaria en lengua española, mejor que el quijote, que el alef y que cien años de soledad. Efectivamente es literatura 🚬🗿.
February 27, 2025
Me declaro gaucho matrero
August 10, 2026
I understand why this is an Argentinian classic.
April 20, 2025
I forget if I first heard about this in Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia or Eduard Galeano's Open Veins Of Latin America, what I do remember is that this text, whichever one it was, contextualised the Gaucho as an important and disappearing part of the Latin America and Martin Fierro as an iconic work of art in Argentina and greater Latin American literature.
Hernandez's long poem is a work of masculine art. It is about surviving the Man, doing what's right and getting one's dues. It's about knife fights, cold morning in the outdoors and squaring off at dance halls. It's about singing and most importantly, it's about storytelling.
This is a recent, 'late' addition to the oral storytelling of yore. You can feel how it should be recited by a fire, a group of huddled listeners keenly listening to the story for the umpteenth time, jumping, laughing and oohing at all the right parts.
This is one of those pieces of literature that is as simple or complex as you, the reader, want it to be.
It is no Odyssey, it is it's own thing. The baddies are the state and the people too dumb to fight against it. It's the workers and the knowers versus the sheep and who wouldn't want to stand by the workers in these times.
A delight.
Hernandez's long poem is a work of masculine art. It is about surviving the Man, doing what's right and getting one's dues. It's about knife fights, cold morning in the outdoors and squaring off at dance halls. It's about singing and most importantly, it's about storytelling.
This is a recent, 'late' addition to the oral storytelling of yore. You can feel how it should be recited by a fire, a group of huddled listeners keenly listening to the story for the umpteenth time, jumping, laughing and oohing at all the right parts.
This is one of those pieces of literature that is as simple or complex as you, the reader, want it to be.
It is no Odyssey, it is it's own thing. The baddies are the state and the people too dumb to fight against it. It's the workers and the knowers versus the sheep and who wouldn't want to stand by the workers in these times.
A delight.
June 27, 2025
The Gaucho Martín Fierro and The Return of Martin Fierro by José Hernández translated by Abeer Abed Hafez - ملحمة الجاوتشو – مارتين فييرو وعودة مارتين فييرو لخوسيه إرنانديث وترجمة عبير حافظ نعمةis an epic about the difficult life of the Gaucho Martin. The Gaucho are a group of people who are believed to come from the Middle East and reside in Latin America during the invasion of that Continent, and how the settlers abused the land and the Natives as well as the Gaucho. On the other hand, the Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh جلجامش - ملحمة الرافدين الخالدة by Firas Al-Sawwah is about Gilgamesh (2/3 god and 1/3 human) killing the evil monster Humbaba with his friend Enkidu. The theme of this legend stresses on that humans are not immortals, and that human works (cities, monuments, art, books, poems, …) are the only things that remain after we die - a witness that we lived. This epic also highlights that we should gain wisdom via living and travelling, as well as enjoy living our life since we are mortals
A complete summary is in my blog:
www.tamarayousefmousa.com
A complete summary is in my blog:
www.tamarayousefmousa.com
March 7, 2021
Argentina always seems like it could be a great country but then finds ways to screw it up. It was one of the richest countries entering the 20th century, but ended the century with a history of brutal dictatorships and disastrous currency inflations. That the gaucho Martin Fierro is Argentina's foundational epic poem is somehow fitting. The popular image of the gaucho is a virile, independent horseman of the pampas. In contrast, Martin Fierro is about the degradation of the gaucho in the late 1800's. He is conscripted into an army to fight native Indians, but is given neither suitable weapons or even proper food and clothing. He is subjected to confiscation of his property, disbursal of his family, and unending military servitude with harsh punishments. He resorts to violence including murder and flees to live in the Indian lands. What a confused panorama.
January 1, 2020
This is a poem of protest, written in the later 1800's, as the voice of the poor and common people against the rich and the Argentinian government. The gaucho was a rancher who traveled with his herd, cows or horses, and lived by his own code. In the poem, Martin is conscripted into military service because he is arrested at a party, and as a result, loses his home, his wife and children, and his herd.
I found the poem easy to read and the translation I had conveyed a lot of emotion. It does call to mind many populations who have been oppressed and overlooked throughout time and cultures.
Food: a piece of tender beef jerky, flavorful and sustaining. The required chewing isn't too much, and while simple, it's a decent snack that sticks with you.
I found the poem easy to read and the translation I had conveyed a lot of emotion. It does call to mind many populations who have been oppressed and overlooked throughout time and cultures.
Food: a piece of tender beef jerky, flavorful and sustaining. The required chewing isn't too much, and while simple, it's a decent snack that sticks with you.
June 7, 2022
Me lo dieron de leer en el colegio y solo digo que si no hubiéramos analizado cada estrofa del poema, no habría entendido realmente nada. Igual yo pensé que era mucho más largo pero al parecer el libro tiene dos partes y nosotros solo leímos la primera, que es tipo la orishinal.
Con respecto a si me gustó no sé qué decir jajaja, supongo que fue entretenido y me gustó el desarrollo del personaje de fierro y el final, pero en general me dejó indiferente. Igual me gusta haberlo leído para tener un poco de cultura argentina lol.
Con respecto a si me gustó no sé qué decir jajaja, supongo que fue entretenido y me gustó el desarrollo del personaje de fierro y el final, pero en general me dejó indiferente. Igual me gusta haberlo leído para tener un poco de cultura argentina lol.
March 24, 2024
No sé si ahora tendría paciencia para releerlo. Tal vez me sorprendería a mí misma. Pero de adolescente me ha resultado atrapante de algún modo. Recuerdo las palabras de mi profesora de literatura (mi favorita), que decía que de no ser por José Hernández, no sabríamos hoy día casi nada acerca de los gauchos. La historia oficial prácticamente no nos habría hablado de ellos.
De todos modos, si hiciera una nueva lectura ahora, de adulta, lo haría con unos ojos completamente distintos. Pero sé el valor que tiene para nuestra cultura argentina.
De todos modos, si hiciera una nueva lectura ahora, de adulta, lo haría con unos ojos completamente distintos. Pero sé el valor que tiene para nuestra cultura argentina.
October 26, 2014
Es un poco incierto lo que siento por este libro.
Si bien es un libro de la literatura nacional y representa al gaucho yo lo vi como un relato desabrido, triste y muy sufrido. Pasando por alto que me costo bastante entender algunas cosas, por la forma de escritura, quizá haya algunas cosas rescatables pero no lo se muy bien...
Me falta leer 'La Vuelta' para entender un poco mas la vida de este gaucho.
Si bien es un libro de la literatura nacional y representa al gaucho yo lo vi como un relato desabrido, triste y muy sufrido. Pasando por alto que me costo bastante entender algunas cosas, por la forma de escritura, quizá haya algunas cosas rescatables pero no lo se muy bien...
Me falta leer 'La Vuelta' para entender un poco mas la vida de este gaucho.
May 16, 2015
An epic Argentinian poem of the life of a gaucho in the 1800's. This oft quoted book to describe the culture and history of Argentina in the 1800's during the times of political upheavals and fighting the Native Argentinians. Much like the American cowboy, the gaucho lived the land with his horse, wits and survival techniques. Martin Fierro very well could have been the role model for Jeremiah Johnson.
May 3, 2019
Oh I loved this ‘book’ or long poem. The first few stanzas were beautiful. I loved the historical understanding I gained of how hard life was for the gauchos, and how unjust the system was in Argentina. I also loved the way he was refusing to wallow in ‘poor me’ attitudes which would have been perfectly understandable.
I highly recommend this book to learn about the history of Argentina, and enjoy the beautiful writing.
I highly recommend this book to learn about the history of Argentina, and enjoy the beautiful writing.
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