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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
The present study is a by-product of a much more extensive project in which I have been interested for a number of years, the collection and classification of all the available writings of Manuel Gutierrez Nájera. Because he was a precursor of Modernism, and also because his works have considerable intrinsic value, Nájera is one of the most important authors of Spanish America. It therefore seems obviously desirable that as much as possible of his production should be known. As a matter of fact most of his poetry now seems to have been identified and edited. This is far from true of his prose. Only four or five volumes (disregarding duplications) are available in book form, whereas perhaps forty or fifty equivalent volumes constitute his total prose production. I have approximately that amount of Nájera's prose on microfilm, as a result of a number of months of research in the libraries of Mexico City.
1 I take pleasure in acknowledging two valuable grants-in-aid which helped to finance these undertakings : one from the American Council of Learned Societies in 1936, the other from the American Philosophical Society in 1938. I wish also to express my gratitude to Professor Aurelio Manrique, Jr., at that time Director of the National Library, and to Sr. Rafael Carrasco Puente, head of the Department of Periodicals, for their very cordial cooperation. And lastly, thanks are due to my wife, Laura H. Mapes, for her help in identifying and collecting the very voluminous material.
2 He himself stated, in El Partido Liberal, April 30, 1885, “Yo vivo exclusivamente de mi pluma” (italics his).
3 “Omega P. P. C”, signed “Ignotus”, La Libertad, Feb. 12,1884.
4 Imprenta Murguia, Mexico, 1912.
5 Catálogo de seudónimos, anagramas e initiales de escritores mexicanos (México, 1913).
6 Citations from the following sources have been omitted for lack of space: unsigned item in El Partido Liberal, April 1894; José de J. Núñez y Domínguez, “El origen de un célebre seudónimo”, El Universal, May 4, 1926; Martha Cándano, “Manuel Gutierrez Nájera”, El Libro y el Pueblo, March, 1934.
7 The total number of pseudonyms included in the various lists is 14. “Duque Job” appears in every list, “Junius” in 5, “Frú-Frú”, “El Cura de Jalatlaco”, “Puck” and “Recamier” in 4 each, “M. Can-Can” in 3, “Ignotus”, “Pomponnet”, “Perico el de los Palotes” and “Juan Lanas” in 2 each, and “Nemo”, “Etincelle” and “Can-Can” in 1 each.
8 Italics mine.
9 “Elegia”, La Libertad, Nov. 4,1883; “Rimas”, La Repúbica, Oct. 12, 1884.
10 For a more detailed account of the “Rafael” episode see my article “The First Published Writings of Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera”, Hispanic Review, July, 1937, or the Spanish version of the same study in Universidad (Mexico), Jan. and Feb., 1937.
11 Since evidence of this type will be used a number of times in the course of the article it seems desirable to explain the procedure. The whole body of microfilm material in my office has been card-indexed by technical assistants in a variety of ways. The index which furnished the type of proof now being referred to is that which lists in alphabetical order the first lines of all compositions signed with Nájera's name or with any pseudonym thought to be his. In such an index, all opening lines which recur are automatically placed together. Having thus been identified, the entire articles concerned can readily be compared.
The number of cases in which articles or parts of articles are thus republished is astonishing. I have identified between 100 and 150, solely by the relatively blind device of recording first lines. If one had any way of identifying material in other locations than at the very beginning, the number of cases would certainly be multiplied many times. It would seem obvious that Nájera kept a file of his writings, and very frequently republished material which had already appeared. In some cases a given piece of writing is used as many as five times, sometimes over a variety of pseudonyms.
12 “Odin”, El Federalista, July 25, 1875.
13 “El Duque Job”, La Libertad, Sept. 4, 1884.
14 “Junius”, La Libertad, April 24, 1883.
15 “El Duque Job”, La Libertad, July 9, 1882.
16 This is not the well-known tribute “Ernesto Renan”, which was written after the French writer's death in 1892.
17 This poem, then entitled “Cantiga.” had appeared in La Voz de España, July 12,1879.
18 For example, the article on renting an apartment, with which the “Gil Bias” series in El Noticioso begins, appears in the prose Obras of Nájera (Mexico 1898), i, 45.
19 The tabulation here of all writings signed “El Duque Job” is obviously impossible, as it would include a very large proportion of Nájera's entire production. Some of the best known series are :
One of 53 articles in La Libertad, Jan. 8, 1882 to Jan. 28, 1883. Of these the first 28 bear the uniform heading “Cuentos color de rosa.” Beginning July 23, 1882, the titles become more varied and more fanciful: “Crónicas color de bitter”, “… dehumo”, “… de rubia.” All, however, appear to belong to the same series.
“La vida en México”, 40 articles in La Libertad, Feb. 11, 1883, to Jan. 6, 1884.
“Crónicas de mil colores”, 27 articles in La Libertad, July 13, 1884, to Dec. 28, 1884.
“Crónica del domingo”, 24 articles in El Partido Liberal, March 8, 1885, to Oct. 4, 1885.
“Humoradas dominicales”, 129 articles in El Partido Liberal, Oct. 25, 1885, to Dec. 23, 1888.
20 El Pabellón National, cited by El Partido Liberal, Nov. 24, 1887.
21 El Tiempo, Oct. 29,1891.
22 Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera, El National, Tomo i, 1880 (no exact dates are given).
23 “El Duque Job”, in El Partido Liberal, May 13, 1888. See also Nell Walker, The Life and Works of Manuel Gutierrez Nájera. (1927), pp. 18–19.
24 “Titania”, El Partido Liberal, June 16, 1889.
25 Francisco G. Cosmes, El Universal, Oct. 22, 1891.
26 Ibid.
27 Cf. Catdlogos de la Biblioteca Nacional de México: Primera Division (Mexico, 1894), p. 61.
28 Letter to Cosmes, La Libertad, Sept. 16, 1883.
29 “Crónicas semanales”, El Universal, Oct. 25, 1891.
30 “Puck”, El Universal, Sept. 22,1891.
31 “M. Gutierrez Nájera”, El National, i (1880), 25.
32 “El Duque Job”, La Liberlad, Jan. 1, 1882.
33 “M. Gutiérrez Nájera”, El Nacional, i (1880), 14.
34 Article entitled “Recamier”, El Universal, Feb. 4, 1896.
35 “Gutiérrez Nájera, Cronista”, El Partido Liberal, June 22, 1895.
36 El Federalista, Nov. 9, 1875.
37 “M. Gutiérrez Nájera”, El Universal, Oct. 25, 1891.
38 Arturo A. Ambrogi, El Partido Liberal, June 22, 1895.
39 El Universal, Dec. 30, 1894.
40 Obras inéditas de Manuel Gutierrez Nájera: Crónicas de “Puck” (New York: Hispanic Inst, in the U. S., 1943).
41 M. Gutiérrez Nájera, “Charlas Hterarias”, El Universal, Aug. 23, 1891.
42 “Puck”, El Universal, Dec. 3, 1893.
43 “El Duque Job”, La Libertad, Dec. 11, 1881.
44 El Parlido Liberal, Jan. 9,1889.
45 El Federalista, June 27, 1877.