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New Light on Fernndez de Lizardi and His "El Periquillo Sarniento"

Author(s): Jefferson Rea SpellSource: Hispania, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Dec., 1963), pp. 753-754Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and PortugueseStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/337203 .Accessed: 02/05/2011 00:03

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NEW LIGHT ON FERNANDEZ DE LIZARDI AND HIS"ELPERIQUILLOSARNIENTO"JEFPPRSONEASPELLUniversityof Texas

Since 1888, when Luis Gonzlez Obre-g6n published a biographyof Jos6 JoaquinFernandez de Lizardi in which all thethen-known facts connected with the lifeof "El Pensador Mexicano" were broughttogether,' comparatively few documentsrevealingnew details have been unearthed.Among the more importantwere Lizardi'sbirth certificate and correspondence re-garding his progress as a student in theCollege of San Ildefonso in 1797 and1798.2 Other uncited official documents,periodicalarticlesand newspaperannounce-ments regarding him and his work from1811 to 1827 were called to attention byme in 1931.3After a half-centuryGonzilezObreg6n reprintedhis biographywith theaddition of six documents, but was carefulnot to give the location of the original offour of them and not to mention theperiodicals in which five were earlier pub-lished.4 Among them was an autographpetition for a license to establish a chil-dren's theater5 and the record of the pro-ceedings of the Inquisition in regard tothe September 30, 1813, issue of El Pen-sador Mexicano.6 Also from the Inquisi-tion recordscame the details of the curiouscase in which Lizardi, in 1794, was de-nounced to the Inquisition by his ownfather for having a deck of cards withwhich to tell fortunes-"una barajadivina-toria"-a case that was still pending in1805.7

Some very enlightening facts in regardto the character and career of the fatherof Lizardi had meanwhile been unearthedby Rangel. Don Manuel took a degree inarts as early as 1753, and began at oncethe study of medicine, but after repeatedregistrations and failure to finish some

courses, he finally submitted evidence in1778 of having completed those requiredand was exempted from paying certainfees in view of his poverty. Two yearslater, after having served an internship atthe Hospital de Naturales, the degree ofBachelor of Medicine was finally conferredupon him by the University of Mexico."Shortly afterward-when his son wasscarcely four years old-he accepted theposition of physician in the Royal Collegeat Tepotzotlin, a village some thirty milesnorthwest of the capital. There Jos6 Joa-quin spent his boyhood days. From thebirth certificate which he submitted onentering the University of Mexico in 1793we know the name of his mother, MariaBarbaraGuti6rrez, and that her mother'sparents were from Puebla-her father'sfrom the capital.

A newly discovered document whichlately came into my possession9 throwsnew light on the Lizardifamily and givesnew coloring to the figure of the motherin El Periquillo. It reads as follows:Dn Manuel Hernandez Lizardi Es afiolNaturaly vezinode estaCiudad,Viudode daMaria BarbaraGutierrez,pretendecontrahermatrimonioon da MariaJosefa Tortes, Es-pafiola,DoncellaNaturalasimismo VezinadeestaCiudad, spuesta n la casade dn Manuelde Torres;y resultando e la informacion eSolterio sic] y Libertad, ue tienendada,serla referida a MariaJosefa eligres sic] de esaSta YglesiaCathedral,o partizipo Vmparaque se sirvamandarlosamonestar nter missarumsolemnia,y de sus Resultascertificarme, araensu vista procedera lo que fuere conveniente.Parroquiae Sta CatalinaVirgeny Martir eMexico y Octubre28 de 1786.Licdoy mtro Juan Antonio BrunoloAside from the inconsequential errorsof the document-solterio for solteria,feligres for feligresa,varietyin the spelling753

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754 HISPANIAof vecino, and the more serious confusionof the name of the parishchurch of SantaCatarina Virgen y Martir, of which donManuel Lizardi had evidently been acommunicant,with that of a chapel of thereligious order of Santa Catalina de Sena-this communicationclearly states that JoseJoaquin's mother is dead and that hisfather intends remarrying.Once the banswere published, don Manuel Lizardi andhis prospectivebride, Maria Josefa Torres,were, in all probability, married, and shethereupon entered into the family picture.Yet in El Periquillo Sarniento, which isin a measure autobiographical, here is nosuggestion, in the many references Peri-quillo makes to his mother, that she is astepmother. In the novel she is generallyrepresented as considerably younger thanher husband and, since he was susceptibleto tears, generally able to wheedle himinto doing as she wished. In Periquillo'sportraitof her she is a shallow creature,afoolish woman, to whom social status ismore important than character and a uni-versity degree more to be desired thanknowledge. Although he never speaks dis-respectfully of her, but rather in a kindlytone, he regardsher as having ruined hislife by insisting that he be sent to theuniversity instead of being trained as anartisan, a calling which his father con-sidered more fitting to his caliber and tothe family resources. While Periquillolater saw her faults clearly-her primeconcern for appearances, her attitude to-ward manual labor as degrading, and herinability to recognize or appreciate truenobility-his respect was reserved for hisfather, a genuinely worthy man, unfortun-ately too often dominated in his later lifeby the young and pretty Maria JosefaTorres, who became his second wife.

NOTES1 D. Jose Joaquin Ferndndezde Lizardi:Apuntes biogrdfiosy bibliogrdficosMexico,1888).2 Nicolis Rangel, "El PensadorMexicano.Nuevos documentos noticiasbiogrificas," lLibroy el Pueblo,Iv, Nos. 10-12 (Mexico,1925), pp. 41-50. These were found in 1914in the records of matriculation, courses andgrades of the Real y PontificiaUniversidad deMexico.JeffersonR. Spell, The Life and Work ofJoseJoaquin ernandeze LizardiPhiladelphia,1931).4 Novelistas Mexicanos. Jose JoaquinFernandezde Lizardi "El PensadorMexicano") Mexico,1938). The documents reon pp. 174-204and222.5 This petitions in the ArchivoGeneralde laNaci6n in Mexico City. The cover page readsas follows:"Secretariael Virreynato. fio de1815. Diversiones.N. 5. Dn. Jose JoaquinFerfiz de Lizardi [sfe. repre]sentar Comediasde Nifios por qe no tiene [otro m]odo de sub-sistir."At the head is the stampof 1810 and 1811and below in the left margins that of Ferdi-nandVII. At the endof thepetitions "Mexico25 de Abril de 1815. Al Sor Fiscal de rlHaciendaencargadode lo Civil." In replyLizardiwasadvisedhathe wouldhaveto havethe consent of the managerof the theater [theColiseo]whose easegavehim complete ontrolof such diversions.6 This document s also in the Archivo General.At the head is "Inq. de Mex.co Aiio de 1815.N. 336." "Expediente formado en virtud dehaverse denunciado el papel intituladoel Pen-sador Mexicano del treinta de Septiembre demil ochocientosy trece afios. Que su autor deeste papel se llama Dn. Josef Fernandez. Thedenunciation is dated February9, and the lastentry, signed by the inquisitorFloresand datedOctober25, adviseswaiting pending the returnof other papers. This document was publishedby Gonzi1lezObreg6nn the RevistaNacionalde Letrasy Ciencias,Vol. m (Mexico,1890),pp. 258-276.7 Nicols Rangel, "El PensadorMexicano."Cartas Divinatorias. La Inquisici6n, in Boletindel ArchivoGeneralde la Nacidn, Vol. n(numero2, Marzo-Abril,931), pp. 181-195.8 Nicols Rangel, "El Pensador Mexicano.Nuevos documentos y noticias biogrificas,"ElLibro y el Pueblo, Vol. Iv (1925), pp. 42-43.9 This document was presented to me by Sr.G. M. Echniz of MexicoCity, who knew ofmy great interest in all pertaining to Lizardi.To him I again extend my thanks.o10A single folio, with verso blank, apparentlytornfromsomebookof records, robablyf thechurchof SantaCatarinar the Cathedral.