BICENTENARIO de la INDEPENDENCIA ARGENTINA BICENTENARIO de la INDEPENDENCIA ARGENTINA | Page 13

Translation
Interview
Journalist: Hello George, good morning and thank you very much for coming, we were
looking forward to having this interview
George: Good morning everyone, I´m anxious too.
Journalist: Do you think that the “Martín Fierro” represents the Argentines from the
literary aspect? Can it be considered our “Argentine Bible”?
George: Nowadays it is believed that the Martin Fierro is like our bible. There is no
doubt that this literary piece is the most important in our history. However, we should
clarify that this story’s literary genre is as artificial as others because it was written by
Jose Hernandez, a literate who imitated the speech of the gaucho, that’s why Martin
Fierro was written in a gaucho-like intonation.
Journalist: As you have already given your opinion about Martin Fierro, which would
your point of view regarding the Argentinian literary cultural identity?
George: I believe that our tradition is a part of all of the Western culture and we have
the right to this tradition. We could manage every European topic without superstitions.
Everything we do with happiness Argentine writers belong to Argentina tradition , just
as the fact of trying Italian themes belongs to the tradition of England because
of Chaucer´s and Shakespear´s plays, that’s why we should not fear and we should
think that our heritage is the universe.
Journalist: Therefore, do you consider that nationalism in literature must include
elements of local color?
George: Not necessarily. The nationalists appear to worship Argentina but they only
want to talk about some poor local issues, like if the Argentines could only talk about
some small places and not about the universe. For example, as Gibbon observes that
in the Arabic book by excellence, in the Koran, there are no camels. It was written by
Muhammad, and he, as an Arab, had no reason to know that camels were especially
Arabian They were for him part of his reality. Instead, a falsifier, a tourist, an Arab
nationalist , the first thing they would have done is to include camels , camel caravans
on each page.
Journalist: Thank you very much for your cooperation in such an important issue like
Argentine identity.
Jorge: My pleasure, thank you for letting me express myself.