Novel
¡Bernabé, Bernabé!
Not translated into English
Tomás de Mattos · 1988
Synopsis
Josefina Péguy O'Dojherty investigates the years 1831 and 1832: the ambush of Salsipuedes, where the troops kill a great many Charrúas, then the pursuit of the survivors by Colonel Bernabé Rivera. She gathers the written and oral versions, including that of a sergeant, Gabiano, a witness to the events, and compares them, not to name culprits but to know the truth; Bernabé and his uncle Fructuoso Rivera emerge from it less heroic than in the official history. Choruses and speeches, in the manner of a tragedy, accompany her account.
Context
The novel appeared in 1988. The first novel to make the genocide of the Charrúas its central subject, it opens, according to one study, the cycle of historical novels of the post-dictatorship period, which set another version of events against official history. For months it fuelled a public debate on history, politics and ethics. An expanded edition appeared from Alfaguara in 2000; in 2018, a colloquium at the Solís theatre marked thirty years since the first edition.
Who it is for
A historical novel in Spanish, made up of conflicting testimonies; no French translation.
Prizes and reception
Bartolomé Hidalgo Prize, prize of the Ministry, of the city of Montevideo and of the Fraternity, it sold twenty-three thousand copies.
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