By now we can identify several orders of literature dealing with the Peruvian José Carlos Mariátegui (1894-1930), perhaps the most original interpreter of a radical Indoamerican nationalism in the twentieth century. We can point for instance to an abundant body of hortatory writings that largely transfigure Mariátegui into an inspirational figure rather than dealing with him as a very real and practical historical protagonist. Also abundant, though less so, are publications written from a polemical viewpoint (mostly Aprista), which also distort Mariátegui’s historical markings (although some Aprista literature represents significant contributions such as the writings of Luis Alberto Sánchez). Much less abundant is the serious literature, among which we can single out the writings of Ramón Doll, Alberto Ulloa Sotomayor, Jorge Basadre, and more recently the magisterial work of the Althusserian, Robert Paris.
Lamentably the present volume under review belongs to the first order, and it is written in that bombastic, self-indulgent, and verbose style so characteristic of colonial intellectuals. Obviously a series as extensive as the SepSetentas collection is bound to be highly uneven. In that regard, the Carrión volume easily qualifies as one of the low points. Perhaps the greatest weakness of the essay lies in that the author approaches Mariátegui largely as an unattached intellectual, rather than seeing him as part of a significant revolutionary movement in the fields of culture and politics. That basic and common error is compounded by the author’s unfamiliarity with even the secondary literature on his subject (apparently he is not even aware of his subject’s vital statistics).
Still the petite volume is not without some interest, especially in those moments when the author relates anecdotes dealing with contemporary Indoamerican intellectuals. Oddly the book ends with a romantic commentary on César Vallejo, rather than reaching any conclusions about José Carlos Mariátegui.
