Giacumina e Marianina. La rappresentazione dell’immigrazione italiana in Argentina in due romanzi popolari di fine ‘800

Giacumina and Marianina. The representation of Italian immigration in Argentina in two popular novels of late 19th century

Abstract

At the end of the 19th century, the Argentinean press recorded the massive influx of Italian immigration, both in political pages and in serialised novels, which were very much in vogue at the time. “Los amores de Giacumina” and “Marianina” are two of these novels, which appeared in 1886 in the daily “El Liberal” in Buenos Aires and were written in an ironic interlanguage of immigrants. They show two similar representations - albeit in apparent divergence - of the phenomenon and highlight political dyscrasies and complex intertextual networks, articulated on multiple social levels and with unexpected international references.

Al final del siglo XIX, la prensa argentina registra la masiva afluencia de la inmigración italiana, en las páginas políticas tal y como en publicaciones seriadas, entonces en boga. Los amores de Giacumina y Marianina son dos de estas novelas, aparecidas en 1886 en el diario El Liberal de Buenos Aires y escritas en una irónica inter-lingua inmigratória. Ellas muestran dos representaciones parecidas – a pesar de la evidente divergencia - de este fenómeno y ponen de relieve las discrepancias políticas y las complejas redes intertextuales, articuladas en varios niveles sociales y con inesperadas referencias internacionales.