The Presence of Fichtean Metaphysics in Esteban Echeverría and José Mármol: Continuities around the Figure of the Pilgrim

Abstract

This paper states as hypothesis that the deepest source of influence in Argentinean romantic thinking was not the French Romanticism but German Idealism and Romanticism. The main objective is to present the impact of the metaphysics of longing that Fichte exposes in Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre (1794-1795), in two works: Esteban Echeverría’s El peregrinaje de Gualpo (ca. 1825) and José Mármol’s Cantos del peregrino (1846). In this manner it is displayed the way in which both authors characterize the figure of the pilgrim as main character and alter ego in their writings. Also, the notions of melancholy and tedium are highlighted as key points that configure idealistic and romantic thought. In this sense it is demonstrate that Fichte as the Frühromantiker and Argentinean intellectuals participate of an idealistic and romantic current of thought that must be classified as: melancholic, practical and moral.