By Peter Grennen

Most people think of Evita Perón as a revered public servant who lived life to the fullest, overcoming humble circumstances and rising to a position of influence in her nation's government before championing the causes of women, the working class, and other oppressed groups. Why, then, is Professor Jason Cortés of the Hispanic Studies Department more intrigued by what that Argentine first lady has come to represent since her death?

Cortés, who did his undergraduate work in his native Puerto Rico, joined the UMass Boston faculty last September after completing doctoral studies in Spanish American literature at Pennsylvania State University. His chief interest as a scholar"and the topic of his dissertation"is the attempt by contemporary Latin American writers to achieve literary authority while breaking with the very tradition from which they emerge.

It's a complex subject that of necessity takes into account life under dictatorial rule. In some Latin American countries, literati are not only feared by the politically powerful as potential rivals"writers commonly rise to positions of power themselves"but are objects of suspicion or scorn for their choice of profession. "The first question that has to be asked of a Latin American author is ‘How do you justify being an intellectual in a society that has so many problems?'" says Cortés. "In other words, why do writers pick up the pen instead of the sword?"

Many writers respond to the charge with works that examine societal problems. And to acquire the weight of authority that will gain his ideas wide acceptance, a writer may attempt to throw off or destroy the received literary tradition"what is called the "other" in the allegory of philosophical ideas that underlies Cortés's critique"much as a despotic regime consolidates its power by eliminating its precursors. "Writing itself becomes a weapon, a violent act"which is a way of viewing literature that goes back to Plato," says Cortés.
Violence of this sort inevitably gives rise to an ethical dilemma"that of refusing responsibility for the debt owed to one's intellectual forebears. And here, too, the literary concept has political correlatives. After Perón's death, for example, her corpse was passed among rival political groups, each seeking to avoid responsibility for this potent symbol of past authority. "In the process, the corpse became emblematic of the writer's craft itself," Cortés explains.

For Cortés, literary analysis not only helps to explain the forces that shape Spanish-American culture but provides a means of maintaining ethnic identity. "It's a way of going back to my roots, my individuality," he says. "Puerto Rico is a Spanish-speaking island that has been colonized by an Anglophonic society. We constantly try to define our culture in that context."

Cortés looks forward to teaching courses in several areas within his range of expertise"among them ethics and aesthetics, civilization, and the history of ideas.

In both his personal life and his professional pursuits, Cortés is preoccupied with the interests of people who share his cultural heritage. So he can't help but hope that someday all of Latin America will enjoy a free exchange of ideas and be able to celebrate its full artistic tradition. Perhaps then public figures in that part of the world will be remembered more for their lifework than for what they symbolized in death.

Image: Jason Cortés, professor in the Hispanic Studies Department, is a new faculty member who came to UMass Boston in September 2001. (Photo by Harry Brett)