Registros de um exilado: subjetividade e aprendizagem política no diário de viagem de Francisco de Paula Santander (1829-1832)

Abstract

The Grenadian general Francisco de Paula Santander records in a diary his experience as an exiled traveler in various countries of Europe and in the United States, from 1829 to 1832. Taking this diary as a preferential source and, secondarily, his memoirs – one of them produced concomitantly –, we examine the discursive meanings attributed to the voyage. This voyage was a means to add to his personal refinement, but it was also meant to obtain some political and administrative learning. Both meanings comprehend his effort to earn back his public prestige and to retell the story of his trajectory, soiled by the accusation of treason and the exile that followed it. The ordinary narrative demonstrates that Santander cannot be framed as a common traveler; he was an exiled more than he was a traveler. This subjective distinction between traveler and exile has led us to reflect on three essential points: the modelling of the writing, the subjectivity of the writer and the narrative strategy, based on descriptive means in order to reach a (supposedly) textual neutrality.