Oppositions and absences in Las lanzas coloradas: a short essay on philosophy in a decolonial and political key

Abstract

The goal of this essay is to analyze oppositions and silences between the main characters in Uslar Pietri’s Las Lanzas Coloradas (1931). The clash between those characters and the colonial traditions in which both of them are entangled –that is, the tremendously complex context of Venezuela’s war of independence, more specifically, the context of the rise and fall of the so-called First Republic, will be studied. Our aim, apart from describing the conflict between the upper high class character of Fernando Fonta and the mestizo Presentation Campos, is also to point out the possible meanings of the gaps between action and thought –that must be filled by the reader– to complete the description of the processes unleashed by each character in the novel. This matters opens the debate about the way in which deliberative processes of emancipation are conceived within avant-garde Venezuelan historical literature of the beginning of 20th century.