Todos tenemos la obligación de vaciarnos antes de desvanecernos. A propósito de Rafael Barrett y la tuberculosis

Abstract

Este artículo propone un examen de las cartas escritas por Rafael Barrett a su mujer, Francisca, y a su amigo Peyrot, atento a la tuberculosis que lo acosó desde 1906 hasta su fallecimiento en 1910. Se argumenta que esas cartas revelan que la tuberculosis, concebida en aquel entonces como terminal, fue un factor determinante para que la escritura de Barrett ganara en vigor, se multiplicara y recibiera el reconocimiento de los lectores. De este modo, se busca despegar a Barrett de cualquier retrato decadente y tomar distancia de la centralidad que se le concede a su activismo político. Se sostiene la idea de que esta fase de su vida, dominada por la enfermedad, es determinante para el desarrollo y consolidación de su proyecto literario.

This article proposes an examination of the letters written by Rafael Barrett to his wife, Francisca, and to his friend, Peyrot, attentive to the tuberculosis that plagued him from 1906 until his death in 1910. It is argued that these letters reveal that tuberculosis, then conceived as terminal, was a determining factor for Barrett's writing to gain strength, multiply and receive recognition from his readers. In this way, it seeks to detach Barrett from any decadent portrait and to take distance from the centrality given to his political activism. The idea is that this phase of his life, dominated by illness, is decisive for the development and consolidation of his literary project.