A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles

Autores
Tato, María Inés
Año de publicación
2017
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
The First World War represented a deep crisis of the European civilization that called into question the values and certitudes of the Belle Époque society. Trenches became the symbol of the dehumanization produced by a conflict that marked a watershed in modern history. As a global conflict, its impact was felt beyond the confines of Europe, involving even neutral countries, puzzled by that unexpected spectacle of violence. In this new scenery, war correspondents were first-hand witnesses of the horrors of the battlefields, transmitted through their journalistic contributions to a public opinion profoundly shaken by this new kind of warfare. Non-European war correspondents were exceptional cultural mediators between the experiences of the theater of war and distant regions like Latin America, contributing to disseminate different understandings of the wartime crisis. This article aims to explore the response of the Argentine war correspondent Juan José de Soiza Reilly (1879-1959) to the challenge of making the nature of the Great War intelligible to his readers. He embodied the new figure of the professional journalist-writer who contributed to establishing commercial mass press as the fulcrum of Argentine cultural life and as the field of convergence of literature and journalism at the beginning of the twentieth century. The primary sources of this study are Soiza Reilly’s war chronicles, published by two large circulation periodicals, the newspaper La Nación and the illustrated magazine Fray Mocho, from October 1914 to October 1916. Those contributions were the result of his more than two years’ experience in the Western and Eastern fronts. Soiza Reilly’s perspectives on the First World War were clearly unconventional for his national framework, where most of the intellectuals and the press took sides early in favor of the Allies, due to the deep-rooted Francophilia prevailing in Argentine cultural field. As a result, they devoted themselves to arguing over the question of the war responsibilities and the belligerents’ attributes. Unlike them, Soiza Reilly denounced the absurdity of the war, which he strongly condemned, and made a pacifist profession of faith. In addition, far from the Argentine social consensus, he was often critical of the Allies and sympathetic to the German Empire. However, since Italy’s entry into the war in May 1915, Soiza Reilly adopted a belligerent attitude in favor of the Allies, expressing an intense admiration for Italy and a virulent anti-Austrian sentiment. These two last features were very unusual in the Argentine context, where the devotion for France was hegemonic as well as the vehement anti-German stance. Through the analysis of Soiza Reilly’s war chronicles and reportages, this article intends to shed light on the reception of the war in a neutral country, the general climate of public opinion, and its dissensions around the significance of the Great War.
Fil: Tato, María Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana "Dr. Emilio Ravignani". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana "Dr. Emilio Ravignani"; Argentina
Materia
FIRST WORLD WAR
WAR CORRESPONDENTS
ARGENTINA
JUAN JOSÉ DE SOIZA REILLY
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/45706

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spelling A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War ChroniclesTato, María InésFIRST WORLD WARWAR CORRESPONDENTSARGENTINAJUAN JOSÉ DE SOIZA REILLYhttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6The First World War represented a deep crisis of the European civilization that called into question the values and certitudes of the Belle Époque society. Trenches became the symbol of the dehumanization produced by a conflict that marked a watershed in modern history. As a global conflict, its impact was felt beyond the confines of Europe, involving even neutral countries, puzzled by that unexpected spectacle of violence. In this new scenery, war correspondents were first-hand witnesses of the horrors of the battlefields, transmitted through their journalistic contributions to a public opinion profoundly shaken by this new kind of warfare. Non-European war correspondents were exceptional cultural mediators between the experiences of the theater of war and distant regions like Latin America, contributing to disseminate different understandings of the wartime crisis. This article aims to explore the response of the Argentine war correspondent Juan José de Soiza Reilly (1879-1959) to the challenge of making the nature of the Great War intelligible to his readers. He embodied the new figure of the professional journalist-writer who contributed to establishing commercial mass press as the fulcrum of Argentine cultural life and as the field of convergence of literature and journalism at the beginning of the twentieth century. The primary sources of this study are Soiza Reilly’s war chronicles, published by two large circulation periodicals, the newspaper La Nación and the illustrated magazine Fray Mocho, from October 1914 to October 1916. Those contributions were the result of his more than two years’ experience in the Western and Eastern fronts. Soiza Reilly’s perspectives on the First World War were clearly unconventional for his national framework, where most of the intellectuals and the press took sides early in favor of the Allies, due to the deep-rooted Francophilia prevailing in Argentine cultural field. As a result, they devoted themselves to arguing over the question of the war responsibilities and the belligerents’ attributes. Unlike them, Soiza Reilly denounced the absurdity of the war, which he strongly condemned, and made a pacifist profession of faith. In addition, far from the Argentine social consensus, he was often critical of the Allies and sympathetic to the German Empire. However, since Italy’s entry into the war in May 1915, Soiza Reilly adopted a belligerent attitude in favor of the Allies, expressing an intense admiration for Italy and a virulent anti-Austrian sentiment. These two last features were very unusual in the Argentine context, where the devotion for France was hegemonic as well as the vehement anti-German stance. Through the analysis of Soiza Reilly’s war chronicles and reportages, this article intends to shed light on the reception of the war in a neutral country, the general climate of public opinion, and its dissensions around the significance of the Great War.Fil: Tato, María Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana "Dr. Emilio Ravignani". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana "Dr. Emilio Ravignani"; ArgentinaKansas State University Department of Modern Languages; New Prairie Press2017-06info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/45706Tato, María Inés; A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles; Kansas State University Department of Modern Languages; New Prairie Press; Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature; 41; 2; 6-2017; 1-170145-7888CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol41/iss2/4/info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.4148/2334-4415.1942info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-03T09:47:58Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/45706instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-03 09:47:58.561CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles
title A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles
spellingShingle A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles
Tato, María Inés
FIRST WORLD WAR
WAR CORRESPONDENTS
ARGENTINA
JUAN JOSÉ DE SOIZA REILLY
title_short A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles
title_full A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles
title_fullStr A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles
title_full_unstemmed A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles
title_sort A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Tato, María Inés
author Tato, María Inés
author_facet Tato, María Inés
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv FIRST WORLD WAR
WAR CORRESPONDENTS
ARGENTINA
JUAN JOSÉ DE SOIZA REILLY
topic FIRST WORLD WAR
WAR CORRESPONDENTS
ARGENTINA
JUAN JOSÉ DE SOIZA REILLY
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv The First World War represented a deep crisis of the European civilization that called into question the values and certitudes of the Belle Époque society. Trenches became the symbol of the dehumanization produced by a conflict that marked a watershed in modern history. As a global conflict, its impact was felt beyond the confines of Europe, involving even neutral countries, puzzled by that unexpected spectacle of violence. In this new scenery, war correspondents were first-hand witnesses of the horrors of the battlefields, transmitted through their journalistic contributions to a public opinion profoundly shaken by this new kind of warfare. Non-European war correspondents were exceptional cultural mediators between the experiences of the theater of war and distant regions like Latin America, contributing to disseminate different understandings of the wartime crisis. This article aims to explore the response of the Argentine war correspondent Juan José de Soiza Reilly (1879-1959) to the challenge of making the nature of the Great War intelligible to his readers. He embodied the new figure of the professional journalist-writer who contributed to establishing commercial mass press as the fulcrum of Argentine cultural life and as the field of convergence of literature and journalism at the beginning of the twentieth century. The primary sources of this study are Soiza Reilly’s war chronicles, published by two large circulation periodicals, the newspaper La Nación and the illustrated magazine Fray Mocho, from October 1914 to October 1916. Those contributions were the result of his more than two years’ experience in the Western and Eastern fronts. Soiza Reilly’s perspectives on the First World War were clearly unconventional for his national framework, where most of the intellectuals and the press took sides early in favor of the Allies, due to the deep-rooted Francophilia prevailing in Argentine cultural field. As a result, they devoted themselves to arguing over the question of the war responsibilities and the belligerents’ attributes. Unlike them, Soiza Reilly denounced the absurdity of the war, which he strongly condemned, and made a pacifist profession of faith. In addition, far from the Argentine social consensus, he was often critical of the Allies and sympathetic to the German Empire. However, since Italy’s entry into the war in May 1915, Soiza Reilly adopted a belligerent attitude in favor of the Allies, expressing an intense admiration for Italy and a virulent anti-Austrian sentiment. These two last features were very unusual in the Argentine context, where the devotion for France was hegemonic as well as the vehement anti-German stance. Through the analysis of Soiza Reilly’s war chronicles and reportages, this article intends to shed light on the reception of the war in a neutral country, the general climate of public opinion, and its dissensions around the significance of the Great War.
Fil: Tato, María Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana "Dr. Emilio Ravignani". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana "Dr. Emilio Ravignani"; Argentina
description The First World War represented a deep crisis of the European civilization that called into question the values and certitudes of the Belle Époque society. Trenches became the symbol of the dehumanization produced by a conflict that marked a watershed in modern history. As a global conflict, its impact was felt beyond the confines of Europe, involving even neutral countries, puzzled by that unexpected spectacle of violence. In this new scenery, war correspondents were first-hand witnesses of the horrors of the battlefields, transmitted through their journalistic contributions to a public opinion profoundly shaken by this new kind of warfare. Non-European war correspondents were exceptional cultural mediators between the experiences of the theater of war and distant regions like Latin America, contributing to disseminate different understandings of the wartime crisis. This article aims to explore the response of the Argentine war correspondent Juan José de Soiza Reilly (1879-1959) to the challenge of making the nature of the Great War intelligible to his readers. He embodied the new figure of the professional journalist-writer who contributed to establishing commercial mass press as the fulcrum of Argentine cultural life and as the field of convergence of literature and journalism at the beginning of the twentieth century. The primary sources of this study are Soiza Reilly’s war chronicles, published by two large circulation periodicals, the newspaper La Nación and the illustrated magazine Fray Mocho, from October 1914 to October 1916. Those contributions were the result of his more than two years’ experience in the Western and Eastern fronts. Soiza Reilly’s perspectives on the First World War were clearly unconventional for his national framework, where most of the intellectuals and the press took sides early in favor of the Allies, due to the deep-rooted Francophilia prevailing in Argentine cultural field. As a result, they devoted themselves to arguing over the question of the war responsibilities and the belligerents’ attributes. Unlike them, Soiza Reilly denounced the absurdity of the war, which he strongly condemned, and made a pacifist profession of faith. In addition, far from the Argentine social consensus, he was often critical of the Allies and sympathetic to the German Empire. However, since Italy’s entry into the war in May 1915, Soiza Reilly adopted a belligerent attitude in favor of the Allies, expressing an intense admiration for Italy and a virulent anti-Austrian sentiment. These two last features were very unusual in the Argentine context, where the devotion for France was hegemonic as well as the vehement anti-German stance. Through the analysis of Soiza Reilly’s war chronicles and reportages, this article intends to shed light on the reception of the war in a neutral country, the general climate of public opinion, and its dissensions around the significance of the Great War.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017-06
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info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/45706
Tato, María Inés; A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles; Kansas State University Department of Modern Languages; New Prairie Press; Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature; 41; 2; 6-2017; 1-17
0145-7888
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/45706
identifier_str_mv Tato, María Inés; A Discordant Voice from the Trenches: Juan José de Soiza Reilly's War Chronicles; Kansas State University Department of Modern Languages; New Prairie Press; Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature; 41; 2; 6-2017; 1-17
0145-7888
CONICET Digital
CONICET
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language eng
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.4148/2334-4415.1942
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Kansas State University Department of Modern Languages; New Prairie Press
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