“La cautiva” (1837) by Esteban Echeverría has been studied as an
exemplary text of the constitution of an Argentinean nationalist
discourse. It is considered a modern version of an epic poem.
Even though the merits of the text are frequently recognized by
scholars specializing in Southern Cone literature or in Latin
American Romanticism, there is a very limited bibliography on
this canonical text. Today I would like to highlight some of the
studies I find useful when teaching “La cautiva”, and I will end
with some suggestions on how to teach this text in a comparative
Ibero-American context. Plot summary: Brián and María are
captured by Indians on the frontier. The poem narrates their
struggle to escape and return back to the city. María rescues
Brián, but he is too weak and dies. María dies later on, when
she finds out that her son was killed by the Indians. I. Recent
studies: Jean Franco-Historia de la literatura
hispanoamericana—goes beyond the traditional reading of this
text as a nationalist proposal on