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Abstract
Active as a Catholic priest in Texas and northern Mexico from 1846 to 1852, Emmanuel Domenech had the opportunity of traveling and collecting a good amount of information about the geography and population. Endowed with narrative skills, this Frenchman wrote several books describing the landscapes and the inhabitants of the so-called “American solitudes,” which led him to look principally at Mexico’s Indigenous peoples in their natural habitat. This article exposes the influence of the so-called “sentimental exoticism” on Domenech´s descriptive exercises, which can be recognized not only in his emphasis on the theme of solitude but also in the emotional involvement he exhibits when narrating his experiences. Although attempting to comply with the typical scientific and distantiated spirit of his age, his pages reveal a clear aesthetic orientation that can only be explained by the influence of an intellectual current represented by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre and François-René de Chateaubriand.
En tant que prêtre catholique au Texas et au Nord du Mexique de 1846 à 1852, Emmanuel Domenech avait la possibilité de voyager et collectionner une bonne quantité de renseignements sur la géographie et la population. Doté d’aptitudes narratives, ce Français a écrit plusieurs livres qui décrivaient les paysages et les habitants des soi-disant « solitudes américaines », ce qui l’a mené à regarder principalement les indigènes du Mexique dans leur habitat naturel. Cet article montre l’influence du soi-disant « exotisme sentimental » sur les exercices descriptifs de Domenech, qui peut se reconnaître dans son emphase sur le thème de la solitude mais aussi dans l’engagement sur le plan affectif qu’il montre dans la narration de ses expériences. Tout en essayant de se conformer à l’esprit scientifique et distancié typique de son époque, ses pages révèlent une orientation esthétique distincte qui ne peut s’expliquer que par l’influence d’un courant intellectuel représenté par Bernardin de Saint-Pierre et François-René de Chateaubriand.
Como sacerdote católico en Texas y el norte de México de 1846 a 1852, Emmanuel Domenech tuvo la oportunidad de viajar y recopilar una gran cantidad de información sobre su geografía y población. Dotado de habilidad narrativa, este francés escribió varios libros describiendo los paisajes y los habitantes de las llamadas “soledades americanas,” lo que le llevó a fijarse principalmente en los pueblos indígenas de México en su hábitat natural. Este artículo expone la influencia del denominado “exotismo sentimental” en los ejercicios descriptivos de Domenech, que se manifiestan no sólo por su énfasis en el tema de la soledad sino también por la involucración emocional que exhibe al narrar sus vivencias. Aunque intenta cumplir con el espíritu científico y distanciado típico de su época, sus páginas revelan una clara orientación estética que sólo puede explicarse por la influencia de una corriente intelectual representada por Bernardin de Saint-Pierre y François-René de Chateaubriand.
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Notes
1 Based on the fact that Chateaubriand took information and inspiration from other travelers and authors, Ernst Dick had presented him as a plagiarist in Plagiats de Chateaubriand. Le Voyage en Amérique. II. Comment Chateaubriand s’est servi de Gibbon. Le génie du christianisme. Les martyrs. Discours sur la chute de l’Empire Romain (Bern, R. Geering, 1905). In his Études critiques (Paris: Armand Colin, 1903), pp. 127–287, Joseph Bédier criticized in similar terms Chateaubriand’s use of sources and the accuracy of Chateaubriand’s itinerary in Voyage en Amérique. Part of aim of Chinard’s book’s was to moderate and qualify this kind of criticism. In any case, debates on this subject continued for a long time. Today, Carl Thompson maintains that this discussion and debate is no longer active. See Carl Thompson, French Romantic Travel Writing: Chateaubriand to Nerval (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 332.
2 Gilbert Chinard’s ideas I discuss here appear in his work L‘exotisme sentimental dans l’oeuvre de Chateaubriand (Paris, Librairie Hachette, 1918), pp. V-X, 221–225. On the influence of Saint-Pierre on Chateaubriand, see Wilhelm Lusch, Chateaubriand in seinem Verhältnis zu Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (Heidelberg, Buchdruckerei Gebr. Huber Nachf: L. Hahn, 1912); and Cristina Romano, “L’influence de Bernardin de Saint-Pierre dans les premières oeuvres de Chateaubriand” in Autour de Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Les écrits et les hommes des Lumières en Europe, eds. Catriona Seth and Érick Wauters (Mont Saint-Aignan: Presses universitaire de Rouen et du Havre, 2018), pp. 199–213.
3 A good summary of Saint-Pierre´s thought about nature can be found in Colas Duflo´s brief essay “Le hussar et l’inscription,” which appears in Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Études de la nature (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2023), pp. 7–28.
4 Lusch, Chateaubriand, pp. 10–12. Chateaubriand is inspired by Saint-Pierre’s work La chaumière indienne (1790).
5 Chateaubriand, Essai sur les révolutions. Génie du christianisme (Paris, Gallimard, 1978), p. 44.
6 Jacques Godechot, La contre-révolution. Doctrine et action. 1789–1804 (Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1961), pp. 136–137; Jean-Paul Clement, Chateaubriand : Des illusions contre des souvenirs (Paris: Gallimard, 2003), pp. 44–47.
7 Chateaubriand, Essai, pp. 441–448. Focusing on the Essai sur les révolutions could seem strange in view of the well-known fact that exotisme sentimental comes to full maturity in later works of Chateaubriand, for example, in his novels René, Atala and Les Natchez. However, the transformational process that an exotic milieu had on Chateaubriand’s writing began earlier.
8 In accordance with the ideas of Saint-Pierre, the most mature Chateaubriand emphasizes the importance of religious beliefs and does not allow for the possibility of a passionate and instinctive human life independent of them. Invariably, for both writers the instincts and passions reflect the beliefs of the individual. Lusch, Chateaubriand, pp. 105–106, 112–113.
9 John Chapman, “Emmanuel. Domenech. L’Abbé Bien-Ordoné,” Southwest Review 17, no. 4 (1932), pp. 107–119; José Enrique Covarrubias, Visión extranjera de México (1840–1867). I. El estudio de las costumbres y de la situación social (Mühlenpfordt, Sartorius, Fossey, Domenech, Biart, Zamacois) (México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas de la UNAM/Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora, 1998), pp. 113–123; Numa Broc, “Domenech, Emmanuel (1825–1903?)” in Dictionnaire illustré des explorateurs et grands voyageurs français du XIXe siècle, III. Amérique (avec la collaboration de Jean-Georges Kirchheimer et Pascal Riviale) (Paris: Éditions du CTHS, 1999), pp. 123–124; María Haydeé García Bravo, “Evangelización y ciencia: misiones antropológicas decimonónicas en territorio mexicano,” INTER DISCIPLINA 9, no. 24 (2021), pp. 51–72.
10 He occasionally mentions or refers indirectly to Chateaubriand, as will be shown below.
11 He was born in Lyon and belonged to the Congregation of the Mission (Congrégation de la Mission), founded in ca. 1630 by St. Vincent Paul. After Texas’ secession from Mexico, a Vicentian priest (Jean Marie Odin) became responsible, as vicar apostolic, for the Catholic jurisdiction in the new republic. In 1847, when the annexation of Texas to the United States had already taken place, the Diocese of Galveston arose as a new jurisdiction owing to the dissolution of the vicariate. Being still a seminarian in Lyon, Domenech followed the call of Bishop Odin, who at that moment traveled in France looking for new missionaries.
12 However, academic studies of Domenech’s writings on these subjects and public reception of them remain to be undertaken.
13 The most important for the present purposes are Journal d’un missionaire au Texas et au Mexique, 1846–1852 (Paris, Librairie de Gaume Frères, 1857); Voyage dans les solitudes américaines. Voyage au Minnesota, Paris, Pouget-Coulon, 1858; Seven-Years’ Residence in the Great Deserts of North-América (London, Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860). Later, he would publish additional works about Mexico and the United States, such as Le Mexique tel qu‘il est. La verité sur son climat, ses habitants et son gouvernement, (Paris, E. Dentu, 1867); Histoire du Mexique, Juarez et Maximilien (Paris: Librairie Intenationale, 1868), and others.
14 And he was not far from the risk of death when a cholera epidemic hit the area of Castroville and San Antonio, Texas. Domenech, Journal, pp. 103–123.
15 Chinard, L’exotisme, pp. V-X, 161–275.
16 Due to his general and comparative interest in Native Americans, Domenech extends his analysis and writes about many North American tribes in the United States, Canada, and some parts of Mexico.
17 Domenech, Voyage, pp. 9–37, includes his travel through Minnesota which will be summarized in the next paragraphs.
18 Most important in this regard is the tenth étude, or study on nature, by Saint-Pierre, which can be found in Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Études de la nature, pp. 268–275. See also Lusch, Chateaubriand, pp. 18–19, 23–24, 28 ; and Romano, “L’influence,” pp. 199–207.
19 Colas Duflo, La finalité dans la nature. De Descartes à Kant (Paris : Presse universitaires de France, 1999), pp. 106–120. For additional reading on this subject, see Jean-Michel Racault, “L’homme et la nature chez Bernardin de Saint-Pierre,” Dix-huitième siècle 1, no. 45 (2013), pp. 305–328; Colas Duflo, “Le finalisme esthétisante des Études de la nature de Bernardin Saint-Pierre” in Autour, eds. Catriona Seth and Érick Wauters, pp. 157–163.
20 Domenech, Voyage, p. 13.
21 Chateaubriand wrote about pagan and Christian tombs and cemeteries in the second book of the fourth part of Génie du Christianisme, pp. 933–934. Lusch, Chateaubriand, pp. 108–112, mentions the common interest of Saint-Pierre (in Études de la nature) and Chateaubriand (in Génie) in the cult of dead people as a proof of human immortality.
22 Domenech, Voyage, p. 15.
23 I mean here, in a literal sense, when the narrative with relevant Saint-Pierre/Chateaubriand topics is resumed in Domenech, Voyage, pp. 159–224. This occurs after Domenech’s numerous and tiresome passages with profuse and detailed information about customs and cultural elements of many tribes, which though not lacking interest nor being unsubstantial, ultimately means a digression from the the central purpose of specifying the deepest human aspects of living in the American solitudes.
24 Ibid, p. 159.
25 Ibid, pp. 162–164, contains Domenech’s remarks about the Native American hunting methods.
26 Ibid, p. 165.
27 Domenech, Voyage, p. 176.
28 Marc Fumaroli, Chateaubriand; poésie et terreur (Paris, Gallimard, 2003), pp. 705–709.
29 Domenech, Voyage, p. 181.
30 Ibid, p. 182.
31 Ibid, pp. 186–186.
32 Ibid, p. 187.
33 Ibid, p. 187.
34 Ibid. From this point onward to the end of his book, Domenech makes references to Native Americans’ chants, dances, and hunting (Ibid, pp. 188–224), which gives him the oppportunity to speak about Native American life in North America in a melancholic tone very near to that of Chateaubriand.
35 Ibid, p. 196.
36 Ibid, p. 224.
37 Fumaroli, Chateaubriand, pp. 727–735. Fumaroli reveals a very interesting intellectual interaction between Chateaubriand and his nephew Alexis de Tocqueville regarding their common esteem for political independence and other questions.
38 Domenech, Seven-Years, I, pp. 135–151.
39 Chapman, “Emmanuel Domenech,” pp. 416–417, questions some Domenech´s sayings in Seven Years Residence and brings the reader to doubt the veracity of his travels and investigations in the United States and Tamaulipas. But facts challenge Chapman’s critique. Domenech’s account of the journey to the springs of the Red River that I discuss here is credible, not only for the exactitude of the narrative but the fact that it takes place in the state of Texas, where Domenech resided during most of his stay in the United States.
40 Domenech, Seven-Years, I, p. 135.
41 Ibid, I, p. 135.
42 Ibid, I, p. 136.
43 Before their contact with the white population and the cruel treatment they received from whites, Comanches were peaceful and did not practice unrestrained revenge. But the contact between whites and Comanches that took place after the annexation of Texas changed relations between the two groups drastically.
44 Domenech, Seven Years, I, p. 137.
45 Ibid.
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid, I, p. 139.
48 This classic theme nourished many theories and controversies about the silence of the New World when compared to Europe and the other continents, sometimes in terms of superiority or inferiority. Antonello Gerbi, La disputa del Nuevo Mondo. Storia di una polemica, 1750–1900 (Milano: Ricciardi, 1955), remains a very important study about this discussion.
49 Examples of his kind of landscape descriptions in Saint-Pierre can be found in his well-known novel Paul et Virginie (Paris: George Crè et. C., 1920); for example, see pp. 101–103. See also, Racault, “L’homme,” p. 313.
50 Domenech, Seven Years, I, p. 141.
51 Ibid, I, p. 142.
52 Ibid, II, p. 225, where we read that “Monsieur de Chateaubriand has so perfectly described the beaver.” Chateaubriand’s description of beaver is included in his Voyage en Amérique, pp. 98–102, in Chateaubriand, Oeuvres choisies de Chateaubriand (Paris: Poulin et Cie., 1859), vol. VII.
53 “Its name [of the prairie called Estacado], which signifies the staked plain, has been given to it because formerly it was traversed by a road leading from Texas to Santa-Fé, New Mexico, which was covered with stakes that indicated the localities where water was to be found,” Domenech, Seven-Years, I, p. 149.
54 Ibid.
55 Ibid, I, p. 151.
56 Racault, “L’homme,” p. 316.
57 Lusch, Chateaubriand, pp. 99–100; Duflo, La finalité, pp. 106–120 ; Duflo, “Le finalisme,” passim; and Racault, “L’homme,” p. 308.
58 Domenech, Journal, pp. 301–335.
59 Due to these difficult conditions, mobility was easier at night.
60 He includes more information about trees than plants, strictly speaking, mentioning, as wild species, strawberry trees, acacias, locust trees, mezquites, etc., though in ranchs and towns he also finds palms, sycomores, and other beautiful species. Domenech, Journal, pp. 307, 313, 317, 326, etc.
61 Ibid, p. 306.
62 Ibid, pp. 316–317.
63 Ibid, pp. 317–319.
64 Ibid, p. 308.
65 This takes place during Domenech’s missionary work among Mexican ranchers, Journal, p. 375.
66 Ibid, pp. 294–296.
67 Ibid, pp. 156–157. For a poetic description of an American landscape in the moonlight by Chateaubriand, see Essai, pp. 444–446; and Génie du christianisme, pp. 591–592.
68 In French Romantic Travel Writing, pp. 8–9, 13, 15–18, 21–26, 329–341, Thompson exposes the kind of themes and literaty motives that gave a national touch to travelogues in France in the first half of nineteenth-century. Among these topics we have the sort of reflections developed by Chateaubriand as a traveler in the United States. Thompson doesn’t explicitly employ Chinard’s expression of sentimental exoticism when referring to the well-known subjective and autobiographical component in Chateaubriand’s literary works. However, he stresses the point of Chateaubriand’s taking recourse to autobiographical narrative (with evident personal transformation) in his works, which was Chinard’s main point when characterizing exotisme sentimental.
69 Domenech, Journal, pp. 5–9.
70 Manuscrit pictographique américain précédé d’une notice sur l’idéographie des peaux-rouges (Paris : Gide, 1860).
71 Domenech wrote an answer to these critics in La verité sur le livre des sauvages (Paris: Dentu, 1861).
72 Thompson, French Travel Writing, p. 33.
73 See, for example, Alasdair Pettinger and Tim Younds, eds., The Routledge Research Companion to Travel Writing (London: Routledge, 2020) which has an entire section entitled Sensous Geographies; the five chapters in the section are approproiately titled: “Seeing” (chap. 14); “Hearing” (chap. 15); “Touching” (chap. 16); “Tasting” (chap. 17); and “Smelling” (chap. 18).
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José Enrique Covarrubias
José Enrique Covarrubias is a researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and a professor or history in the same university. He has worked on topics of nineteenth century foreign travelers in Mexico as well as the history of nineteenth century economic and social ideas in Mexico and elsewhere. His most recent publication was, as an editor with Itzel Toledo García, La modernización porfiriana vista por los viajeros (México, Instituto de Investigaciones históricas de la UNAM, 2023). He is currently writing a book on seven foreigns travelers political views about Mexico between 1840 and 1867.