El silencio de las imágenes. Las ilustraciones a Una excursión a los indios ranqueles

Abstract

A Travel to the Ranquel Indians, by L.V. Mansilla, has been defined as the only text of Nineteenth Century Argentinian literature where the voices of natives clearly emerged. Nevertheless, in the history of its reception these voices were silenced by white society and the book was reduced to its anecdotal dimension. Paradoxically, the more the natives became mute, the more they were visible, converted into images, icons and mere representations. At the same time, more and more illustrations were included in the editions of the book. This essay aims to demonstrate how the illustrations were decisive in the repositioning and resemantization of the text.