New Journalism Before New Journalism? Manuel Chaves Nogales’ Literary Journalism in «El maestro Juan Martínez que estaba allí» (1934)

Abstract

Tom Wolfe outlined the fundamental principles of New Journalism in a 1973 book of the same name. He observed that when one attempted to identify the origins of the movement, it was challenging to locate journalists who had engaged in similar pursuits, as they were primarily essayists, autobiographers, or, more directly, did not specialize in nonfiction writing (Wolfe 1973, 42). Nevertheless, several critics and writers have identified the Spanish journalist Manuel Chaves Nogales (Seville 1897 – London 1944) as an important precursor of the New Journalism. In this context, other academics have proposed that it might be more accurate to refer to this kind of journalism as “literary journalism”. This article employs a content analysis of Chaves Nogales’ first nonfiction novel, El maestro Juan Martínez que estaba allí (1934), to ascertain the extent to which he was already utilizing the techniques that Wolfe deemed appropriate to the New Journalism and, if so, how we might categorize it. Chaves Nogales had already employed the techniques of the New Journalism forty years prior to the publication of Wolfe’s book. These included the use of scenes, the introduction of dialogue in its entirety, the third-person point of view, and the inclusion of significant details that reveal the personality of the story’s protagonists. Considering the era in which he produced his work and the defining features of his journalistic heritage, it is fitting to regard Chaves Nogales as a paragon of the literary journalist.