Analyzing Manifestos

           Manifestos tend to be similar to one another in some aspects. For instance, they all propose new ideas and criticize existing ones. However, the two manifestos I recently read are two different versions of manifestos: Reality Hunger and Cartagena Manifesto. Base don these two documents, a manifesto is a declaration of the political or artistic views and opinions of a certain individual regarding a certain idea. It criticizes a previously existing perspective and proposes a new one. Reality Hunger is an artistic manifesto, which deals with the reality and originality of art in life and how new forms of art are emerging. Regarding this topic. David Shields states, “Every artistic movement from the beginning of time is an attempt to figure out a way to smuggle more of what the artist thinks is reality into the work of art” (p. 3). Art is merely a representation of the perspective the artist has of life. Shields criticizes the established and well-known genres of literature and art since they have not evolved with time and have remained the same for decades. On the other hand, new and innovative genres have been emerging, which provide a new perspective on art and relate it more clearly to real life.

 

            Cartagena Manifesto is a political manifesto which takes a completely different approach. It does not deal with reality or with new forms of art. Instead, it deals with the failure of the First Republic. He criticizes some of his own actions and those taken by the government which led to the downfall of this idea. He considers social, economic, and political aspects when making his declarations about what should have been done. His explanations try to depict the main errors the government made and describe his political ideals. For example, Bolivar states, “I am, Granadans, a son of unhappy Caracas, who miraculously escaped from amidst her physical and political ruins…” (p. 1). Bolivar begins by establishing the goals he had from the beginning and how he felt about his own nation. Then he criticizes the Europeans and other peoples who did not benefit South America. This is truly a political manifesto which gives a perspective on the conquering and Independence of South America.