“Sátira gramatical” y emancipación: la figura del profesor de latín en la obra de Fernández de Lizardi

This paper aims to analyze the role played by grammatical satire and the figure of the “Latin teacher” within the Mexican picaresque novels by Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi (The Periquillo Sarniento —1816 and 1830— and its successor Life and Deeds of the Famous Knight Don Catrin de la Fachenda, published posthumously in 1832). In preparing this article, we start from the definition of “gramatical satire”, which involves an ironic “carnivalization” of he who teaches Latin grammar. Next, we illustrate these concepts with the “schoolmasters” appearing in relevant literary authors that served as a model for the character of the Latin teacher in Lizardian works. According to this, we locate Lizardis novels in their socio-cultural context and we analyze the role that both gramatical satire and the figure of the Latin teacher and his teaching method played in promoting a Mexican emancipatory attitude in regards to the Spanish Crown.