Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Simon Collier (1938-2003)

2004; Duke University Press; Volume: 84; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/00182168-84-1-117

1527-1900

Iván Jaksić,

Simon Collier died in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 20, 2003, after a brief battle with cancer. Until late December 2002, he was busy finishing a number of projects and looking forward to starting a new book on twentieth- century Chile. There was little indication of anything wrong with his health until very late, and thus he will be remembered by his colleagues and friends as the energetic and highly productive scholar he had always been. A memorial gathering at Vanderbilt University on April 6 paid tribute to the variety of ways in which he touched the lives of many, whether as a university colleague, inspiring scholar and mentor, helpful critic and editor, lover of music and poetry, or sailing and cricket fan. Those who spoke recalled a man who may have seemed formal and reserved, but who soon showed the qualities that most endeared him to everyone who knew him: warm and affectionate, mild- mannered yet solid and dependable, well read and informed, and a great conversationalist.Collier was born in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, on June 6, 1938, the eldest of seven children. He attended Bedford school and after National Service as an officer in the Royal Air Force studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, where he received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. (1965). Although he initially intended to read medieval history, at Cambridge he developed his life-long interest in Latin America. He visited the region for the first time in 1963 when he went to Chile to research his doctoral thesis. He was affiliated with the Centro de Investigaciones de Historia Americana at the University of Chile and during this time met many scholars who would remain life-long friends. By all accounts, he was captivated by the country and its people, and he never wavered from his initial commitment to the field.He completed his degree requirements at Cambridge and joined the faculty at the University of Essex in 1965. In 1967 he published his now classic Ideas and Politics of Chilean Independence, 1808–1833 (Cambridge University Press). The book mined the neglected holdings of the Chilean Archivo Nacional and the Biblioteca Nacional to recuperate the rich intellectual and political traditions of early republican Chile. A scholar thoroughly versed in the history of European political thought, especially the Enlightenment and liberal traditions, he was refreshingly open to Chilean—and Latin American—contributions to the history of ideas. At a time when the historical profession, much like the rest of Chilean society in the 1960s, became increasingly polarized and ideological, Collier’s work stood as a model of careful analysis, rich contextualization, and judicious assessment. This work inspired a new generation of historians, who explored his themes and followed his methods during the years of military repression and then led the boom in nineteenth-century studies after Chile’s return to democracy. Collier contributed to Nueva Historia, a journal published by Chilean historians in exile in England, in order to support their work and encourage dialogue between Chilean and British scholars. He served on the editorial board of several Chilean journals and taught as a visiting professor at the Catholic University at Valparaíso (1994) and Santiago (2002). In 1990 he became a corresponding member of the Academia Chilena de la Historia, and in 2000 the Chilean government made him a knight commander (comendador) of Chile’s Order of Bernardo O’Higgins. He gave frequent interviews in the Chilean press and often expressed his optimism in Chile’s prospects for the consolidation of democracy.He served a variety of roles at Essex, including chairman of the department of history and director of the Latin American Centre. He worked closely on a variety of projects with Harold Blakemore of the Institute of Latin American Studies in London, including coauthoring (along with Thomas Skidmore) the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean (1985). In this and other works, Collier showed his commitment to providing accessible information about the region for a general readership. He lectured extensively around the world and spent significant periods of time in the United States. He taught at Vanderbilt from 1991 until the time of his death (serving as department chair and director of the Center for Latin American and Iberian Studies) and was a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1970, 1979, 1982, and 1985.It was at Madison that Collier wrote The Life, Music, and Times of Carlos Gardel (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986). He collected tango records starting with his first visit to Latin America, and tango music became an enduring passion. He wrote numerous booklets of liner notes for tango albums and collections and collaborated with Argentine scholar María Susana Azzi (assisted by Artemis Cooper and Richard Martin) in producing the immensely successful ¡Tango! The Dance, the Song, the Story (Thames & Hudson, 1995). With Azzi he also wrote Le Grand Tango: The Life and Music of Astor Piazzolla (Oxford University Press, 2000), a book based on hundreds of interviews with key actors and knowledgeable individuals in 13 countries. This scholarly, yet engaging, biography reveals a deep understanding of the musical creativity of a truly international artist. The book was prefaced by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, a tribute to both the artist and the authors. In choosing the music for his memorial service, Collier selected Piazzolla’s Concierto de Nácar (1972). Argentina recognized Collier’s work in a variety of ways. He was corresponding member of the Academia Nacional del Tango and of the Academia Porteña del Lunfardo, and he served on the executive committee of the Carlos Gardel Monument Commission. A plaque is planned to honor Collier in Buenos Aires.In addition to popular music, Collier explored a variety of topics on language, culture, and the history of political thought. But he returned time and again to Chilean history, and especially to the nineteenth-century era of independence and subsequent nation building. His valuable survey of the historiography of the Portalian period appeared in the Hispanic American Historical Review in 1977, while his indispensable “Chile from Independence to the War of the Pacific” was published in 1985 in volume 3 of the Cambridge History of Latin America. Another notable essay is his “Religious Freedom, Clericalism, and Anticlericalism in Chile,” which appeared in Richard Helmstadter’s Freedom and Religion in the Nineteenth Century (Stanford University Press, 1997). His consistent interest in Chilean history led to A History of Chile, 1808–1994 (Cambridge University Press, 1996), coauthored with William F. Sater. The book excited enormous interest and debate and no doubt will do so again when the revised edition appears. His enduring interest in Chilean literature and popular culture was also manifested in his edition of José Joaquín Vallejo’s Sketches of Life in Chile, 1841–1851 (Oxford University Press, 2002).Collier had just finished Chile: The Making of a Republic, 1830–1865. Politics and Ideas, when he fell ill. In this last work, published in 2003 by Cambridge University Press, the mature historian renewed his esteem for the writers and politicians of the early republic. “They were engaged,” he wrote, “in finding a decent political framework for themselves and ultimately their country.” Turning to the recent history of Chile, he concluded, “The savage storms through which a later Chile had to pass in our own time are a reminder of the permanent importance of the quest for both order and freedom—in Chile and everywhere else.” Collier remained convinced that the nineteenth century held the key for understanding not only the making of the Chilean republic and the strength of its institutions but also the resilience of Chilean civil society when it was subjected to the long and dark years of military rule.In a 1996 interview, Collier was asked about the historians he admired. He did not hesitate to name Edward Gibbon, because of “his writing style and sense of humor, his essentially humanitarian philosophy, and his drive to achieve a true and precise rendering of historical events.” This description can certainly be applied to Collier’s own work. His sense of humor was legendary, as was the clarity and force of his writing. But his impartial, non-ideological approach to history and his empathy for Latin America and its people can only be appreciated by reading his entire opus, which will undoubtedly continue to guide and inform scholars. For the moment, the news of his passing has been received with shock and sadness. Articles soon appeared in The Guardian in England, Clarín in Argentina, and El Mercurio in Chile—a tribute to his international stature. More are likely to appear, as well as memorials that are being organized in his honor in the country of his birth and beyond.Simon Collier leaves many friends in Latin America, Europe, and the United States. His colleagues at Vanderbilt will miss his steady presence, his charm, his professional integrity, and his unflagging support for younger faculty. But he will be missed everywhere by those who shared his love of music, poetry, and fine Chilean wine, those who collaborated with him, and those who laughed with him and understood his fine human qualities. We will be hard pressed to find a friend who is so generous, who lives life so thoroughly, and who is as strong and caring even as he confronted a certain yet untimely demise. “I might have wanted to say a bit more,” he wrote in his unfinished memoirs, “given half the chance.” If only for our sake, he would have done so.