Los paisajes agrarios de cortijos, haciendas y lagares: Paisajes icónicos de la vida rural en Andalucía

RESUMEN: Los paisajes de las campiñas del Río Guadalquivir asociados a las grandes explotaciones agrarias denominadas como cortijos, haciendas y lagares, son el corolario de un sustrato físico relativamente joven (fi niterciario y cuaternario) y cuentan con un largo recorrido histórico, siempre vinculado a la agricultura de las grandes explotaciones agrarias. La centralidad geográfi ca y socioeconómica de estos paisajes ha dado lugar a la existencia de un importante volumen de información producido desde distintas disciplinas y que permite el conocimiento necesario y sufi - ciente para acercarse a sus paisajes. Por otra parte son numerosas las recreaciones artísticas del, por antonomasia, campo andaluz ocupando en todas el paisaje un lugar central. Este artículo se ha concebido como una primera aproximación a estos paisajes desde la literatura, concretamente desde ocho obras que han ido apareciendo a lo largo del siglo XX y concebidas desde posturas muy distintas pero donde el paisaje aparece como el gran escenario donde se imbrican tanto los elementos como las relaciones de su medio físico y humano. A partir de esta premisa y combinando palabra e imagen se realiza este primer acercamiento a los paisajes de las campiñas béticas a partir de cuatro ejes interpretativos: las grandes vistas, el vínculo con la tierra, la casa y la vida en las fi ncas y la estacionalidad. ABSTRACT: The countrysides of Andalucía are varied enough to warrant the use of this plural terminology. One of the reasons for this variety is the sheer size of the area covered, since they follow much of the River Guadalquivir along its 600 km course, through the provinces of Jaén, Córdoba and Sevilla, with the highest concentration on the left bank of the mid valley, although they stretch south west towards Cádiz and even west towards the peripheral plains of Huelva. These countrysides create a continuous strip where the edges become blurred as they accommodate the tormented and ragged profi les of the Bética mountains, after which they spread out over different altitudes which - in the form of large and unequal steps - sweep down from the mountains and gradually occupy the large central river bed until they reach the river course itself, which erodes the Hercinian bedrock as it fl ows through. The structural foundation of this great valley stretching over 35,000 km2 was laid through the sedimentary fi lling process which began in the Miocene age although the fi nal movements of the Alpine orogeny were still active, with the rest of the Tertiary and Quaternary ages continuing in complete orogenic calm, albeit subject to climatic alterations. This variety of events has caused the Guadalquivir depression to be differentiated into various sub-units of countrysides: the river plain, the low-lying countryside, the Villafranciese glacis and the high-lying countryside. The specifi c materials, altitudes, morphologies and soils of these sub-units paint varied landscapes that share an agrarian vocation, a social-historical process and a strong connection between crops and architectures. These countryside landscapes are equally determined by their central location within the region, which gives them a very privileged position in terms of their visibility, particularly the landscapes immediately surrounding the major communication and transport links. Hence, with their open horizons and soft clean lines, they have become one of the most typical and stereotypical images of Andalucía as a whole, specifi cally the Andalucía that is identifi ed with orchards dominated by large estates. The adoption of the term Latifundio for these large farming estates and what this has meant for the social and economic history of Andalucía over the last 150 years, endows these landscapes with a multitude of meanings, where the capacity of the landscape as palimpsest takes on particular importance, as does the need to turn to artistic expressions to attain true perception, understanding and interpretation. This capacity to represent the essence of Andalucía is refl ected very well in the recurring presence the countrysides and their landscapes in disciplines such as history, geography, agronomy, anthropology etc., as well as artistic expressions, since there have been and indeed are multiple and varied creative gazes of -by antonomasia- Andalucías countryside, recreated by painters, writers, photographers and fi lmmakers, recreations in which the landscape plays a central role. The agrarian landscapes of these countrysides, owing to their dependence on the annual climatic cycle and its systems and crop types, inscribe this extreme region in the timelessness of the Mediterranean world. Wheat, grapes and olives are the holy fruits which, accompanied by fruit trees and other crops, make up the triad that balances the Mediterranean; in the words of F. Braudel: All life must be balanced. Or it will disappear: which is not the case with Mediterranean life, vivacious and indestructible. Life in this region is certainly tough, often precarious, and its balance regularly shifts against man, condemning him to endless sobriety. (Braudel, 1985, p.9) Perhaps this diffi culty and sobriety sustains the beauty we fi nd in these landscapes and the pleasure derived from their contemplation. Landscapes which, in this article, are shown as a fabric where certain physical, historical and social determinants have formed a dense strong web to construct their current images as civilised rural landscapes, serenely productive. Calming images maybe, but the gradual emptying of country people also empties them of many of their meanings, some of which are very recent which makes it diffi cult to know and understand them. There could be many different ways of approaching these representative landscapes of Andalucía, but this paper proposes the importance of always incorporating their artistic manifestations, where the land is always present: Drinking Corinthian sun, reading the marble ruins, striding through vineyards and seas aiming the harpoon at a votive fi sh that slips away found the leaves the suns psalm learns by heart, the living earth desire rejoices. (Elytis, 1943, p. 8).