Hispano-American Modernism: Origins, Traits, and Influence
Hispano-American Modernism
Emerged as a subversive force in Latin America and an expression of resistance to the commercialism of the bourgeois cultural revolution.
After the independence wars of the nineteenth century, some Latin American countries achieved political stability, resulting in economic prosperity. Contacts with Europe, particularly France, increased through imports of luxury items by the moneyed classes. French lifestyles and thought were seen as “modern” and implied a rejection of traditional colonial society.
Modernism entailed not only a change in literary taste but also included the claim of a new partnership with decolonizing intentions.
The modernists rose up at the end of the century against materialism, imperialism, the bourgeoisie, and the utilitarian. The climate they lived in, with a mix of art, bohemian lifestyle, and libertarian ideas, was similar to fin de siècle Paris. The immediate source was French poetry, particularly Symbolism and Parnassianism, whose expressions were more demanding, bold, and full of the trends of the time.
Characteristics of Literary Modernism
As a general feature of the movement, its emphasis on experimentation stands out. The constant attempt at renewal defines literary modernism as the aesthetics of change.
Evasion and Exoticism
Modernism led to an escape from the space and time in which they lived, in search of a universal realm considered the only true one. The inclination of modernist poets towards the past (medieval, Renaissance, eighteenth century, but also Hispanic heritage) and towards distant, exotic lands reflects a desire to escape the present.
Exoticism is a way to realize aesthetic desires and ideals forbidden by reality. Modernists created their own ideal world that allowed them to cope with routine life.
Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism, defended as an aspect of the need to escape, reflected the desire to pursue the aristocratic. Paris, with its bohemian lifestyle, cabarets, and neighborhoods, became an artistic goal and theme. However, facing the U.S. threat, they reaffirmed their Hispanic roots.
Renewal of Poetic Language and Versification
Modernists sought to renew poetic language, making it a unique and amazing creation, a continuous succession of findings. They enriched the language with foreign words, archaisms, abused neologisms, employed the conversational style, and used Americanisms.
They also pursued the search for Impressionist effects, based on feelings, achieved through the use of synesthesia, coloring with shades, and musicality.
New metric proposals emerged in three directions:
- Recovery of old forms,
- Modification of known meters, such as breaking the rigid division of Alexandrian hemistichs through enjambment.
- Creation of new meters and attempts at metric freedom with ametrical long lines.
This reform paved the way for the prose poem and free verse.
Modernism in Spain
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, modernism had its influence in Spain. A decisive factor was the second visit to Madrid by Rubén Darío in 1899.
The poetry scene needed change; the prosaic and moralizing language of Ramón de Campoamor and the verbiage of Núñez de Arce were signs of a worn tradition. Only the poetic intimacy of Bécquer was an exception, influencing the strong subjectivism of Spanish modernists.
Before the arrival of Darío, some poets, such as Salvador Rueda and Francisco Villaespesa, were in contact by letter with major Latin American authors.
Symptoms of change were observable in publications of literary magazines such as Electra, Revista Nueva, or Vida Nueva, which featured modernist poetry and theoretical writings. In 1903, the most important one, Helios, appeared, which also included poems by Rubén Darío.
From the beginning of the century came the early works of Juan Ramón Jiménez, Antonio and Manuel Machado, and Valle-Inclán, who contributed to this innovative current. Only Miguel de Unamuno, so peculiar in his literary career, was able to escape the modernist influence.