Nationalism and Social Discontent as Reflected in Spanish-American Literature

Abstract

Between 1800 and 1830, the nationalistic spirit reflected in Spanish-American literature was continental in scope rather than centered about individual states. Between the middle 1830's and the 1870's and 80's, nationalism in lit erature became increasingly local, reflecting the concept of the nation-state and the political views of the rising bourgeoisie. Between the 1880's and the turn of the century, Spanish- American writers became as cosmopolitan in their writing as their more positivistic compatriots were in business affairs ruled by international capitalism. In the first years of the twentieth century, the writers, feeling that the United States, after the Spanish-American War and the interventions in Cuba and Panama, was a danger to the political and cultural independ ence of Latin America, fought back by re-emphasizing in their writings their Hispanic, Latin, and Indian traditions. By the 1920's and 30's, and up to the present day, with the emergence of hitherto submerged strata of Latin America's population, and reflecting the tenets of the Mexican Revolution and of other American and world revolutionary doctrines, many Span ish-American writers coupled continental patriotism with racial, political, social, and economic protest directed against their own ruling classes and against foreign capitalism. Discontent with their continent's present conditions has also led another group of writers into a search for national self-definition which, if successful, will, in their opinion, resolve today's frustrations and deficiencies