Jacobo De Villaurrutia and the Audiencia of Guatemala, 1794-1804

Literary criticism already has a long and distinguished history in Spanish America, one that encompasses such diverse figures as Andres Bello (1781–1865), Jose Enrique Rodo (1871–1917), Pedro Henriquez Urena (1884–1946), Alfonso Reyes (1889–1959), Emir Rodriguez Monegal (1921–1985), and Angel Rama (1926–1983). Nevertheless, Spanish American literary criticism has sometimes had to contend with feelings of inadequacy, not only in comparison to its subject but also to the literary criticism of Europe and the United States. The inadequacy has often been real, of course, and Spanish American critics have been the first to point out the deficiencies and vices of criticism in Spanish America, as well as the obstacles it has had to face. Among the former, critics note its mimetic character, journalistic superficiality, lack of patience with serious scholarship, and ideological tendentiousness; among the latter are censorship, exile, and sheer lack of financial and institutional support. The absence of any book-length history of Spanish American criticism is probably symptomatic of the unease Spanish American critics and literary historians share with regard to this subject. Feelings of inadequacy and belatedness are nevertheless endemic to literary criticism wherever it occurs, however much critics may try to hide them beneath an authoritarian rhetoric. In modern literature, which has absorbed criticism into its make-up to a very high degree but without its institutional or ideological constraints, there is always a propensity to surpass the exegetes. This in turn has forced critics to compete with creative writers in the elaboration of ever more probing theories of what literature is and how it achieves its effects.

Literary criticism in Spanish America

This article consists of two parts: the first one presents the state of ac- tual knowledges on the Spanish American “neoclassical fable”; the second one analyzes the works of three Mexican fabulists corresponding to three distinct moments of the period of emancipation. With their example, the article pre- tends to show the evolution of the Mexican “neoclassical fable”, as an hypothe- sis of work exportable to other countries of Latin America, from classical forms and subjects to the achievement of original fables, with issues that are related to the Mexican reality, such as socio-political tensions in the Independence War.

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Hacia la recuperación de un tema olvidado: la fábula neoclásica hispanoamericana (con unos ejemplos mexicanos)

The purpose of this paper is to recall from oblivion and analyze the translationsof the Anacreontea that were published by some members of a literary group called the “Mexican Arcadia” at the start of the 19th Century in El Diario de Mexico. In this journal a translation of Anacreontea 38 (Campbell) by Flagrasto Cicne (pseudonymof Francisco Manuel Sanchez de Tagle) was printed, as well as two different translations of Anacreontea 24, one probably due to Sanchez de Tagle himself, while the other was the one Luzan included also in his Poetic (Zaragoza, 1737); likewise, Moschus’ erotic epigram included in the Greek Anthology (XVI, 200) was translated by Manuel Martinez de Navarrete and published twice within a couple of months in the same journal.

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La "Arcadia mexicana" y sus traducciones de Anacreonte

This article analyzes some of the strategies utilized by colonial authorities to circumvent the freedom of the press in New Spain, despite the fact that it had been mandated for the entire Hispanic world by the Cortes of Cadiz. By analyzing events at the Cortes of Cadiz and the Viceroyalty of New Spain’s state of war, it examines the process by which the freedom of the press took on a constitutional character. Due to their inability to prevent the appearance of a critical press, whether of an insurgent or independent nature, the colonial authorities published written responses as a method of mitigating the effects of the dissemination of the political ideas of their adversaries. In the end, this article shows how the decision to respond to political writings fomented a new way of doing politics through the press that had no precedents in New Spain.

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Ruth Wold

Papers

El Diario de Mexico, primer cotidiano de Nueva Espana

The Mexican Arcadia