He Modernism in Colombia was a Literary movement Which emerged in the South American country in the second half of the nineteenth century and remained in force during the first half of the twentieth century. It is considered as the first literary movement that occurred in this country and throughout Latin America.
The development of modernism in Colombia was not an isolated fact. This movement appeared simultaneously in all Spanish America, motivated by common historical facts that appeared in all the new republics of the continent.
It is considered as a movement of emancipation that transferred to the letters the independence that the territories had already reached.
You may be interested Top 10 Representatives of Modernism .
Origins of modernism in Colombia
The beginnings of the modernism are located at the end of Century XIX. Until that time, Latin American literature had been characterized by imitating European trends . Modernism, therefore, constitutes an initial search for a Latin American style of its own.
It is no coincidence that this transformation appears after the independence of the different countries of the continent. For Colombia, this literary current constituted an aesthetic and artistic independence of Spanish and European influence in general.
In fact, one of the main Motivations of modernism It's just the aristocracy . Either as a reality that is evaded or as a reality that is imitated, luxury and the bourgeoisie are determining in the development of this literary current.
Another fundamental form of rupture were the variations of traditional metrics and structure. This was also a manifestation of the independence and self-identity that one wanted to build in the recently emancipated Colombia.
Characteristics of Colombian Modernism
Evasion of reality
Modernist literature develops in an era of social conflicts and inequities. Therefore, their authors sought to evade these realities through the construction of stories in other times and places.
This search led the modernists to write about the past, to return to their ancestors and to earlier times. On the other hand, they also addressed the creation of possible worlds and even magical and supernatural.
This feature is visible in this fragment of the poem"El hermafrodita"by Eduardo Castillo:
Exquisite and superhuman monster
Of blue blood and insignificant grace,
He was born in the upper heavens
Of the subtle archetypes.
Privacy
Colombian modernists used literature as a means of evasion from the political reality of their time.
Another way to achieve this was through themes related to privacy, which took the attention of social problems and put it in the most personal issues of the human being.
Romanticism and eroticism take great importance within this literary stream. In fact, the woman appears divinized and presents itself in complex and impossible romances.
This tendency can be observed in the following fragment of the poem"Nocturno"by José Asunción Silva:
Tell me, I kept secretly in my ear,
With that voice that has softness of satin:
If you dreamed the one with whom you dream
After the hours of dancing fast and laughing.
Forecasting
The aristocracy was decisive in the development of modernist literature. Some writers avoided it, while others spoke constantly of the bourgeoisie and of luxury.
On the other hand, they pursued a primal style that sought"formal perfection"and refinement in the choice of words.
This selection was not intended to use words according to their most precise meaning. On the contrary, the image of exclusivity and intellectuality, was achieved using rare words to give prestige to the verses.
This tendency can be seen in this fragment of the poem"Pigmalión"by Guillermo Valencia Castillo:
In Liberal ivory carvings your dream
Of love, the nymph of your being exalts,
And between lips of Olympic design
Pearl flowers your nail polish.
Main authors
José Asunción Silva
He was born in Bogotá in 1865 and committed suicide in 1896 at the age of 31. Despite his short life and many of his manuscripts lost in a shipwreck, his work enjoys great recognition and is considered the father of modernism in Colombia.
Silva was self-taught, however, was an avid and knowledgeable reader of the literature of his time. This characteristic allowed him to experiment and adapt the traditional metric structures, thus becoming an innovator in his country and in his time.
Within his work are approached dreams, impossible loves, the supernatural, beings and the worlds of the past. All this as a way to evade bourgeois society and exclusion of his time.
Guillermo Valencia Castillo
He was born in Pereira in 1873 and died in 1943. He was noted for his poetic work, but also had political participation as a deputy, diplomat and even as a presidential candidate.
He was of bourgeois origin, studied in the School San Jose de la Salle and entered politics from very young, being chosen like deputy to the 23 years.
His political career led him to Paris, where he received influences from Parnassianism, which marked his first literary productions.
In 1899 he published his book of poems Rites , With which it gained a fundamental place within the Colombian modernists.
Eduardo Castillo
He was born in Zipaquirá in 1889 and died in 1938. He was a poet, journalist, storyteller and self-taught translator.
As a translator, he had access to a wide variety of literary works including Edgar Alan Poe, Charles Baudelaire and Paul Marie Verlaine. These authors had great influence on the themes Castillo would address in his work.
His poems had an oscillating focus between eroticism and purity, ranging from darkness to positivism. One example of this is"satanic night fever", one of the most outstanding poems of his work.
Baldomero Sanín Cano
He was born in Rionegro in 1961 and died in 1957. He is considered as the main literary critic of the history of Colombia.
He was close friend of José Asunción Silva, thanks to who knew the French literature of the time. After the death of his friend, Sanín Cano became the main promoter of modernist literature.
Its work was constituted mainly by essays and literary criticisms that published in the different Bogota newspapers of the time.
References
- Critical Anthology of Colombian Poetry. (S.F.). Modernism. Recovered from: anologiacriticadelapoesiacolombiana.com.
- Biographies and lives. (S.F.). Eduardo Castillo. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
- Carranza, M. (S.F.). José Asunción Silva and modernism. Retrieved from: banrepcultural.org.
- Virtual Cervantes. (S.F.). Origins of modernism in Colombia. Sanín, Cano, Silva and Darío. Recovered from: cervantesvirtual.com.
- Vargas, M. (S.F.). Sanín Cano, Baldomero. Recovered from: banrepc.