Diario las Américas., 1958-08-14
Know thv
Neighbor
By ANTONIO RUIZ
KNOW THY

KNOW THY -. e. -. .....,
URUGUAY - The literary life
of Uruguay had its real start in
the early 10th century. During the
colonial period, letters had been
limited largely to scientific, edu-
cational and religious subjects. The
struggle for independence produc-
ed Bartolome Hidalgo, soldier,
writer, and first of the gaucho
poets. A "Montevideano" himself.
he introduced into verse the Ian
guage of the country folk. When
Andres LamaS and the Argentine
emigre Miguel Cane founded the
newspaper eel Iniciador" in 1888,
rOmanticism was launched on the
Left Bank of the La Plata River.
OF the numerous romantic poems
based on the customs and legends
of native tribes in the Rio de la
Plata region, "Tabare", published
in 1886 by Juan Zorrilla de San
Martin, is considered the greatest.
This poem, describing the death
throes of the native race, has eros
sed the Uruguayan borders, until
now it represents to the world one
of the genuine epics of America.
The national poet of Uruguay, 70
rrilla de San Martin, combined lyri-
cal romantic sentiment with vigor-
Gus descriptions of the wilderness
of primitive Indian rites, and of
the Spanish conquest.
About the time "Tabare" ap-
peared, ~"Ismael", the first great
Uruguayan novel, was written by
Eduardo Acevedo Diaz. 1t was the
first in a series of historical ro-
mances. The influence of European
romantics is evident in all of Ace
vedo Diaz' works.
At the end of the 10th century,
n~aturalism replaced romanticism in
Uruguayan letters. Realism and
objectivity became the rule of
writer's like Javier de Viana, mas
ter of tales of creole life. His no.
wells and short stories are we'll
documented records of the harsh
but highly interesting life in the
Uruguayan plants.
The realistic, psychological, phi
losophical, and didactic novel reach
ed perfection in the hands of Car
los ReyleS, who is far above other
modern U%ruguayan authors. La
Raza de Cain" (Race of Cain) is
probably the Most ~forceful novel
written by Reyles, who also distin-
guished himself asan e~ssayist and
short story writer.
Although the poet and short
story writer Horacio Quiroga spent
much of his life in Argentina, he
figures prominently in his native
Uruguayan literature. His best
Amor, de Locura, de Muerte"
(Stories of Love, Madness and
Death(, and eel Salvaje" (The
Savage'). Other good novelists and
short story writer's r Francisco
Espinosa and Hitherto Hernandez,
With the presentation of mi Hi
10, ell Doctor" (My Son, the Doc
tori in 1908, Florencio Sanchez
brought the Uruguayan theatre to
a flourishing era. The naturalist
spirit of lola -pessimistic, reals
tic, and bitter that is present in
Sanchez plays, is counter-balanced
by the authors tender pity for hui
mainly. His follower, Ernesto He
rrera, won a place in the theatre,
even though he lived barely beyond
adolescence.
Notable modern playwrights in
clude the novelist Jose P. Bellan,
Francisco Imhoff, Victor Perez Pc
tit, who was also an important
critic and novelist, Carlos M. Prin-
civalle, and Justine Zavala Mufiz.
Prize -winning plays have also been
written by Jose Maria Podesta, in
collaboration with his wife, Clo-
tide Luisi de Podesta, and by Car.
os Denis Molina.
Spanish version page g..