Rubén Darío ja o-ga modernism hispaaniakeelses Ameerikas ehk dekadents kui võimalus kultuuriliseks iseseisvuseks / Rubén Darío and Modernismo in Spanish-speaking America: Decadence as an Opportunity for Cultural Independence

Abstract

Teesid: Hispaaniakeelse Ameerika kirjandus sõltus oma viiesaja-aastase ajaloo jooksul enamasti emamaast, kunsti- ja kirjandusvoolud jõudsid kolooniasse hiljem ja lahjendatud kujul. Esimest korda muutus see vahekord sajandivahetusel, hispaaniakeelse luule esteetilise revolutsiooniga, mis sai mõjutusi prantsuse sümbolismist ja mille nimeks oli modernism ehk hispaania keeles modernismo. O-ga modernismi alusepanija Nicaragua kirjanik Rubén Darío on kogu hispaaniakeelse maailma olulisemaid luuletajaid, „luulevürst“, kelle eklektilist ja kohati vastuolulist luulet on eesti keelde tõlkinud Ain Kaalep ja Jüri Talvet. Rubén Darío mõju hispaaniakeelsele kirjandusele võimaldab samuti käsitleda keskuse ja perifeeria teemat maailmakirjanduses.

The article examines modernismo, a literary movement that emerged in Spanish America at the turn of the 20th century, as the first culturally autonomous literary current within the Spanish-speaking world. Unlike earlier periods when artistic trends arrived in the colonies belatedly and in diluted form, modernismo marked a reversal in cultural direction, whereby the periphery—particularly Latin America—began shaping and exporting its own aesthetic innovations. Central to this movement was the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío, whose eclectic and often contradictory poetry introduced a new poetic sensibility inspired by French Symbolism, Decadence, and Parnassianism, yet uniquely adapted to the Latin American context.

The article frames modernismo within the broader (post)colonial condition of Spanish America. Drawing on Alejandro Mejías-López’s hypothesis, it argues that modernity itself was born not in Europe but through the Iberian colonization of the Americas in the 16th century. Spanish American intellectuals thus faced a dual displacement: while inheriting the legacy of Spanish civilization, they were also marginalized by the emerging Eurocentric hierarchy that labelled Iberia—and by extension, its former colonies—as premodern and backward. In this context, modernismo became a means of reclaiming agency: culturally displacing Spain by appropriating European avant-garde aesthetics while simultaneously provincializing the former imperial centre. Spain’s loss of its last colonies in 1898 was both a geopolitical and symbolic rupture, which coincided with the shifting centre of the Spanish-language literary world from Madrid to Latin America.

Modernismo was characterized by its highly stylized language, metrical experimentation, and synesthetic imagery. It merged seemingly incompatible currents—symbolism, decadence, realism, criollismo—often drawing from exotic, mythological and archaic sources. While critics in both Spain and the Americas derided it as overly aesthetic and “Frenchified,” its internal contradictions allowed it to function as both an escape from underdevelopment and a critique of modernity. It was denounced for its supposed alienation from local realities and for corrupting Castilian purity. Yet, paradoxically, this very marginality enabled modernismo to challenge imperial linguistic hegemony and construct a new cultural identity for Spanish America, rooted not in imitation, but in creative transformation.

At the turn of the 20th century, both Estonia and Latin America—despite their vastly different historical and geographical contexts—sought cultural emancipation. In Estonia, the Noor-Eesti (Young Estonia) movement challenged Germanic and Russian cultural dominance, aiming to modernize Estonian culture by selectively borrowing from a wide array of European traditions. Both movements represent “young nations” striving to assert cultural identity through innovation rather than imitation. Scholars such as Jüri Talvet have drawn parallels between Rubén Darío and Estonian poet Juhan Liiv, emphasizing their temporal synchronicity and shared cultural marginality. Talvet refers to Nicaragua as a “distant small nation,” and characterizes modernismo as early modernism and symbolism. While Spanish was not a minor language, Latin American writers still had to liberate their literary voice from European (specifically Spanish) dominance.

Theoretical models by Pascale Casanova and Franco Moretti have framed world literature in terms of centre-periphery dynamics, with Paris as the literary “Greenwich Meridian.” However, critics argue that such models overlook the agency of peripheries. For example, Darío's creative appropriation of French symbolism was not passive imitation but an active expropriation of literary capital that transformed Spanish-language poetry. His innovations enabled a broader literary modernization across Latin America and even influenced Spanish poets like García Lorca. Critics such as Efraín Kristal and Mejías-López contend that Latin American modernismo should not be reduced to a derivative version of French aesthetics but recognized as a movement with its own philosophical and aesthetic goals. These goals included cosmopolitanism, the redefinition of literary authority and the assertion of Latin American subjectivity.

Rubén Darío’s poem Filosofía (1905) explores themes of life, existence and the human inability to rationally explain them. Unlike his earlier, more harmonious and colourful works, this eight-line alexandrine poem is dense and conceptual. It reflects a Catholic worldview of acceptance and conformity: life is an illusion, a theatre where each creature plays a divinely assigned role. Darío draws on medieval bestiaries, emphasizing that all beings—both beautiful and ugly—are part of God’s creation and must accept their fate without question. The poem pairs creatures associated with evil or ugliness (spider, toad, crab, mollusc) with symbols of beauty or divinity (sun, God, rose, woman), suggesting a cosmic order governed by mysterious Norms under the Almighty’s control. The closing image of a bear dancing in moonlight symbolizes humans as puppets compelled to live and perform in this enigmatic world. Estonian translations by Ain Kaalep and Jüri Talvet reflect subtle differences in tone and interpretation but maintain the poem’s philosophical core. Filosofía exemplifies modernismo’s engagement with metaphysical questions and illustrates how Latin American literature innovatively reinterpreted European traditions.