Hispanidad and Revolution: Modernism’s old school in the face of the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

How did the old school of modernistas react to the Spanish Civil War? The article explores the political and ideological positioning of authors who were, in their heyday, important figures of the modernist movement. It focuses initially on the attitude towards the war of two of the movement’s greatest poets, Guillermo Valencia and Leopoldo Lugones, before analysing the reaction of three hispanophiles: two novelists, Carlos Reyles and Enrique Larreta, and Peruvian Felipe Sassone. Among the ex-modernistas who retained part of the revolutionary spirit of their youth, the article centres on Manuel Ugarte, Alberto Ghiraldo, Alejandro Sux and Horacio Quiroga... A brief colophon examines the role in the conflict of Manuel González Prada, José Martí and Rubén Darío, resuscitated by their heirs as followers, respectively, of Anarchism, of the Republic, and of Franco and “la Hispanidad”.