Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/462

* SPANISH-AMEKICAN LITERATURE. 398 SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. whose work has been rivaled by the more recent verse of .Juan Leon Mena, famous also as a critic and for his novel Cumanda, and Julio Zaldumbide, a poet of the contemplative school. Lima, in Peru, was the home of the political sat- irist Felipe Pardo de Aliaga, famous also for his dramas, Friitos de la educacion and Una hxiirfaiia en Chorillos. From the middle of the century Peruvian writers have largely fol- lowed the Spanish school of romantic literature, and one of the most inspiring of this class of writers is Fernando Velarde, whose collected poems, Flores del desierto, appeared in 1848. Jos6 Arnaldo Marquez (1825-81) is regarded as the leading lyric poet of modern Peru. The Noche de dolor en las montanas of Xuma Pom- pilio Llona (born 1832) is one of the best poems of recent Spanish-American literature. In fiction El Padre Orani of Narciso Arestegui occupies a prominent place, and the dramatists Corpaneho and Segura take a high rank. As imder the po- litical regime of viceroyalty days. Bolivia has continued to be in a literary sense the appendage alternately of Peru and of Argentina, but the lyric poetry of Ricardo .1. Bustamante (born 1821) and the Ensayo sohrc la historia. de Bo- livia of Manuel Josg Cortes (1811-65) have re- ceived favorable notice, as has also the Ultiinos dias coloniales en el Alto-Peru (1896), written by Gabriel Renf-Moreno. Chile, long the most backward of the South American republics, was greatly aroused by the long residence of Belle and by the coming of many exiled Argentines. Of the succeeding gen- eration the publicist and poet Arteaga Alem- parte (1835-1880) achieved a poetic triumph in his hymn Al Amor. Isaias Gamboa, in his Poemas (1002); the rare and strange Antonio Borquez Solar, in his Campo lirico (1900); and Carlos Walker Martinez in Poesdas (1894) and Ro- mances Amcrieanos (1899) exhibit an elevation of thought and a beauty of versification un- equaled elsewhere in Spanish-America and hardly surpassed in Europe. Chilean writers of history and political science, among whom are reckoned Arana and the Amunftteguis. likewise enjoy an international reputation, while Alhcrto cl juga- dor, a novel by Rosario Orrego de Uribe, and Contra l<i marea, by Alberto del Solar, attest the worth of her writers of fiction. With the dawn of independence the classic translations and imitations of Valera, Quintana, and Cienfuegos inaugurated the literary history of Argentina, a history which includes that of her neighbor, Uruguay. In Argentina Est^ban Eche- verrfa, one of the first American lyricists, known for his La cautiva, introduced roman- ticism directly from the French, and liberated the thought of his oti countrymen. His fellow citizen Jos^ Rivera Indarte produced the stirring poem El fcstin de Baltasai: and his piipil Juan ]Iaria Gutierrez the l.vrics Recuerdo and A mi eahallo. Following these came a host of litterateurs, with centre at Buenos Ayres, or, in time of political proscription, at Montevideo, whose work in poetry and prose has greatly influ- enced the political thought and literature of their own and neighboring republics, and has rendered famous the names of the historian Vicente Fidel Lopes, the dramatist .Jose Marmol (author also of the novel Amalia). and the poet .Jose Hernan- dez, whose Mart in Eierro has been the most wide- ly sold poem of the southern continent. The Flores sih^estres of the dramatist Francisco Javier de Acha, of Uruguay, have also met with a favor- able reception, and the Libro extraiio of Francisco Sicardi is one of the best of recant novels. The Historia Argentina (1894) of Mariano A. Pelliza is a monumental work of great merit. In the department of criticism the revistas of Buenos Ayres have occupied 'a leading place, and one of their most famous contributors was Juan Bau- tista Alberdi, whose Escritos piistiimos appeared during tlie last decade. Bartolonie Mitre's His- toiia del gene^'al Belgrano is one of the most successful attempts at biographical history that the century has produced. During recent years the prevailing commercialism of the Plata valley has undoubtedly exerted a pernicious efiect upon its literature. Central America, in addition to a number of political writers, has contributed to the field of letters the satirist .Jose Batres y Mon- tufar, and the writers of fables Garcia Goyena and Matias Cordoba of Cxuatemala. BiBLiOGR.PiiT. Lagomaggiore, America li- teraria (Buenos Ayres, 1883); Antologia de poetas Hispano-Americanos (Madrid, 1893) ; Me- nendez y Pelayo, La ciencia espanola (ib., 1889) ; Rojas, Biblioteca de escritores venezolanos con- teniponineos (Paris, 1875) ; Duron, Honduras literaria- (Tegucigalpa, 1896) ; La Venezuela litteraire in La Revue, vol. xliv. (Paris, 1903) ; Beristafn de Souza, Biblioteca hisipana-americana se/)^PHf/-i'0H0?, edited by Medina (Santiago, 1897) ; Revista critica de historia y literatura, vol. vii. (Madrid, 1902) ; Torres-Caicedo, Ensayos bio- griifcos y de critica literaria sobre los prin- eipales poetas y literatos hispano-americanos (Paris, 1863); Palma, Lira americana (ib., 1865). SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. The war between Spain and tlie United States in 1898. After more than a century of unrest in the island of Cuba, and intermittent struggles between the Cubans and their home Government, when the in- crease of bloodshed, starvation, and general de- vastation had attracted world-wide attention, and when the rights of American citizens had been systematically disregarded by the Spanish au- thorities, the LTnited States decided to interpose its friendly offices. After the 'Ten Years' War' (1808-78) in Cuba, there had been a period of com])arative peace (see Cub.v), but in Feb- ruaiy, 1895, the Cubans again rebelled, and the Spanish Government resorted to repressive meas- ures of unusual severity and cruelty. The island was devastated, famine and death were every- where, American interests suJTered greatly, and the condition of affairs fast became intolerable. On April 6, 189(3. Secretary of State Olney repre- sented to Spain that American commerce was being greatly damaged, and that the Cubans were threatened with 'absolute impoverishment,' and vaguely offered the friendly offices of the Linited States, his 'offer,' however, falling short in definiteness to that of a resolution passed, on April 4th. by the American Congress. Olney's offer was inunediately declined by Spain, and in De- cember. 1896. President Cleveland, in his annual message, spoke of 'higher obligations' than those due to S])ain, which would devolve upon the LTnited States if conditions should grow worse in the island and if Spain's inability to deal