This is the first full-length study in English of the work of José Enrique Rodó, one of the great intellectual figures in Spanish and the most important essayist of modernismo, the movement that aimed to attain aesthetic excellence by revitalizing Spanish literature. He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1871, and the present book was completed in the year of the centenary of his death: he died in the Sicilian capital, Palermo, on 1 May 1917. Rodó is best known for an essay, Ariel, which came out at the beginning of 1900, a significant date for two reasons. The first is that it marked the beginning of a century associated in the Latin American subcontinent with the consolidation of modernity through great waves of immigration, mostly from Europe; the rise of industrialization and its concomitant labour organizations; and, at least for a time, the establishment of democratic institutions. The second reason, which in part inspired the essay, was that Spain had recently lost its last colonies on the American continent (Cuba and Puerto Rico) following its crushing defeat against a United States that had already displayed unequivocal signs of its might to its southern neighbours. The circumstances were therefore most propitious for reflection on what being Latin American meant; Ariel did precisely that, as it pondered “roots” and proposed future “routes”.

Ariel takes the form of a final lesson by an old teacher, nicknamed Próspero, to a class who stand for the youth of the subcontinent. He exhorts them to live according to high ethical and aesthetic ideals and not to surrender themselves to utilitarian values; instead, they should explore their full potential as individuals and allow room in their daily lives for introspection aimed at self-improvement. Próspero also warns the students not to forget their Greco-Latin cultural roots and to be wary of the imposing and materialistic model of the Colossus of the North. Moreover, and resoundingly, he stresses that as they are the ones to lead the progress of their subcontinent, their lofty ideas must be an inspiration for action: “Sed, pues, conscientes poseedores de la fuerza bendita que lleváis dentro de vosotros mismos.