Eduardo Acevedo Diaz (1851- ), journal ist, soldier, reformer, critic and novelist, stands easily at die head of the story writers of Uru guay. He passed a stormy life. Frequently in opposition against the government and often in arms and exile, his varied experiences are em bodied in a series of novels of startling reality and dramatic force. Undoubtedly Acevedo Diaz was largely influenced in his earlier days by his companion in exile, Carlos Maria Rami rez, author of 'Amores de Marta' a popular romantic story, and other tales. Among Ace vedo Diaz' popular stories are his first novel; (El Grito de Gloria,' a trio of semi-histoncal novels, pur porting to relate the adventures of a family during the wars of the revolution, which pre sent a bewildering array of excellently drawn characters. Carlos Reyles (1862—) is credited at home with being the leader of the natural istic movement among the novelists of Uruguay. He had unexceptional facilities for depicting the life of the interior of the republic, for he was the owner of an extensive cattle ranch on which were employed scores of cattlemen and other ranch help. These he studied carefully and in detail; and he has reproduced them with startling exactness. Among is best and most realistic stories are 'Beba' 1894) • 'La raza de • and a volume of excellent short stories. Manuel Bermudez (1867—) also has written very good stories after the style of Reyles.
Uruguay has also produced good dramatists in Samuel Blixen (1869-1909) and Victor Perez Petit (1871—). The former has developed, in a series of plays of the seasons, (Primavera,' (Otoflo) and (Invierno,> some very fine char acterization. Perez Petit has written, in addi tion to drama, literary stories and tales. His literary criticisms and studies. in elude (Los Modernistas> and (Zola,' and his dramas (Cobarde,' (Yorick) and 'El Esclavo fey.' He also published poems and a volume of sonnets bearing the title (Joyeles barbaros.) Two modern Uruguayan poets are Julio Her rera y Reissig and Jose Enrique Rod6. The former possesses marked poetical talent; his best work is to be found in his sonnets which received a sort of second birth after the death of the author in 1909. Rod6 is learned and is looked upon as a leader of a certain section of the modern literary field not only in Uru guay, but also in the Argentine and Paraguay.
Peru and Bolivia.—Away back in setin historical times Peru and Bolivia were con nected politically and their interests have been, in many respects, very closely related since then. Bolivia, owing to the disturbed condi tion of the country following the expulsion of the Spaniards, did not begin to produce litera ture until about the middle of the 19th cen tury; and since then, her writers have, for the most part, been but rather faint echoes of those of Peru and the other surrounding countries, and of Spain. Therefore the literary efforts of Peru and Bolivia have been grouped together in this article.
Peru.— In Peru the unsettled condition of the country following the achievement of
pendence retarded literary development; but still the ancient land of the Incas recovered more quickly than her one-time province, Upper Peru (Bolivia). Manuel A. Segura (1805-71) is the brightest literary star on the horizon of Peruvian Republican literature. His first comedies began to appear in 1839. His pub-, fished comedies numbering a dozen are witty, full of intrigue, have considerable movement and present very good characterization. Hence they were very popular in their day. Among the best of his comedies are
moza mala' ;
y
(Lances de Amancaes,'
Catita" and
Sargento Canuto.' ,Felipe Pardo
(1806-68) was, like Segura. a depictor of the humorous situations of life and a wielder of satire. They are very good pictures of certain phases and conditions of the life of the country and of the society of the day. Among Pardo's best-known comedies are (Frutos de la educaci6n,' (Don Leocadio' and (Una Huerfana en Chorillos.' Manuel Castillo (1814-70), leader of the mountain school of Arequipa, is a poet with a great love of nature and a power of depicting her moods. To this period belongs Juana Manuela Gorriti de Belzu (1819-74), the greatest woman writer of Peru and her most clever novelist. Her husband, Manuel Bezu President of Peru from 1848 to 1855 and again in 1865, died in the latter year at the hand of an assassin. Juana Manuela Gor rita had published her first novel,
ChisPazo, he poured out all his satire, sarcasm and bitterness, which, natural with him, was imitated by the younger poets of his following. Paz Soldan made extensive translations from Virgil, Lucretius and Ovid; and this helped to increase the beauty and effectiveness of his style and the strength of his imagery. At once the most characteristic and the best of his published works is cCuadros y episodios peru anos> (1867). In these pictures, for such they really are, Peruvian scenery and life, especially in the country, seem to live and breathe. Ricardo Rossel (1841-1909), a poet of high ideals and Romantic tendencies, forms the link between the Romanticists and the Modernistas. Rossel has attempted successfully, in addition to Romantic poetry, the historical legend, songs, letrillas and humorous verse. Two poems which show the extremes of his composition and treatment are Sumac,' a poetical historical legend, and en el cemen terio.) Manuel Gonzalez Prada (1844- ), professor of literature, possessed of a mastery of Spanish composition, has run through all the gamut of extremes, pessimism, atheism, anti-religious fanaticism, anarchism, and yet preserved his beauty of style and perspecuity of thought and arrangement. His most char acteristic work is (Paginas libres.' Carlos G. Amizaga (1846-1906), dramatist and poet, in his 'Leyenda del Candi& has shown consider able epic ability and his 'Mis au de los cielos' has the true lyrical ring. Clorinda Matto de Turner (1854- ), the Peruvian wife of an English doctor, is noted for her patriotic poems. She has written •two series of good atradi and a novel, 'Ayes sin nido,) the lat ter of which has been extensively read through out Latin America. It depicts, in a powerful and convincing manner, the wretched condition of the native Indian ground down beneath the heel of the landowner, the Church and the government. Peruvian critics are fond of com paring 'Ayes sin nido' with 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' Contemporary with Clorinda Matto is Mercedes Cabello Carbonero, another clever Peruvian writer and the best •novelist her coun try has produced in her own peculiar field, the depicting of Peruvian society. She has covered a wide extent of territory in her novels. Political ambition and its effects upon the coun try, gambling and its effect upon society, the relation of women to society and many other like subjects she has made the centre themes of her novels which are still read not alone in Peru but in many of the other Latin-Amer ican countries. Among her most popular novels are 'El conspirador,' 'Las consecuencias' and 'Blanca Sol,' the latter of which is almost as well known in Spain and throughout Latin. America as at home in Peru. Jose Santos Chocano (1875, q.v.), the exponent of Ameri canism, is universally and favorably known through Latin Among his published works are 'has santas' (1894) ; 'En la aldea.) (1895) ; 'La epopeya del Moro,' 'Alma Amer ica' and 'El canto del porvenir.) Among the minor poets and writers of. Peru worthy of mention are Clemente Palma (son of Ricardo Palma), noted for his 'Cuentos malivolo0 ; J6se Galvez, a writer of erotic sonnets and epic poems; Juan del Carpi°, a poet of love songs and other erotic poetry; Leonidas N. Yerovi; Enrique A. Carrillo, a novelist; Manuel Bedo)ra, a dramatist of very modern tendencies; Felipe Sassone, a poet of love themes; Jose de la Riva Agitero, historian and critic, whose 'Char acter de la literatura del Peril independents' is one of the best works on the subject; and Francisco Garcia Calderon, essayist, historian and philosopher. The latter is one of the best of the Latin-American writers in his peculiar field and he is favorably known in Spain and throughout Latin America. He has dealt ex tensively with the problems of his country and with those of Latin America in general. Among his works that are •generally known are two published in French, 'Le Perot: contemporain) and 'Democraties latines de l'Amirique) ; and two issued in Spanish, 'Profesores del Ideal isms' and 'Hombres e ideas de nuestro tiempo.' Bolivia.--Among Bolivian writers who have made respectable places for themselves on the literary roll of their country is Nestor Galindo (1830-65), a someWhat melancholy poet of Ro mantic tendencies. Undoubtedly he stands higher in the eyes and in the hearts of his countrymen, because he was exiled from big native land several times, and finally shot. His chief work is 'Lagrirnas.' Daniel Calvo (1832 80), a contemporary of Galindo, seems to have been under the same influence as the latter; and Ins attitude toward life is seen in his first volume of poems, (Melancolias.' In fact he was an ardent admirer of Galindo and ad dressed some poems to him which fully dis play this' admiration. His 'Rimas' are better and more varied than his other work; and some of the romantic legends contained therein have been popular in Bolivia. Rosendo Vil lalobos (1860- ) has spent more time out of his native country than in it; and while he is claimed by Bolivia as one of her clever literary men, he more properly belongs to the city of Lima where most of his literary work has been produced. There he published several volumes of poems, light in quality, but pos sessing a sympathetic touch and a swing which make them pleasant reading. They have, therefore, been quite pOpular in both Peru and Bolivia. Numbers of other Bolivian writ ers are scattered throughout Latin America be.' cause of the want of encouragement at home. One of these, Ricardo Jaimes Freyre, a profes sor of literature in Tucuman, Argentina, has made for himself an international reputation as a follower of the Modernista movement. He is a disciple of Rubin Dario, with whom he was at one time associated. Benjamin Lens (1836-78) was a follower of the Romantic poetry whose influence had already extended to all Latin America in his day. He, Galindo and Calvo are usually associated together in any review of Bolivian literature. Lens, how ever, is free from the excessive lachrymose tendencies of his two literary companions. He is, therefore, more pleasant reading, though he bas not the, poetic touch of Galindo nor the facility for successful imitation of Calvo. The modern poets of Bolivia are all under the influence of Ruben Dario, Santos Chocano or some one or all of the prime actors in the Modernists movement. Of late years, how ever, in has come to have more influ ence n Peru than Dario or any other modern or ancient poet. The Pan-American note. of Chocano finds an echoing voice and a sympa thetic ear in Bolivia. This Chocano influence is having a good tendency on the younger genera tion of Bolivian writers who promise to make themselves heard in the near future in the cause of the extension of the feeling of com mon interests and brotherhood throughout the American continents.