THE PERIOD OF INDEPENDENCE. The revolution ary days of the early nineteenth century, which, ill Spanish America, substituted the radical phi losophy and sentiment of the progressive French branch of the Latin stock for the unswerving loy alty and religions mysticism of the conservative Spaniard, did not wholly release American writ ers from dependence upon Peninsular schools of thought. It is true that throngh translation and imitation it is possible to trace the influence of Byron, of Hugo, of Heine, and of the other great leaders of the romantic school of literature; but in the majority of eases these and other writers are introduced to Spanish America indirectly, and above all tlu•ough the writings of the Span ish romanticist Zorilla, who has exerted a most profound influenee upon American authors-. The one great howl that unites the separate republics and, though perhaps unwillingly, keeps them in touch with the thought of the mother country, is the 'sonorous Castilian language,' which its best writers have preserved in all its grammatical and rhetorical purity of diction; but to which they have given a buoyancy and flexibility lack ing in the original, and a greater freedom of thought and a more revolutionary and virile spirit that together have rendered this 'offshoot of French art and of Latin culture' a vigorous literary product.
During the early decades of the nineteenth cen tury themes suggested by the revolutionary con flict, in which so many of the writers took an ac tive part, naturally formed the greater portion of the literary output. The period which fol lowed is marked by literature of a more contem plative and personal tone. Within recent years there has arisen the new school of 'Creolism,' whose devotees show in the faithful portrayal of native customs, generally of a rustic character, many elements of rugged strength that promise well for the originality of future literature. During the century there has also occurred a shifting of literary centres in South America. Lima, Quito, and Bogota have been relegated to a secondary rank, while Buenos Ayres, early brought under the direct influence of the French romantic school, and Caracas, influenced as pro foundly by Zorilla and his followers, and San tiago, at present the centre of the most inspiring literary productions of the South American continent, far outstrip their rivals of colonial fame.
The chief literary figure of Latin America is that of Andres Bello (q.v.), whose mastery of Castilian is illustrated in his many-sided ca reer and whose reputation as a poet rests chiefly upon his georgic La. agricultura en la zona tor rid,,. ,los6 Antonio Maitfn ( 1792-c.1859) , an other native of Venezuela, was one of the first of the ardent followers of Zorilla. Rafael \larfa. Baralt (1810-1860), in his Historic. antigun y moderna de Venezuela, in style and method com pares favorably with the best of modern Span ish historians, and also ranks high as a linguist and poet. Among others who have shed lustre
on the literary reputation of Venezuela are the members of the gifted Caleafio family; the lyr icist Jacinto Gutierrez Coll (1836—), made famous by his A nil angel guarditin and Suetio de amor; Francisco de Sales Perez (1836—), whose La vida del campo is a faithful portrayal of the customs of his native naves; and the pres ent day Diaz Rodriguez, whose artistic romance, Sangre patrician, recalls the Italian D'Annunzio. Colombia was the home of the lyric poet Jose Eusebio Caro, whose Lara (published in 1834) marked an important literary period in the his tory of his native land. His associate, Julio Ar boleda (died 1862), essayed in Gonzalo de rayon a notable attempt at epic-writing, but achieved a greater success in his brilliant romance Casi mir•o cis Montaiias. The realistic poet Josi• Joa quin Ortiz is favorably known because of his masterpiece, Los colonos. The most noted Span ish-American novel, .1la•ia, is the work of the Colombian Jorge Isaacs; while the Historia de la revoluciOn de Nueva Granada (1827) of Jose Manuel Restrepo is hut one of the many histori cal works that have brought honor to the north ern republic. Her southern neighbor, Ecuador, boasts of the statesman poet Jost• Joaquin de Olmedo ( 1782-1847 ) . whose Canto de Junin is the most stirring of revolutionary poems, but 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 dranms, Frutos de Ia. educacion and Una huerfuna. 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 dcsierto, appeared in 1848. Jose Arnaldo Marquez (1825-81) is regarded as the leading lyric poet of modern Peru. The Noche de dolor en. las montanas of Numa Porn pilio Llona (born 1832) is one of the best poems of recent Spanish-American literature. ln action El Padre Orani of Nareiso Arestegui occupies a prominent place, and the dramatists Corpancho and Segura take a high rank. As under 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 J. Bustamante (born 1821) and the Ensayo sobrc la historia de Bo livia of Manuel Jose Cortes (1811-65) have re ceived favorable notice, as has also the Ultimos Bias coloniales en el Alto-Pera (1896), written by Gabriel Rene-Moreno.