4 - Against the poetics of decadence: Latin America and the aesthetics of regeneration

Summary

Introduction: the sociology of art in the Southern Cone

‘I read both your books straight away, and they have equally impressed me: Social Diseases has undoubtedly made a stronger impression on me, since it deals with issues with which I am constantly preoccupied.’ These words addressed by Max Nordau to Argentine socialist author Manuel Ugarte about the latter's recently published book Las enfermedades sociales (1906) represent very well Latin Americans’ fascination with contemporary theories of socio-cultural degeneration as well as many Europeans’ interest in New World trends. In the late nineteenth century, sociological studies functioned as a channel between the psychological and criminological sciences and the traditional field of literature. A clear example is the resonance that Max Nordau's study of modern art had in the Southern Cone. Entartung first appeared in German in 1892 and was soon translated into French (Dégénérescence, 1894), English (Degeneration, 1895) and Spanish (Degeneración, 1902). Nordau's controversial study of contemporary art as a vehicle for degenerate values in European societies of the fin de siècle had strong resonance in Spanish America. Leading modernista poet Rubén Darío promptly published an article in Buenos Aires newspaper La Nación on Nordau in 1895. This was one of a series of articles on modern art that Darío later republished in the collection of essays Los raros (1896). Max Nordau himself contributed articles to La Nación, while he also kept in regular contact with many Latin Americans. Rubén Darío, during his stays in Paris in the early 1900s, met regularly with Nordau. Others, like Argentine Manuel Ugarte and Uruguayan writer Reyles (1868–1938), sent Nordau their publications asking for his comments and suggestions.

Embracing the decadent aestheticism of the Old World, I argue, was part of a more general process for Latin Americans to adopt modern western values. Chilean, Argentine and Uruguayan intellectuals used the cultural values provided by modernist aesthetics as their entrance ticket into the civilized community of modern nations. This becomes even more striking in comparison with the US, where it has been shown how Nordau's Degeneration was received with almost unanimous hostility even though it did not address North American arts. A number of reviews appeared shortly after the publication of the English edition in 1895, while an anonymous book-length refutation of the theory was published the following year.