Romanticism in a Chilean way

* I know that there is another post about the same topic, but my post is more descriptive *

In my opinion, it’s always necessary to get the knowledge in different aspects of our own country, especially culture aspect, even when we are studying a foreign language, since we tend to forget our roots, however we have a past and we share a common History as countries as Europe or United States. That is the reason why I will provide you with information about how was the Romanticism in Chile, so we will have an idea of it and to reinforce the knowledge not only in those foreign countries, but also in our country.

The background of the Romanticism in Chile wasn’t the same of Europe, because in the 1800s, the countries of Latin America had been gotten recently their independence. This literary movement is significant, because it is the first one occurred in Chile as independent nation.

Even if the background were not the same, the Chilean Romanticism had the same characteristics as the European Romanticism. For instance, the authors wrote about what honestly they were thinking, the writings were an evasion of reality, expression of the nature and loneliness and also, they shared the same nationalist feeling.

Another difference is that there were three generations of Romanticism in Chile. The first one, in 1837, was the folkloric generation in which writers tried to emphasize the reality in a satiric way. The second generation was the romantic-social generation, in 1842, in which writers wanted to express the liberalism more than the last generation.

I want to add at this point that the most famous exponent of Romanticism in Chile was Eusebio Lillo (second generation). In his poems, he expressed the nature, liberalism, and loneliness, in fact, he was a lonely man, he didn’t like to go out, and he stayed in his house for longer times. He was who wrote the lyric of our national anthem with the nature of Chile very well defined.

After that, in 1842, it was fond “La Sociedad Literaria”. The objective of this organization was to show off the nationalist identity by the Chilean literature which was one of the characteristic of Romanticism. Moreover, the Society rejected the Spanish romanticism since they felt that it was too conservative. As a consequence, Chile followed French, Italians and English tendencies, which were progresses and liberals.

Eusebio Lillo

In 1862, the last generation of Romanticism was the realistic generation. In this generation, was Alberto Blest Gana who wrote about the society of that time and how it was. Also, the third generation of Romanticism in Chile wrote about society in order to develop the ethical and moral in citizens, which was one of the big problems of the country at that time., for instance, in Martin Rivas he reflected the life and changes of a mid-class man. Also, his brother, Guillermo Blest Gana, was an exponent of Romanticism in Chile, but the difference between them was that Alberto was a writer and Guillermo was a poet. It’s important to take into account that both Blest Gana and Lillo belonged to “La Sociedad Literaria”.

At the third generation, Romanticism received many critics by a new literary movement. Realism came to replace Romanticism in Chile.

Reflexion:

Do you think that the lyric of our anthem has relation with Romanticism?

Have you ever read Martin Rivas? Do you notice some features of Romanticism in the story?

References:

- BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE CHILE. "Romanticismo en Chile", en: Romanticismo. Memoria Chilena. Disponible en http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-97612.html . Accedido en 3/9/2014.

- BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE CHILE. "Tendencia romántica", en: Guillermo Blest Gana (1829-1905). Memoria Chilena. Disponible en http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-94431.html . Accedido en 3/9/2014.

- BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE CHILE. "Movimiento Literario de 1842 o Generación del 42", en: Movimiento Literario de 1842. Memoria Chilena. Disponible en http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-96195.html. Accedido en 3/9/2014.

- Querelle y Cia Ltda. (n.d.). Generación de 1842. Profesor en Línea. Disponible en http://www.profesorenlinea.cl/chilehistoria/Generacion_1842.html. Accedido en 3/9/2014.

- Concha, J. (2010). Eusebio Lillo y el Romanticismo. Anales de Literatura Chilena, 11, 89-116.