Argentine Literary Movements: Boedo, Florida, and the Rise of Roberto Arlt

Writers and the Literary Market

Two literary movements were born: the group of Boedo and the group of Florida. The reading public had grown dramatically, a fact that influenced the perception of the writer. Previously, the man of letters had been viewed as an 'enlightened' figure, whose literary activity was removed from the hectic office. In principle, the writer was not seen as a 'professional,' nor was he, in fact, one.

Writers like Leopoldo Lugones had imposed their presence in national literature, but these were professionals who often came from more affluent classes. In contrast, emerging writers, whose social classes were much more modest, gained increasing participation in society. Roberto Arlt best represents this new figure of the writer.

There were other writers who despised books that were sold as mere cultural commodities. They believed that true literature must depart from the taste of the majority and market demands. This ideological and aesthetic gesture, characterized by the Florida literary group, was associated with the journal Martín Fierro.

The Florida Group and the Vanguard

The Florida group was so named because its members met in the editorial office of the journal they had founded, Martín Fierro. Their fundamental contributions to Argentine literature occurred primarily in terms of poetry. Characterized by their literary style, they formed what may be called the first Argentine vanguard.

Like all vanguards, they expressed their rejection of forms imposed by the market, their distance from sclerotic literary forms, and their disrespect and contempt for canonized works. The Martín Fierro group criticized Lugones and proposed a poetry that ignored traditional rules.

Aesthetic and Ideological Attributes of Florida

The Florida group opposed new cultural manifestations they deemed "bastard," just as they challenged the literary canon and Lugones's Modernism. In the text by Oliverio Girondo that opened the first issue of the magazine in 1924, several aesthetic and ideological attributes are discernible:

• A highly poetic language, relaxed and freed from any formalities.
• A clear rejection of prevailing values and academic mores.
• A vindication of the novel as daring and youthful.

Roberto Arlt: The Professionalized Writer

The emergence of Roberto Arlt in Argentine literature introduced a new type of writer, exhibiting characteristics and facing difficulties very different from those of other writers, such as the Florida group. Arlt's precarious formation was deficient in more than one aspect and completely self-taught (*autodidact*). Furthermore, Arlt did not frequent foreign literatures in their original language.

No Argentine writer better represents the figure of the professionalized writer than Arlt. Two main reasons made him one of the most representative writers of this new path:

1. Income: Arlt derived income from composing police reports and city news for various newspapers, focusing on the nature of new social subjects and new habits.
2. Criticism: His role as a critic, where he frequently appreciated or criticized the work of different writers based on its popular reception.