Nativism and Modernism in Venezuelan Literature

Nativist or Crioyista Position in Venezuela

Francisco Lazo Martí: Birth in 1869

Lazo Martí, a poet and physician, practiced his profession in the towns of the central plains, including San Fernando de Apure. He was also a founder of the periodical El Legalista (1892), through which he supported the Revolución Legalista and Joaquín Crespo.

His works include Silva Criolla, Crepusculares, Veguera, Flor de Pascua, and Consuelo.

He had an exaltation of the inspirators of the countryside, a rejection of the city, and a malignant contemplation of the landscape, agriculture, and flora.

Silva Criolla (1901) prompted a literary sentiment that contributed to the symbolic representation of the Venezuelan plains at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

What aspects formed Martí's personality?

He awarded figures to the nature of Venezuela, the fields, the flowers, the rivers, the mountains, and the cloudless sky, as a continuous and true spiritual solace. Perhaps this saved Martí from a tragic ending, given his depression, sadness, and heartbreak.

The Crepusculares and Silva Criolla were possibly published in newspapers and loose magazines. What are the Crepusculares? They are a set of poems written mostly in Martí's youth. Many of these poems refer to the days of twilight or dusk, a moment that corresponds to the melancholy that the poet expresses. The main themes are love, the woman, religious doubt, life and death, and work.

Modernism in Venezuela

• Origin of the writer: 28/2/1871 in Altamira. Died of throat disease on 24/8/1927.
• Education: Graduated with a doctorate in medical science.
• Time in which it developed: The last two decades of the nineteenth century.
• Literary magazines that gave impetus: El Cojo Ilustrado and Cosmópolis.
• Generation of 98 trips made: Travels to Europe.
• Themes raised in his novels: Ídolos Rotos and Sangre Patricia.

Defining Characteristics:

A greater concern for the development of prose, which produced a master like Díaz Rodríguez, and the combination of nativism with internationalism.

Members of our modern generation: Díaz Rodríguez, Rufino Blanco, Emilio Coll, Luis M. Urbaneja, Achel Pohl, Pedro Dominici, and César Zumeta.

Historical moment in which he writes his work and attitude towards the country: Venezuela was experiencing a period of transition, and Díaz Rodríguez stuck to the defense of the past.

Political career and some positions: He became a collaborator of Juan Vicente Gómez. He was rector of the UCV, director of the Fine Arts Institution, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Broken Idols

Representative modernist narrative in America. It was published in 1901 in Paris. It is regarded as one of the most pessimistic novels, and it represents life in Caracas with a defeatist attitude.

Criticism: It was adversely received due to its sarcastic complaints and because Caracas felt portrayed in its pages.

Main Character: Alberto Soria, considered by many critics to be the voice of the writer's thought and action.