10 - Rodó's Legacy

Summary

This chapter discusses Rodó's influence and the relevance of his outlook since his death. We begin with the immediate reaction, in Uruguay and abroad, to the news of his demise, which began a process of memorialization that continues to this day. We then address the ideological legacy of arielismo (Arielism), a movement that flourished throughout the subcontinent during the first two or three decades of the century and had Rodó as its inspiration. Next, we approach the resonance of Rodó's ideas in subtler ways up to the present. First, we discuss the unveiling of a bust of him in Paris in 1934, and what it can tell us about the subject that pervaded his last writings in particular: relations between Europe and Latin America. Second, we consider the stance of two remarkable socialist leaders, one in the United Kingdom in the middle of the twentieth century, and one in Uruguay at the beginning of the twenty-first. Finally we turn to two recent views on the crisis of the humanities in the English-speaking world, views that resonate with Rodó's message about deep learning as expressed in particular in his main works, Ariel and Motivos.

Shock, Sorrow and Apotheosis

The response to Rodó's death in Uruguay was of general numbness and overwhelming sorrow, as no one expected him to die so young (he was fortyfive). His biographer Víctor Pérez Petit described his own shock at seeing, on 3 May, the notices outside the newspaper offices, which had also set off their sirens – a measure taken only in extraordinary circumstances. He captured the mood thereafter in the street, including how a group of students demonstrating in the town centre suddenly stopped in their tracks upon hearing the news and, after reacting with “un silencio profundo, un silencio religioso” (a deep silence, a religious silence) (435), dispersed; he also reviewed and summarized the discussions that followed in parliament and in the press (435–46).

The reactions in both parliamentary chambers were instant and full of heartfelt emotion which turned quickly towards planning a homage to the great writer, their former colleague.