4 - The war years

Summary

Para los europeos y americanos hay un orden – un solo orden – posible: el que antes llevó el nombre de Roma, y que ahora es la cultura del Occidente. Ser nazi (jugar a la barbarie enérgica, jugar a ser un viking, un tártaro, un conquistador del siglo XVI, un gaucho, un piel roja) es, a la larga, una imposibilidad mental y moral.

The Second World War influenced the development of Sur in two important ways. In the first place, the magazine explicitly defended the Allied cause and frequently implied that the Argentine policy of neutrality was being formulated by fascist tendencies within the government. The fears that fascism had taken root in Argentina seemed confirmed by the rise of Perón. His electoral triumph in early 1946 would cast a shadow over the celebrations that greeted the peace in Europe and mark a turning-point in Argentine history which was to affect all levels of society. This chapter will, therefore, trace the social and cultural process in Argentina until the end of 1945, the eve of Perón's victory.

In the second place, the war interrupted the flow of contributions from Europe and caused a situation which might be described, in the language of economists, as cultural import-substitution. These were the years in which Borges emerged as the finest prose writer in Argentina: his output was considerable.