Aspiration. José Rodó and Oleander, Parque Rodó, Montevideo, Uruguay
It's a marvellous place to walk in or relax, the Parque Rodó just outside the city centre of Montevideo. One of its major attractions is the huge memorial to José Enrique Camilo Rodó Piñeyro (1871-1917), foremost 'modernist' author of Uruguay. His Ariel pits the 'spiritual' creature Ariel against the negativity of Caliban. The book (1900) became a classic of Spanish-American literature, and is still widely read and taught (I'm told). I read it myself and found it interesting though a bit tedious. The emphasis on beauty, Spirit and the Good can be less exciting than reading about and imagining evil...
Whatever the case, Rodó was mightily against utilitarianism - in the sense of the idea that everything must have a 'material' use. In this context he inveighed against the deadly rote of many industrial jobs. People in such a position, he claimed, have a hard time aspiring to Spirit and the Good.
Rodó grounded his values in the Classical Western Tradition and that's something the sculptor José Belloni (1882-1965) understood well. In a part - not seen here - of the pictured monument he's sculpted Gorgias and his friends bidding farewell to Socrates as he's about to drink his cup of poison expecting a Better Life.
Our Oleander, of course, is a poisonous plant. But it reminds as well of the tragedy of Leander and Hero. In aspiring to his High Love for Hero, Leander drowned in the Hellespont.
Does this mean Ariel is rather too optimistic?
Aspiration. José Rodó and Oleander, Parque Rodó, Montevideo, Uruguay
It's a marvellous place to walk in or relax, the Parque Rodó just outside the city centre of Montevideo. One of its major attractions is the huge memorial to José Enrique Camilo Rodó Piñeyro (1871-1917), foremost 'modernist' author of Uruguay. His Ariel pits the 'spiritual' creature Ariel against the negativity of Caliban. The book (1900) became a classic of Spanish-American literature, and is still widely read and taught (I'm told). I read it myself and found it interesting though a bit tedious. The emphasis on beauty, Spirit and the Good can be less exciting than reading about and imagining evil...
Whatever the case, Rodó was mightily against utilitarianism - in the sense of the idea that everything must have a 'material' use. In this context he inveighed against the deadly rote of many industrial jobs. People in such a position, he claimed, have a hard time aspiring to Spirit and the Good.
Rodó grounded his values in the Classical Western Tradition and that's something the sculptor José Belloni (1882-1965) understood well. In a part - not seen here - of the pictured monument he's sculpted Gorgias and his friends bidding farewell to Socrates as he's about to drink his cup of poison expecting a Better Life.
Our Oleander, of course, is a poisonous plant. But it reminds as well of the tragedy of Leander and Hero. In aspiring to his High Love for Hero, Leander drowned in the Hellespont.
Does this mean Ariel is rather too optimistic?