Modernism, Ruben Dar'o, and the Poetics of Despair

Alberto Acereda holds a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. He is Associate Professor of Latin American Literature at Arizona State University. Rigoberto Guevara holds a Ph.D. from Arizona State University. He is Assistant Professor of Latin American Literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

• Chapter 1 PrefaceChapter 2 Modernism, Modernity and the Poetics of Despair: Darío, Modernism and Modernity; Formulating a Definition of the Modern Poetics of Despair; Darío and the Origin of Modern DespairChapter 3 Darío and the Paradigms of Modernity: Modernism and Fin-de-Siècle; The Modernist Struggle for Life; Darío's Modernity in Contemporary Hispanic PoetryChapter 4 A Life Within Poetry: Darío: A Poet in Despair; The Source and Development of Despair in Darío; Life and Poetry: The Editorial StatusChapter 5 Poetry of Existential Despair: Existential Despair in Darío; Despair in Confronting Life; Optimism and Hope; Occultism and the Oneiric; Death and FateChapter 6 The Poetics of Despair and Religion: The Wavering Darío: Paganism and Christianity; Darío the Believer versus Darío the Skeptic; The Esoteric Doctrines. The Orphic-PythagoreanChapter 7 Poetic Eros of Despair and Desire: The Erotic Experience in Darío; Darío's Poetic Eros; The Feminine Image in DaríoChapter 8 The Social and Artistic Despair: The Politics of Social Despair; Darío's Vision of Artistic and Social ModernityChapter 9 EpilogueChapter 10 BibliographyChapter 11 Authors' Biographical SketchesChapter 12 Index

Acereda and Guevara offer a voluminous study that focuses on the Nicaraguan poet's anguish in relation to his times, which were characterized by Latin America's traumatic and definitive incorporation in the world economic system as a subservient component. Summing Up: Optional. Comprehensive graduate and research collections.