An American never appears to be calm, serene and collected. There are
plenty who seem to be wild, impulsive creatures, driven on by sanguinary
fury, while others disclose the vanity of the chorus girl, or a self-
conceit which is wholly ridiculous.
My lack of sympathy for Spanish-Americans extends to their literary
productions. Everything that I have read by South Americans, and I bear
in mind the not disinterested encomiums of Unamuno, I have found to be
both poor and deficient in substance.
Beginning with Sarmiento's _Facundo_, which is heavy, cheap, and
uninteresting, and coming down to the latest productions of Ingenieros,
Manuel Ugarte, Ricardo Rojas and Contreras, this is true without
exception.
What a deluge of shoddy snobbery and vulgar display pours out of
America!
It is often argued that Spaniards should eulogize South Americans for
political reasons. This is one of many recommendations which proceed
from the craniums of gentlemen who top themselves off with silk hats and
who carry a lecture inside which is in demand by Ibero-American
societies.
I have no faith that this brand of politics will be productive of
results.
Citizens of old, civilized countries are still sensible to flattery and
compliment, but what are you to tell an Argentine who is fully convinced
that Argentina is a more important country than England or Germany,
because she raises a large quantity of wheat, to say nothing of a great
number of cows?
Whenever Unamuno writes he decries Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, and
then promptly eulogizes the mighty General Anibal Perez and the great
poet Diocleciano Sanchez, who hail from the pampas.
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