This thesis focuses on the transformation of European tradition in the multicultural Hispanic America, as reflected in the essays of Alfonso Reyes and Pedro Henríquez Ureña. The first part is devoted to the theory of essay. It analyzes utopia as a way of thinking, not a literary genre and gives an overview of the life of artists and their collaboration in Ateneo de la Juventud. The second part deals with selected essays. Different topics are divided into three areas.The first area deals with the specific way of the Spanish colonization of the Americas and concerns the attitude, which the newly created states adopted to that heritage. The second area focuses on the interconnection between the Hispanomerican culture and the European tradition; influence, transformation and new forms, which European culture receives in Hispanic America; questions related to European cultural heritage (imitate or create?); creating a distinctive culture; universalism and cultural synthesis. The third area is directed into the future. It highlights the importance of culture where the greatest sense of belonging among the countries is felt and stresses the demand to restore humanities in education. Finally, it demonstrates the maturity of American culture, which is not a mere imitator of Europe, but enriches the...

Este trabalho objetiva percorrer a partir de El río sin orillas os núcleos irradiadores fundamentais da poética do escritor argentino Juan José Saer (1937-2005), procurando analisar a matéria comum e as especificidades entre a escrita do ensaio e a prosa ficcional do autor. Publicado originalmente em 1991, El río sin orillas indaga sobre a história, a literatura e o imaginário cultural da sociedade argentina a partir de sua relação com o Rio da Prata. Ao longo da leitura de El río sin orillas, propõe-se ainda promover um diálogo do texto com a tradição do ensaísmo hispano-americano e, mais precisamente, com uma tradição de textos que o próprio Saer põe em evidência ao valorizar o caráter inclassificável de algumas obras. A partir destes objetivos principais, foram selecionados temas e questões que permitem analisar em El río sín orillas o deslocamento em dupla mão entre a escrita ensaística e a ficcional, bem como a tênue linha de fronteira que persiste entre os dois campos discursivos: o problema dos gêneros literários e a tradição das obras inclassificáveis; o entre-lugar estrangeiro; a literatura pensada pelo autor como uma antropologia especulativa; a invenção do passado; a violência e a política; a criação da geografia singular da zona saeriana. / This thesis explores the fundamental irradiating nuclei of the poetics of the Argentine writer Juan José Saer (1937-2005) in the essay El río sin orillas, aiming to analyze the the common aspects and specificities between the essay writing and fictional prose of the author. Originally published in 1991, El río sin orillas probes the history, literature and cultural imagination of Argentinian society through their relation with the River Plate. Along our reading of El río sin orillas, we also propose to promote a dialogue with the Hispanic- American tradition of essay writing and, more precisely, with the tradition of writing that Saer himself reveals through his valorization of the unclassifiable character of certain texts. In addition to these main goals, some themes and issues that allow us to analyze the two-way traffic between the authors essays and fictional prose as well as the blurry boundary between these two discursive fields have been selected: the problem of literary genres and the tradition of unclassifiable works; the in between space of the foreigner; the notion of literature in Saer as speculative anthropology; the invention of the past; violence and politics; and the creation of a singular geography of Saerian zone.

Este trabalho objetiva percorrer a partir de El río sin orillas os núcleos irradiadores fundamentais da poética do escritor argentino Juan José Saer (1937-2005), procurando analisar a matéria comum e as especificidades entre a escrita do ensaio e a prosa ficcional do autor. Publicado originalmente em 1991, El río sin orillas indaga sobre a história, a literatura e o imaginário cultural da sociedade argentina a partir de sua relação com o Rio da Prata. Ao longo da leitura de El río sin orillas, propõe-se ainda promover um diálogo do texto com a tradição do ensaísmo hispano-americano e, mais precisamente, com uma tradição de textos que o próprio Saer põe em evidência ao valorizar o caráter inclassificável de algumas obras. A partir destes objetivos principais, foram selecionados temas e questões que permitem analisar em El río sín orillas o deslocamento em dupla mão entre a escrita ensaística e a ficcional, bem como a tênue linha de fronteira que persiste entre os dois campos discursivos: o problema dos gêneros literários e a tradição das obras inclassificáveis; o entre-lugar estrangeiro; a literatura pensada pelo autor como uma antropologia especulativa; a invenção do passado; a violência e a política; a criação da geografia singular da zona saeriana. / This thesis explores the fundamental irradiating nuclei of the poetics of the Argentine writer Juan José Saer (1937-2005) in the essay El río sin orillas, aiming to analyze the the common aspects and specificities between the essay writing and fictional prose of the author. Originally published in 1991, El río sin orillas probes the history, literature and cultural imagination of Argentinian society through their relation with the River Plate. Along our reading of El río sin orillas, we also propose to promote a dialogue with the Hispanic- American tradition of essay writing and, more precisely, with the tradition of writing that Saer himself reveals through his valorization of the unclassifiable character of certain texts. In addition to these main goals, some themes and issues that allow us to analyze the two-way traffic between the authors essays and fictional prose as well as the blurry boundary between these two discursive fields have been selected: the problem of literary genres and the tradition of unclassifiable works; the in between space of the foreigner; the notion of literature in Saer as speculative anthropology; the invention of the past; violence and politics; and the creation of a singular geography of Saerian zone.