As I read the article, The Modern Culture of Latin America, I was struck by the depth and implications of the Modernist Movement. Being a French major, I was interested in why the Spanish writers turned to France when they were searching for direction. At that time, Castilian Spanish was not supplying the words they needed to express life in America. But it went way beyond that. The Spanish culture was lacking as well, hence, they had to turn to a different country and culture for inspiration.
This article makes one realize how language is enmeshed with culture, intellectual inspirations, progressiveness, identity and global influence. It makes you realize what a responsibility we have as a society to not only preserve out language, but to foster an intellectual, cultural and spiritual environment that will meet the demands of future generations.
Nineteenth-century Latin American intellectuals rejected Hispanidad for a period because of the recent nature of their independence movement, and the imperative of nationalism which led them to separate themselves from Spain. Spain was a symbol of colonial life and relations between the old mother and her emancipated colonies were not always positive. Martí was imprisoned at age 16 in the name of Spain. Spain also fought a war against Peru.
But U.S. imperialism drove a return to hispanidad as an alternative to anglo-saxon threats.