Entre la idea universal y el profeta inconsciente: las modernidades literarias de Francisco Gavidia y Rubén Darío

This article examines the foundational myth of the literature of El Salvador that presents Francisco Gavidia as the founder of Spanish-American modernism, when he offers his friend, the Nicaraguan Rubén Darío, the secret to translate Alexandrine verse into Spanish. In this way, the aforementioned myth reduces literary modernity to the discovery and adoption of a metrical form, whose originality is shown to be doubtful. The author argues that it is much more revealing to contrast the two authors’ conception of literary modernity. These differences become more visible when exploring the trajectory and relationship of Gavidia and Darío during the latter two stays in El Salvador, between 1882 and 1883 and between 1889 and 1890. Realidad, Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, No. 164, 2024: 137-162.