I have always been very much interested in the newspaper and periodical
press, and in everything that has any connection with printing. When my
father, my grandfather, and great grandfather set up struggling papers
in a provincial capital, it may be said that they were not printers in
vain.
Because of my fondness for newspapers and magazines, it is a grief to me
that the Spanish press should be so weak, so poor, so pusillanimous and
stiff-jointed.
Of late, while the foreign press has been expanding and widening its
scope, ours has been standing still.
There is, of course, an economic explanation to justify our deficiency,
but this is valid only in the matter of quantity, and not as to quality.
Comparing our press with that of the rest of the world, a rosary of
negation might easily be made up in this fashion:
Our press does not concern itself with what is of universal interest.
Our press does not concern itself with what is of national interest.
Our press does not concern itself with literature.
Our press does not concern itself with philosophy.
And so on to infinity.
Corpus Barga has told me that when Señor Groizard, a relative of his,
was ambassador to the Vatican, Leo XIII once inquired of him, in a
jargon of Italo-Spanish, in the presence of the papal secretary,
Cardinal Rampolla:
"Does the Señor Ambasciatore speak Italian?"
"No, not Italian, although I understand it a little."
"Does the Señor Ambasciatore speak English?"
"No, not English, I do not speak that," replied Groizard.
"Does the Señor Ambasciatore speak German?"
"No German, no Dutch; not at all."
"No doubt then the Señor Ambasciatore speaks French?"
"French? No. I am able to translate it a little, but I do not speak it."
"Then what does the Señor Ambasciatore speak?" asked Leo XIII, smiling
that Voltairian smile of his at his secretary.
"Then Señor Ambasciatore speaks a heavy back-country dialect called
Extramaduran," replied Rampolla del Tindaro, bending over to His
Holiness's ear.
The Spanish press has made a resolution, now of long standing, to speak
nothing but a back-country dialect called Extramaduran.
_Our Journalists_
Our journalists supply the measure of our journals. When the great names
are those of Miguel Moya, Romeo, Rocamora and Don Pío, what are we to
think of the little fellows?
Speaking generally, the Spanish journalist is interested in politics, in
theatres, in bull fights, and in nothing else; whatever is beyond these,
does not concern him. Not even the _feuilleton_ attracts his
attention. A wooden, highly mannered phrase sponsored by Maura, is much
more stimulating to his mind than the most sensational piece of news.
The Spanish newspaper man is endowed with an extraordinary lack of
imagination and of curiosity. I recall having given a friend, who was a
journalist, a little book of Nietzsche's to read, which he returned with
the remark that he had not been able to get through it, as it was
insufferable drivel. I have heard the same opinion, or similar ones,
expressed by journalists of Ibsen, Schopenhauer, Dostoievsky, Stendhal
and all the most stimulating minds of Europe.
The wretched Saint Aubin, wretched certainly as a critic, used to
ridicule Tolstoi and the illness which resulted in his death,
maintaining that it was nothing more than an advertisement. The most
benighted vulgarity reigns in our press.
Upon occasion, vulgarity goes hand in hand with an ignorance which is
astounding. I remember going to a café on the Calle de Alcalá known as
la Maison Dorée one afternoon with Regoyos. Felipe Trigo, the novelist,
sat down at our table with a friend of his, a journalist, I believe,
from America. I have never been a friend of Trigo's, and could never
take any interest either in the man or his work, which to my mind is
tiresome and commercially erotic, besides being absolutely devoid of all
charm.
Regoyos, who is effusive by nature, soon became engaged in conversation
with them, and the talk turned upon artistic subjects, in which he was
interested, and then to his travels abroad.
Trigo put in his oar and uttered a number of preposterous statements. In
particular, he described a ship which had unloaded at Milan. When
Regoyos pointed out that Milan was not a seaport, he replied:
"Probably it was some other place then. What is the difference?"
He continued with a string of geographical and anthropological blunders,
which were concurred in by the journalist, while Regoyos and I sat by in
amazement.
When we left the café, Regoyos inquired:
"Could they have been joking?"
"No; nonsense. They do not believe that such things are worth knowing.
They think they are petty details which might be useful to railway
porters. Trigo imagines that he is a magician, who understands the
female mind."
"Well, does he?" asked Regoyos, with naïve innocence.
"How can he understand anything? The poor fellow is ignorant. His other
attainments are on a par with his geography."
The ignorance of authors and journalists is accompanied as a matter of
course by a total want of comprehension. A number of years ago, a rich
young man called at my house, intending to found a review. During the
conversation, he explained that he was a Murcian, a lawyer and a
follower of Maura.
Finally, after expounding his literary ideas, he informed me that
Ricardo León, who at that time had just published his first novel,
would, in his opinion, come to be acknowledged as the first novelist of
Europe. He also assured me that Dickens's humour was absolutely vulgar,
cheap and out of date.
"I am not surprised that you should think so," I said to him. "You are
from Murcia, you are a lawyer and a Maurista; naturally, you like
Ricardo León, and it is equally natural that you should not like
Dickens."
Persons who imagine that it is of no consequence whether Milan is a
seaport or not, who believe that Nietzsche is a drivelling ass, and who
make bold to tell us that Dickens is a cheap author--in one word, young
gentlemen lawyers who are partisans of Maura, are the people who provide
copy for our press. How can the Spanish press be expected to be
different from what it is?